Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani reaffirmed, on the 27th of September 2020, Morocco’s commitment to finding a political solution to the Sahara issue. The statement of Mr. El Othmani took place in New York on the occasion of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
"The Kingdom of Morocco is constantly attached to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, relating to the peaceful resolution of disputes and respect for the national sovereignty of States and their territorial integrity. Morocco remains committed to achieving a final solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, within the framework of its territorial integrity and national sovereignty," emphasized the Head of Government.
Morocco's position is clear and any final political solution to this dispute can only be achieved under four basic parameters, said Mr. El Othmani. It concerns the full sovereignty of Morocco over its Sahara and the autonomy initiative as the only solution to this artificial dispute; the full participation of all parties in the search for a final solution; the full respect for the principles and parameters enshrined by the Security Council in all its resolutions since 2007 according to which the solution can only be political, realistic, pragmatic, durable and based on compromise; and the rejection of all outdated plans, which the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council have deemed for twenty years as obsolete and inapplicable, aimed at derailing the current political process from the parameters set by the Security Council.
He noted, in this regard, that the political process, under the exclusive auspices of the United Nations, was marked by a new impetus with the holding of the two round tables in Geneva in December 2018 and March 2019, marked by the participation of all parties for the first time.
Mr. El Otmani said it is particularly encouraging that the Security Council has enshrined the round table process as the only path towards a political solution that is realistic, pragmatic, durable and based on compromise to this regional dispute.
He also added that Morocco reiterates its deep concern about the deplorable humanitarian situation of the populations in the Tindouf camps, the management of which has been given by the host country to an armed separatist group, in flagrant violation of its international commitments under the 1951 Convention Relating To The Status of Refugees and other international conventions relating to human rights and international humanitarian law.
The context of the Covid-19 pandemic only deepens the concerns about the fate of this population in captivity in camps managed by an armed group having no legitimacy in view of international law, Mr. El Othmani said.
It is high time for the international community to take decisive action to push the host country to allow the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to conduct a census and register the population of the Tindouf camps, in accordance with international humanitarian law of refugees and the continuous calls by the Security Council in all its resolutions since 2011, insisted the Head of Government.
Such a census has become, now more than ever, a pressing need to put an end to the embezzlement, that has been going on for more than 40 years, of humanitarian aid intended for the population held against its will in the Tindouf camps, he concluded.
