 Bulgarian journalist Anton Stefanov and Hungarian university professor Joszef Steier have underlined the open, realistic, practicable and durable aspect of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative as they participated in the "Sahara Debate", a citizen-run show broadcasted on social media.
Bulgarian journalist has indeed stated that the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative is the “one and only” solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, recalling that “the international community deemed it serious, credible, and realistic in the perspective of achieving peace and security in the region”.
According to Stefanov, this Initiative is fully compliant with international law, including the self-determination principle, to the extent that it is “legal-political arrangement that preserves the unity of the state, while respecting the diversity of its components”.
He recalled that the United Nations have supervised the establishment of some seventy autonomy arrangements since the end of World War II.
The Initiative, according to the journalist, is a durable solution as “it paves the way for the establishment of an atmosphere of peace, stability, and cooperation in the North African and Sahel-Saharan space, and for integration of the Maghreb”.
In this respect, Stefanov welcomed the “virtuous dynamic” launched by the submission of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, which constitutes the basis of the momentum of the political process under way, underlining that “the Moroccan project is inspired by contemporary models of territorial conflict resolution, and testifies to Morocco's sincere will to achieve a definitive, mutually acceptable political solution to the dispute over the Sahara”.
It must be recalled that the UN Security Council has deemed Morocco’s Initiative as “serious” and “credible” in all the resolutions it has adopted since 2007.
For his part, university professor Joszef Steier has underlined the “realistic” and practicable nature of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, adding that it is high time that Algeria plays a role matching its historical responsibility in the genesis, the evolution, and the persistence of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.
A final solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara is essential for the development of the Maghreb, Steier insisted, while recalling that the military, financial and diplomatic support brought by Algeria to “polisario” is incomprehensible in light of the ongoing economic crisis in the country.
Steier also underlined that Morocco is an “engine” of Africa’s development, emphasizing the active, solidarity-based South-South cooperation that underpins the Kingdom’s African policy pursuant to the High Vision of His Majesty the King.
Recalling that Morocco is among the most important African investors in Africa, he emphasized the fact that Morocco has made a point to share its experience with African brother countries in the fields of education, training, agriculture, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Steier and Stefanov made these remarks in the framework of the Sahara Debate, a citizen-run show broadcasted on social media that is intended as an open and democratic platform for serene and dispassionate analysis on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.
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