Although some people reject Ould Errechid’s presidency while others consider it as part of the heritage of the past, the majority think that Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid has charisma and is the man of the phase capable of convincing Abdelaziz El Marrakechi to return to Morocco.
The guest of today’s episode is married and is the father of five children. He is Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid, the President of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS).
The following colleagues/journalists are going to interview him:
Ali Anouzla: The weekly newspaper “Al Jarida Al Oukhra”
Moustafa El Iraki: The daily newspaper “The Union Socialiste”
Mohammed El Ayadi: The daily newspaper “Attajdid”
In the following topics:
- The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS): from the heritage of the past to the contradictions of the present.
- Between people who demand election and refuse appointment
- Between people who complain about being excluded and whose role in participating in giving propositions about the main points of the autonomy project that encompasses Tindouf and Laayoune.
- A broad autonomy proposed by political groups and actors of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) to eliminate difference and manage local affairs within broad regionalism capable of encompassing all views in order to participate in building a strong structure and presenting an evident message to the international community that the integrated plans are the only solution for the problem of the Sahara.
- The foreign diplomacy of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) presented a change in the tactic in order to establish a strategy whose purpose is reconciliation and a complete integration in the country that accommodates everybody, the forbearing homeland.
Good afternoon again Mr. Khallihenna. The first national issue that of the Sahara entered in the last phase a decisive turning point and it is now among the current issues in the United Nations within a new international environment where different views are expressed. Some support Morocco and its territorial integrity while others oppose it and some take the position of expectants. Morocco took the initiative of presenting the solution of a broad autonomy. The UN’s General Secretary reemphasized that the UN will not impose any solution on the parties of the conflict. Algeria, which supports the proposition of separation with its entire means, did not change its position regarding Morocco and its territorial integrity.
The Polisario was surprised by the Moroccan initiative and the changes on the regional and international levels overcomplicated its political situation and amplified the division of its groups. Many powerful voices demanded a political solution which is considered as the unique outlet, and this is what Morocco initiated through the broad autonomy for which the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) was implemented.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) which was appointed lately exposes the issue of trust especially that the experience of the previous council was not evaluated to discard its drawbacks and to try to find the appropriate means to overcome them. The question of trust was asked in the composition of the council: some people talked about deaths, others mentioned unexpected appointments while some spoke about exclusion and marginalization.
Moustafa El Alaoui: Let’s ask you a straightforward question Mr. Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid and without any general questions: How can the council represent all the Sahrawi people under these conflicts that started in the very beginning? How can this mumbo jumbo be surmounted and how not to fall in the Moroccan saying that alludes to the fact that the responsibility lies on your shoulders?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: Thank you Mr. Moustafa El Alaoui. I would like to say at first that the new council has nothing to do with the previous one neither in its composition nor its purposes. The new council is a council established by King Mohammed VI for specific and obvious purposes and has important duties but with clear landmarks. The council is not elected but appointed. It is one of the constitutional powers of the King to appoint all the institutions that he sees suitable for a specific phase.
The new council will face the current phase and it encompasses all the recognized constituents of the Sahrawi people, whether from the tribal side or generations or all the social classes that exist in this phase and comprise the Sahrawi people.
It is true that the council is not elected but appointed and it is one of the main powers.
Moustafa El Alaoui: The previous council had legitimacy.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: Yes.
Moustafa El Alaoui: It represented the tribes.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: Yes.
Moustafa El Alaoui: There were no dead people in it.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: This is a fallacy that was divulged by the press. Thanks God there is no member who is dead in the new council. These are fallacies which were disclosed by the press and were refuted. In the first session of the council in Rabat, all the members were called before all the members in the presence of 141 members.
This is one of the issues that we will try to solve with the press so as not to show any distorted news that are said in or about the Sahara.
Moustafa El Alaoui: There were 300 members in the previous council Mr. Khallihenna.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: There were 190 members.
Moustafa El Alaoui: The current council includes 141 members and some tribes are not represented.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: This is not true Mr. Moustafa, not true.
Moustafa El Alaoui: What about the Filala tribe?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: It is represented.
Moustafa El Alaoui: The Majata tribe?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: It is represented.
Moustafa El Alaoui: What about Lmyar, Toufat, Dajkane tribes?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: They are represented. There is no tribe of those adopted by the United Nations that is not represented in the council.
Moustafa El Alaoui: Who proposed this council to the King?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: This is research in uninteresting matters. His Majesty is the one who appointed the council and he has the power to appoint who he wants in a specific phase for a specific purpose. He explained everything in the royal decree that established the new council, the existent duties and the way in which to constitute the council.
In the decree, there are 50 % of the council’s members: Representatives in the First Chamber, counselors in the Second Chamber, heads of regions, heads of regional councils, some heads of municipalities, some heads of rural communities, and this touches all the kinds of representation: Factional, social, field, the three regions constituting the Sahara, old people, youngsters, women, previous detainees and Moroccans abroad.
Moustafa El Alaoui: Protests and complaints exist.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: There is a positive complaint –that is, everybody wants to enter the council, and this a positive matter that shows that the council has credibility.
Mohammed El Ayadi: Letters were written about these protests and sent to the Royal Cabinet and to governors and prefects and could affect the unanimity necessary for the council to do its duties. As a president of this council, what did u do and what efforts did u make to calm these protests?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: These protests are very limited and the press gave it an extensive explanation while it is minor and came from some members of the previous council and some groups that saw that representation was not sufficient. But there cannot be any protest concerning appointment since appointment is appointment and election is election.
Mohammed El Ayadi: They do not protest against appointment but against who proposed.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: This means looking for who preceded the egg or the hen.
Moustafa El Alaoui: What are the standards of representing every tribe?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: Tribes are represented approximately through the importance of the number of tribes according to statistics.
Moustafa El Alaoui: Do you mean the tribes inside the country or in Tindouf?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: All the tribes are represented through its names and all the classes of the tribes are represented. Maybe concerning this council, a large population seeks to enter the council and the truth that will satisfy the Sahrawi people is that all the Sahrawi people are currently in the council. I see this matter as positive and it shows that the council has credibility.
Moustafa El Iraki: First, there is actually a balance in the representation of tribes and regions in the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS). Another point: my colleague Moustafa El Alaoui talked about dead people; I have two death certificates of two people in the CORCAS.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: They are certainly two death certificates of two people who do not belong to the council.
Moustafa El Alaoui: Lhocine Lgern.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: He does not belong to the council. There is Hemmadi Lgern and he is his son.
Moustafa El Iraki: There is a letter that was addressed to you where you substituted this person by another member of his family.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: This is a false accusation.
Moustafa El Iraki: These are death certificates. His Majesty appointed the President and the General Secretary. So who appointed the other members?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: It is the King who appointed them. These certificates are authentic. But they do not belong to the members of the council since its members are well alive.
Ali Anouzla: I agree with Mr. Khallihenna that the members are well alive. But the list that was published at first by the press agencies included Lhocine Lgern and Mohammed Moustafa Mokhtar may God protect them.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: It is a typing mistake. What is important in this matter? Looking for details that are insignificant? This is the mistake that was circulated by newspapers. Those who published these things should make sure of the source.
Moustafa El Alaoui: You are an important official in managing local affairs and a previous minister in managing the Sahara affairs. Why could not you through these positions save us time and reduce distances and actually convince us that the 25 of March is a boundary separating two phases?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errechid: It is true that March 25 is a historical day in the Sahara issue not just for the Sahrawi people but for the entire Morocco since it is the first time that the King declared and decided to express its will to apply autonomy to close the problem of the Sahara completely.
It is also considered a historical reconciliation between the Sahrawi people and the Moroccan administration. This was the basis of the problem and should be solved.
March 25 is different from what preceded it and opens a new page, that of building a new Morocco through a complete reconciliation with its people and to eliminate all the remains of the past that caused the problem of the Sahara and we are still facing it.
Moustafa El Alaoui: It has been 30 years that the Sahara issue pays for the errors of mismanagement that you called many times as terrible. Protests and demonstrations that are overestimated are a natural result to economic and social problems and you were the head of the municipality of Laayoune.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I am still its head.
Moustafa El Alaoui: People want a suitable accommodation, medical treatment, schooling, roads and this is all within your reach. All these protests could have been solved since you are the head of Laayoune’s municipality.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is an exaggeration Mr. Alaoui. Actually, the problem of the Sahara is not social and is not a question of medical treatment or accommodation or a local problem. The problem of the Sahara exists from 1975. It went through different phases. It experienced war from 1975 to 1991 since military confrontations were daily. Then there was the phase of the truce and determination of identity where there was passivity that lead to the problems that we are talking about. And Laayoune’s municipality has nothing to do with it.
Ali Anouzla: When the council was established in 1981 by the late King Hassan II, the Sahara issue faced a difficult situation especially when the King established the principle of referendum and was opposed by the parties especially the Union Socialiste. Thus, the King resorted to implement his role as the Emir of Believers and established this council and it was natural to be appointed in this way.
But after 25 years and after 7 years of the speech of King Mohammed VI in 1999 after the events of Laayoune where he spoke of election, why this withdrawal? On the other hand, election was to give the council more credibility and more popular representation and more legitimacy inside the Saharan provinces.
Moustafa El Alaoui: If you please, I will add another question to that of Ali Anouzla and thus your answer will include the two questions: You are now appointed by a direct decision of the King and are neither governed by the Minister of Interior nor by the Minister of Foreign Affairs who are two members in the council.
What are the means that you use to convince the Moroccan Sahrawi people in Tindouf and that conform to your proposals and initiatives with the Sahrawi people inside Morocco who consider themselves as neglected and at the same time how to convince the international community that is also an interlocutor in this phase? These are some of the challenges that you have to shoulder Mr. President?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I will begin by answering the question of Mr. Anouzla. The powers of the previous council finished a long time ago.
Ali Anouzla: It was already frozen.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No, it was not frozen since its powers finished. The current council has nothing to do with the remains of the previous council. The new council was built on a specific politics. It prepares the political, economic, social, diplomatic and psychological circumstances to establish this huge royal project.
Moustafa El Iraki: Don’t you think that the power of election is better than that of appointment?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is true. But election will enable people to manage their own affairs by themselves –that is, concerning implementing autonomy.
This is a royal institution, a royal means to execute a specific politics in a specific period. But despite appointment, the council is a true representative of all the social classes. People who belong to this council represent their tribes and regions. They are accredited and recognized. They have a moral, personal and historical power. The council is not constituted of unknown people. It is rather composed of personalities, women and young people who have reputation and status in the Sahrawi society.
Moustafa El Alaoui: You did not answer my question.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The royal council before being advisory is an official institution founded by King Mohammed VI to establish a final reconciliation with the Sahrawi people. Since there is a problem that is the basis of the issue, if it is not solved, the problem will still exist. The Sahrawi people need to accept compliantly the royal project to build a final unity.
There is a problem that still exists among us before dealing with the United Nations and the other.
Moustafa El Iraki: What is this problem?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Why was the Polisario Front established?
Moustafa El Alaoui: Why?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The Polisario Front was set up after the young Sahrawi people who studied in Rabat were badly treated in Tantan’s demonstration in 1972 and persecuted. They belonged to the region of Goulmime, Tantan and Assa Zak. The Sahrawi people who used to live in the free Morocco, namely, before 1975, are the ones who established the Polisario.
Why did the young people who studied in the faculties of letters, law, medicine and other national institutions constitute a separate organization while those who suffered under colonization, studied in Spain and have never come to the free Morocco worked in the opposite direction?
This is the basis of the problem. If we do not solve this main historical and original knot, the Sahara problem will not be solved.
Moustafa El Iraki: Do you declare Algeria as innocent?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: We will talk about Algeria afterwards. It is one of the fallacies. The problem of the Sahara is internal, namely, Moroccan-Moroccan and we will talk about the international and foreign repercussions later.
Moustafa El Iraki: A Moroccan-Moroccan problem and not Moroccan-Algerian?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Moroccan-Moroccan
Moustafa El Iraki: So why there was so much talk about the fact that the Sahara problem was a contrived conflict as the King confirmed in his last speech?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: We will address that issue later. When the Polisario was set up on May 1973, it was first supported by Libya then by Algeria for different reasons since it had a conflict of Morocco about the ratification of borders. Morocco did not ratify the agreement of Ifrane and Tilimsane, which made Algeria suspicious. Everything was shaken up between the Arab countries at the time of cold war and Morocco was considered as a backward country while other countries were considered as developed. All these ideologies collapsed afterwards but the basis of the Sahara problem is internal and then foreign actors intertwined.
Therefore, we as Moroccans have to solve today our internal knot first –that is, the historical reconciliation has to occur. This is what King Mohammed VI has done in Laayoune not in Rabat since his Majesty went to say to the Sahrawi people that what happened is finished and that we are going to open a new page where they can write what they want as long as this page is written within the Moroccan sovereignty.
Mohammed El Ayadi: You declared immediately after your appointment that the royal speech of March 25 was a speech of historical reconciliation between the Moroccan administration and the inhabitants of the southern provinces. Does this mean that there was a conflict?
What were the reasons of this clash?
You said in a press interview that there was a political gap after 1991.
Explicitly what are the reasons of this clash and political gap?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: First the clashes were in 1956. The Sahrawi people did not feel at least that they were treated in a good way or that their status was guaranteed in Morocco or that they were respected. This was one of the reasons of the original conflict that constituted the Polisario Front.
Then after the liberation, namely, after 1975, there were some problems. There was a confiscation of the Sahrawi people. They were suffering from a harsh custody, which lead to a lack of trust that caused political problems.
The reconciliation that we are talking about is that the highest authority in the country, namely, the King and the guarantor of freedoms and rights of individuals and groups came to the Sahrawi people to tell them: “I admit that the administration reconciles definitely and that you are an inseparable part not just in terms of territory”. There is a fallacy concerning territorial integrity. Thus one of the main duties assigned to the council is to assist the King in preserving territorial integrity and national unity since the Sahrawi people are an inseparable part of Morocco. Hence they must have a guaranteed political, economic, social and cultural status that does not disappear according to circumstances or according to the illusions of some people. Also the Sahrawi people are beside the King. This is the speech that touched the Sahrawi people and made of March 25 a historical event.
Ali Anouzla: Anyone who hears your speech today will think that you were in the Opposition Group. On the contrary, you were part of the authorities of custody and we did not hear the voice of Khallihenna opposing confinements and kidnappings in Qalaat Magouna. You had been a minister for 12 years
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: 17 years
Ali Anouzla : 17 years equals 4 US president’s mandates.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: in various governments
Ali Anouzla: Why didn’t you protest against conservatorship at that period? Why did you adopt this discourse, what had suddenly happened?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I was in a war period and war has its rules. Thus dialogue could not take place. During this war, I was in charge of developing the Southern Provinces and of Diplomatic missions in what regards defending the cause.
However, I was defending the Sahraouis situation and supporting the non arrest policy. Many people were released and I made things less bad than they used to be. Nonetheless, things went bad because of the reasons that everyone knows.
Moustafa El Alaoui: So, the problem is internally Moroccan.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: yes, in most of its aspects.
Moustafa El Alaoui: reconciliation with the other party which claim to be a self dependant state having an army and governmental bodies which accomplish their activities and 80 states acknowledge them.
How can we seek for autonomy while they believe in separatism?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: through reconciliation. For after reconciliation all the problems of the past come to be forgotten. We will let them know that Morocco has changed. This is what His Majesty Mohamed VI declared in his Speech in Laayoune.
Mohamed El Ayyadi: this is in case their decision was made independently?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: we will talk about Algeria later. First of all, Sahraouis are not POLISARIO. The POLISARIO represents the fraction that is under their control, for it has a security, military, and political administration. However, all the Sahraouis living in each and every region do know that POLISARIO did not achieve any of the aims for which it was established. They did not vanquish militarily speaking, they could not establish the referendum and they did not set their state upon the ground of the Laayoune, boujedour, Aousred, Dakhla or Smara that is to say on the territory that was colonized by Spain.
The POLISARIO has seriously failed to achieve the aims for which it was established. The Sahraouis know this very well. So, it has become necessary for the Sahraouis to look for something else that shall insure the rights for the sake of which people fought and died without losing their homeland.
Ali Anouzla: if we agree with your analysis that one of the main pillars for which the council was established is paving the ground to the autonomy, and effectively if we want this autonomy to be approved by the other party, they must take part of this autonomy.
And if agree that the POLISARIO is a military and political organization that has acquired a kind of sympathy in the Southern Provinces, why don’t you come to terms about representation of this organization in the Advisory Royal Council for Saharan Affairs?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: which organization?
Ali Anouzla: POLISARIO
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No, no…
Ali Anouzla: It will take place if we accept the autonomy principle. They will take part in this autonomy
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: autonomy is a project that is suggested to all the Sahraouis and the POLISARIO is an essential part of Sahraoui people. Autonomy is suggested as an alternative to secession, for secession in Sahara is not possible.
Mohamed El Ayadi: does this mean that a dialogue shall be established with the POLISARIO?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: of course! We will dialogue with all the Sahraouis, wherever they exist either in POLISARIO, Algeria, Mauritania or Spain.
You Sahraouis, you were complaining that you do not have a political status in the Moroccan state. You were complaining that Morocco do not consider you as the human element of the game. You were denying the historical relationship that is handed down from the dynasty of Moulay Ismail and that you have no direct relationship with His Majesty. We achieved everything we sought. Today, you are invited to come. It has been apparent that war leads to nothing, for the POLISARIO used to assault the region between Eddoura and Laayoune and today you know the barriers is adjacent to Lahmada, Errabouni and the camps and this a clear concrete sign of a great failure. It is worth noting that the war is impossible. The POLISARIO has not achieved its purpose. It is an independent state through use of weapons and in spite of sophisticated weapons like SAM 2, 3, 6, 8 and developed artillery; you did not achieve any military victory, which is the objective of all military organizations.
Moustafa El Alaoui : why is referendum impossible?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: the United Nations has designated specific tribes that are represented in the Royal Council, these tribes; however, do not live in Morocco alone, they are spread over Algeria and Mauritania. So, if we wanted to establish a free, fair and objective referendum that will determine the fate of all the Sahraouis. This referendum shall cover all the Sahraouis gound starting from the Abadla to the Alk, from the Abadla to the Malian boarders and in the region of Lbir and Zwirat and Nouadibou.
And this is quite impossible. How can we transform the boarders of three countries?
We will discuss with the Algerian and we will pay them a visit after I ask for permission from His Majesty to meet the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Moustafa El Iraki: in the web site of the Algerian Republic Presidency, the Sahara file was added for the first time, noting that they put in neither the Palestinian Cause nor the issue of draught in Africa. How can we assert that the problem is internally Moroccan and that during a period of thirty years, we were asserting that the problematic of Sahara was concocted by Franco in an era wherein he was thinking that Morocco was fragile and that its forces and national leaders were in prisons and Algeria was opponent to the Morocco’s territorial Integrity since mid seventies and you are coming now to say that the problem is internally Saharan instead of being Algerian-Moroccan?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: our mission is to tell our brothers the Algerians that they are our brothers and friends and that we are Sahraouis we are not artificial. Morocco did not fabricate us. It did not so neither as Moroccans nor as Sahraouis. We are true Sahraouis but most of us the Sahraouis want to stay in Morocco. And we obtained what we wanted namely the autonomy and we want our kinships living in Algeria to interfere so as to find a solution to this problem. We shall never cease dialogue with Algeria or any other party to make you committed to what you say as being not part of the dispute.
Ali Anouzla: you said that you will visit Algeria and discuss with the Algerian leaders. Is there any initiative towards the leaders of POLISRIO?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: evidently, they are our brothers and friends, we shall take issue with them at any time and in any place.
Mustafa El Alaoui: can we consider based on what you said Mr. President that the POLISARIO under the autonomy shall constitute an opponent party?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: no, it shall be contributing party. If Mohamed Abdulaziz wants to be the first president of the autonomous state, we will give him assistance.
Mustafa El Iraki: a contributing party with an ideology of secession?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: our essential mission is to urge Sahraouis wherever they are to withdraw from secession, prevent Algeria from providing separatists with assistance and instead urge it to help the unionists who are claiming autonomy.
Mustafa El Alaoui: can we consider autonomy as pattern of self determination?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: yes and I will provide you with examples. Autonomy is the paramount point of self determination. ETA Basque organization agreed with the Spanish Government on a permanent cease fire after it had given up historically what is known as the separatist self determination and opted for a self determination that leads to autonomy.
The Irish Republican Army gave up the separatist self determination and embraced the unionist self determination with the United Kingdom. In fact, there are many examples.
Autonomy is a very advanced path towards self determination and ability to manage their affairs in a framework of Democracy, liberty and dignity.
This is what is appropriate for the Sahraouis. No one of the Sahraouis, and even those in Tendouf, can say that their parents and grandparents were not Moroccans from a recent era. all their fathers were part of the Liberation Army, they all cried the Late Hassan II at the coup d’états.
Sahraouis are Moroccans; they only need some understanding, solemnity, confidence and impartiality so as to adhere to the project.
Ali Anouzla: what are the constituents of autonomy that shall convince the other party?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: the autonomy standards are largely known.
Ali Anouzla: the standards that were laid down in 2003 were not democratic?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Morocco has never presented any kind of projects. These are rumors.
Ali Anouzla: no, they are not (rumors)
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Morocco shall present the real project after making national and democratic consultations.
Ali Anouzla: can you provide us with the details of this project?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No, the royal consultation with the Royal Council has not taken place yet. Nevertheless, autonomy standards are notorious.
Moustafa EL Iraki: which autonomy prototype, the Irish or the Spanish?
Mohamed EL Ayadi: I still focusing on one point, you are telling that the POLISARIO front make decisions independently; however, Morocco has always considered that the Front of POLISARIO has never be free in the making of its decisions and if it was an independent decision maker, the problem would have been solved long ago.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I agree with you. That is true indeed. We are sparing no efforts to make them able to make free decisions. We are requesting Algeria as being a neighbor, a friend and as an important Arab and Islamic country with a s significant history to help us by urging our brothers in the camps to adhere to the project of autonomy, as being the sole solution. For, there are no alternatives and as for those who dream of establishing an independent state, by way of a fake and detached referendum, they are dreaming of unachievable fantasies.
Mohamed El Ayadi: this can take place only after Morocco consents upon the autonomy project agreed upon on the level of the Maghreb.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: the Moroccan project shall be submitted by Morocco. We shall remind all the parties, notably the POLISARIO, which we consider as Sahraouis that this historical project is what your antecedents proposed to the Late Mohamed V in 1956 and to the Late Hassan II and this what His Majesty Mohamed VI admitted. This is an unprecedented historical event. Such a reconciliation has not taken place since the kinship that was established between the King Moulay Ismail and Khenata Bent Bakar, which incarnates a true reconciliation from the deepest of the heart.
Moustafa El Iraki: but they refuted this initiative.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: dear Friend, in reconciliations, there are ups and downs. We have not started working yet. The council is newly born. Thus, most of its constituents and activities have not been established yet and we are going to speak to all Sahraouis and convince them men and women that this is their promised project.
Moustafa El Iraki: did you designate a strategy for this dialogue?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errachid: of course, and we have already started working on it.
Mousatafa El Iraki: what is the autonomy experience that you are personally opting for?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: first of all, autonomy shall be based upon the national interests of Morocco.
Moustafa El Iraki: How come?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: every country has its specificities. Thus, we are going to take over from all the previous experiences and it would be better if they are appropriate to its own peculiarities.
Moustafa El Iraki: this is a national issue upon which consultations among all political parties have been tackled. So it is not your project only.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: you constitute part of the National Integrity.
Moustafa el Iraki: departing from your speech, it seems that imposing a kind of custodianship on the issue of Sahara.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: this is an old fashioned mentality that we shall try to change. His Majesty Mohamed VI shall make decisions in what regards these matters; reconciliation within Morocco as well as internal-external reconciliation.
Moustafa El Iraki: you have adopted this speech during the last thirty years and it was to no avail and you have become responsible of the situation in Sahara through your municipal authority.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: authority? Do you mean Laayoune? I have been the head of the Municipal council of Laayoune since 1983.
Moustafa El Iraki: you are monopolizing privileges.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I am not afraid from any kind of questions or from any issue. I am the head of the Municipal Council of Laayoune for 23 years now. The city of Laayoune of which I was in charge in 1983 is not Laayoune that you see today. Today, Laayoune has become a large, urban city, in which many achievements took place, member of the Arab Towns Organization which assembles capital cities only. it is a permanent unelectable member , as it is stipulated in the bylaws of the organization, side by side with Mecca, Medina and El Qods.
Moustafa EL Iraki: you are viewed by citizens as well to do people that took advantage of the region riches and this makes the gap between you and people day after day.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: let us discuss it. You said privileges? What kind of privileges? Are they on the land, in the sea or in the air?
Moustafa el Iraki: may be the three of them.
Moustafa El Alaoui: the dialogue must be unified so as to avoid a dualistic dialogue.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: I want this dialogue dualistic because these are true fallacies that I must correct, for they are not true.
What are you asking about? The sea?
Moustafa el Iraki: for instance.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: I do not know who is taking advantage of the sea, and I own anything neither in the air nor in the sea.
Are you talking about sand?
Moustafa El Iraki: let us say so.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: sands in the Sahara are not like sand quarries in the Northern Provinces which are allocated as privileges to one or many persons. Sahara is full of sands.
As for the sands that are exported to Las Palmas, this was not a privilege. There were 80 companies exporting sands. It is a question of cleverness, for anyone who has a client in Spain exports greater quantities and without any license.
Moustafa el iraki: without any regulating law?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: yes, without.
Moustafa El Iraki: but these are the riches of this region of Morocco.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: shall we inhibit people from exporting sands abroad?
Moustafa El Iraki: yes, these are Morocco’s riches.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Sands constitute a heavy burden on us; we need somebody else to shoulder it.
Secondly, during 30 years working for the Moroccan, state, I have not acquired even the least of privileges.
Moustafa El Iraki: these 30 years knew the predominance of the former Minister of Interior Driss Basri who had created a group of VIPs who benefitted from the riches and inhibited National parties Political action and this is one of the problems that the Sahraoui Youth are withstanding now.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errachid: who is this youth? I am not one of them. Do you mean the Sahraoui youth
Moustafa El Iraki: many manifestations were made against you, right?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: never, it is me who abated the manifestations. Your information Mr. Iraki needs to be emended. First of all, I do not belong to Driss El Basri, neither to former ministry of Interior nor to any other ministries, nevertheless, I went up against them in the time when they were the great power that everyone feared.
Moreover, all what is said on Sahara, either concerning privileges or what is called ‘the aid’ are mere lies that are fake and fallacious.
Moustafa El Aloui: I am going back to the Algerian leadership that you are advocating
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I am not defending the Algerian Leadership I am just quoting expressly what the Algeria expressly says.
Moustafa El Alaoui: it has been noticed that the Algerian leadership increases the pressure on Morocco whenever oil prices gets higher.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: these are waffles that should not be said. Algeria is a neighbor country and has the right to purchase what it wants, wishing opulence and progress for its people, which is something delighting for us.
We will insist on the Algerians to set understanding between us in an attempt to establish the Maghreb union.
Mohamed El Ayadi: unlike what you have just said that Algeria is not concerned with this issue, we find that people from Algeria are calling upon Algerian authority to let down this file and lay dialogue with Morocco and rejecting the erection of a delusive state like Louiza Hannoun.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: then we have to support this tendency
Mohamed El Ayadi: but is not that the opposite of what you have just said?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: it is not contradictory, we just want to give help all the tendencies
Mohamed El Ayadi: let me clarify my point further. People like Louisa Hannoun, ben bella and others are acting against the official Algerian position.
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: we want Bouteflika
Mohamed El Ayadi: as a council, don”t you have the intention to open up towards this voice and strengthen it?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: in fact, we would like to open up towards the whole Algerian constituents. We want to say to His Excellency the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whom I had the pleasure to meet him when he was the most brilliant foreign affairs minister in the third world, that we are true sahraouis.
Mohamed el Ayadi: Was he the most brilliant foreign affairs minister while he was advocating secession?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: he was the most brilliant foreign affairs minister of an Islamic Arab state that is adjacent to Morocco. We shall say to His Excellency that we would like him to admit that we are True Sahraouis, that we are not made up and that we want to be Moroccans and manage our own affairs and conciliate with our brothers that are hosted in your country. We shall keep on stating to the Algerian President, government and people and we shall prove to them that the POLISARIO is not the sole legitimate representative of the Sahraouis and that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic does not exist on earth but only exists in Hassi Rabouni, which is 20 Kms far from Tendouf.
We shall tell that the project which we are working on is beneficial to all the parties. Algeria sought to defend the interests of a section of Sahraouis. It will lose nothing, since the Sahraouis would achieve all what they sought after.
Ali Anouzla: is this a compliment?
Mr. Khellihenna Oueld Errechid: it is not a compliment, for praising implies judgment making. It is a new language.
Ali Anouzla: a new language?!
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: as the council is new, we are adopting a language of reconciliation.
Ali Anouzla: you stated that you have the intention to meet the Algerian Leaders, isn’t this a trespassing of the capacity of the council, which has an advisory nature at the time when it was supposed to submit his proposal to His Majesty?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid Envy is not acceptable in patriotism. This is a contribution in the reformation of the current situation and in solving the problem. Anyone who can contribute in reforming the case is accepted, and this is the peak of patriotism. We should not be irritated for administrative or personal matters or imaginary specialities. The gate is wide open before any Moroccan able to work for the national case and must be decorated with a medal.
Ali Anouzla: isn’t it one of the functions of Moroccan diplomacy?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: All of us constitute one group behind his majesty and each one of us has its role
Mostapha El Alaoui: Many people consider autonomy an extended regionalism. Thus, there must be a constitutional amendment and a conditioning of the project with the constitution.
Are we in need of a constitutional amendment?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid It is clear that it is the king and the parliament with the majority of the two thirds that have the right of making a constitutional amendment. However, it is self-evident that if a change occurs in the administrative system of the Moroccan kingdom
Ali Anouzla: Morocco has already presented the autonomy project in 2003, and it was rejected for the simple reason that it did not include the principle of referendum at the end of a transitional phase as it was the case in the suggestion of James Baker.
Do you expect that now when you are asked to make a suggestion to Morocco so as it can be represented to the United Nations, if you make a suggestion that does not include a referendum it will be accepted by the other party or parties or the universal community?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: We agree on one thing. The referendum for determining the identity has never been preceded in the United Nations. There has never been a referendum for determining the identity since the one organised by the United Nations in 1945. There has been referendums but in areas living in territorial, ethnic or religious problems.
Ali Anzoula: We talk about the Sahara case, and there has been a plan to reach a compromise, a plan that was based on the referendum but which has been rejected even by the POLISARIO.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The POLISARIO is still claiming the right to self-determination. Mr. Anzoula, I will tell you why the United Nations considers the referendum technically impossible, because if you want to know the Sahraouis opinion regarding self-determination, they must be either in Algeria or Mauritania. Thus, there must be a change in the borders of the tree countries.
Mustapha El Alaoui: How there can be a self-determination whereas the state already exists in their views ?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is a contradiction and we will tackle it when we will talk about Algeria.
Mustapha El Iraki: Don’t you see that you have talked of large specialities of that council which do not figure in the Dahir?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Did you read the Dahir?
Mustapha El Iraki: Yes I did. The Saharan case is a national cause. It is the cause of all the political parties. There are some red lines that must not be crossed in this issue either concerning autonomy or referendum. There are some national political parties, such as the Independence party or the Socialist Union party, which come from the National Movement and which struggled for decades in favour of the Sahara independence. Now, with your intervention you have become guardians of the Sahara issue.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is a sophism. The Dahir stipulates that the major mission of the council is to help the king protect the territorial entity and the national unity of the Moroccan kingdom. The political parties within the national unity
Mustapha El Alaoui: We know that the fact of listening to the Moroccan Sahraouis detained in Tindouf seems hard?
Mr. Khallihenna oueld Errechid: Do we agree that the referendum for self-determination is impossible?
Ali Anzoula: According to you
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No, according to all the Sahraouis if we want to organize a referendum for self-determination we have to change the borders
Ali Anzoula: James Baker?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Morocco refused the project of James Baker and we cannot take it as an element
Ali Anzoula: As you have said, the cause is Moroccan.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: If the referendum takes place on the whole of its territory including from Buiekran to Lakouirat, from Al Abdala to Tindouf and from Bir Boukrin to Nwadibo, it won’t scare me
Mustapha El Alaoui: What about the other party Mr. President?
Mr. Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: Is the United Nations able to change the borders of three countries?
Mustapha El Alaoui: Where is Algeria in all that?
Mr. Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: Algeria and its population are very close to Morocco, and it’s the country that resembles Morocco the most in terms of customs, history and behaviour.
I hear some talks from Algerians of high rank that Algeria does not interfere in the Sahara issue and that it does not take part in it, and that this issue concerns only Morocco and the Sahraouis. And as the prophet Mohammed said “I am ordered to judge people on what they express, but what they hide only Allah knows it”.
Algeria is a respectful country that has a glorious history. It led a glorious liberation war that the entire world had witnessed. Algerians have their pride which is called the Algerian pride. And they said that they are not concerned.
Algerians and their president have said that they are not a party. Yes, they are not a party and they must not be a party.
Mustapha El Alaoui: In 27 February 2002, Boutafliqa visited what is called the Saharan Republic in Tindouf camps, and addressed a letter to the president of POLISARIO and said that his country won’t accept this state of fact.
In 8-02-2002 the Algerian president sent a letter to the United Nations general secretary Kofy Annan where he stressed that the Sahara issue is a case of occupation. He said that the conflict is between the Sahraouis and the occupation force which is us Mr. President and that the problem is not Morocco-Algerian.
In 8-11-2004: An official ceremony to receive Abdel aziz El Morrakochi.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The problem is not Morocco-Algerian. Algeria took part in it by chance, but the previous Algeria where the current president was the minister of foreign affairs
Mustapha El Alaoui: This is in 2004
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The Algerian Prime Minister Mr. Mohammad Bejaoui, said yesterday in Washington that they do not take part in the Saharan problem, and that it only concerns Morocco and the Sahraouis.
Mustapha El Iraki: Why Algeria is acting in the third committee in the African Union and before that in the Organisation of African Unity against Morocco?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This was because of us. We didn’t have a project. Morocco didn’t have a real project. We were just talking of a possible project.
I am a witness that Algeria in spite of all what has been said…I judge things by their ends.
Mohammad El Ayadi: Because the whole world tends to a political solution, thus Algeria has been surpassed.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Now we have a project
Ali Anzoula: What is that project?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: It is the autonomy that we will have in the coming days.
Ali Anzoula: Is this an announcement?
Mr.Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: No. The king has consulted the political parties and will consult the Royal Advisory Council in the coming days to develop the Moroccan project. This is the reason why we didn’t present the Moroccan project to the United Nations in April. Some issues are still under discussion.
Ali Anzoula: Is this an attempt to gain more time?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No. The council has been constituted in March 25th and held its first session between the 4th and the 6th of April. Since then No extraordinary session has been held to discuss this issue.
Ali Anzoula: What is your suggestion concerning autonomy?
Mr.Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: Algeria in spite of what has been said is a wise country. It is characterized by wisdom and insight. I have watched the war too closely because I was a member in the High Council for Defence. Algeria has never taken any action that may have dangerous consequences.
Mustapha El Iraki: what about Amghala?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Traffic accident. Now, our aim is to find a solution not make things more complicated. Algeria says that it is not a party. We must judge people on their intentions. If you are not a party why do you recognize a country that was not established on resolutions? We will then ask her to shut the POLISARIO embassy in the Algerian capital.
I agree with Algeria that it is not a party.
Mustapha El Alaoui: What about the military body in Tindouf?
Mr.Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: Algerians have received our cousins in Tindouf camps, and we thank them for that and for granting humanitarian aids. But we say to them that the legitimate hospitality is three days, after that it becomes illegitimate. This is why we are calling for the Moroccan project, because it will bring solutions for all the parties.
Firstly, it will preserve the dignity of all the parties. Algeria, you are a country that has its own principles and history. You have sheltered sons arguing with their parents and you are thanked for that. However, the subject is that you were not able to agree with us on the same issue because people did not have a stable situation. Now it’s no longer the case. People living in the camps are no longer threatened or obliged to surrender or be suppressed or defeated. All what you have fought for such as the economic and cultural positions are guaranteed by the autonomy. You won’t be defeated if you accept the autonomy. Algeria you have realized what was expected from you. You have sheltered people till they have reached the goal they were aiming.
Autonomy preserves the dignity of all the parties and establishes an essential basis for the building the Maghreb Arab and for reconciliation, fraternity and unity. We will talk to Algerians and we will go to them and personally I will ask his majesty for permission to meet the president…
Mustapha El Iraki: The web site of the Algerian republic presidency added for the first time the Saharan file. They didn’t add the Palestinian file or the file of African drought. So how can you then say that the problem is only between Moroccan parties knowing that for 30 years we has said that this problem has been caused by Franco in a time he thought Morocco was weak and all his national leaders were in jail, and knowing also that Algeria since the seventies has been against the territorial unity of Morocco. And now you say that the problem is Saharan-Moroccan not Morocco-Algerian?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: Our task is to say to the Algerians that they are thanked and that we are Sahraouis. Morocco has not changed that fact. We are real Sahraouis but the majority of us want to stay in Morocco, and this goal will be reached through autonomy.
Mr. Anzoula: Since the beginning you have been talking of autonomy, but we don’t know what exactly this autonomy that is considered as self-determination is. Can you tell us its content so as the other party calling for self-determination can be convinced? All the criteria presented by Morocco within its project were refused because it was not democratic.
Mr.Khallihenna Oueld Errechid: The criteria of autonomy are known to everybody. Morocco has not presented any project. There are some rumours that there will be a project before March the 25th. You are talking of New biber and this is not a project. Morocco will present the real project after national and democratic talks. The royal discussion with the council has not yet taken place. It is expected for the coming days, but I cannot give its content since it is not official.
Mustapha El Iraki: I am still stressing that you are saying that the front of POLISARIO has its independent decision, whereas Morocco has always been saying that if it were so the problem would has been solved since the beginning.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid:I don’t disagree with you. We are trying by all means to make the decision of POLISARIO independent. We are asking that from Algeria because it is a neighbour and an important Arab and Islamic country that has an important history and that can help us make our brothers in the camps join this project because it is the ultimate solution.
There is no other alternative. Those who are dreaming of establishing an independent state or organizing an independent referendum are just dreaming. This will never happen. We will prompt the other parties, especially the POLISARIO front, which means all the Sahraouis that are concerned not only the leadership. This is your historical project. This is what your parents had told The King Mohammad V in 1956. This is what your parents have told the king Hassan II. And this is what was approved by his majesty the king Mohammad VI. It is a historical achievement that has never been preceded. There has never been such reconciliation with the Sahraouis.
We have not started working yet. The council is newly established and not all its components have been constituted. We will talk to all the Sahraouis and convince them that this is their desired project. Autonomy will be based firstly on national interests and Moroccan nationalism. Every country has its special features, but we will gain profit from all the experiences and especially if it coheres with our characteristics. The king is the one who will take the decision of either Internal or external reconciliation.
Mustapha Al Iraki: This has been your speech during thirty years, and it has led to no results. You are responsible for the Saharan conditions because of your collective ruling of Sahara that has known a monopoly of privileges. Many people consider you one of the leaders who have taken profit from the goods of the region, and that there is a big gap between you and the people that becomes wider and wider.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I am not scared of any question or anything. I am the president of Laayoune municipal council from 1983. This city has become today a big civilized city and a member of the Arab cities organisation which contains only the capitals. It is a member of the permanent office next to Mecca, El Medina and Jerusalem. Of what privileges are you talking about? This is a sophism that I want to correct. I do not take profit from the sea and I do not know who take profit from it and the air and the land neither. Moreover, the sand you are talking about is not like in the north where its exploitation is a privilege given to one person or a group of people. The desert is replete of sand, and the sand that is exported to Las Palmas is not a privilege. There are 80 companies that export send to Las Palmas. This does not need any authorization or law, because we have a big surplus of sand. Moreover, I do not have since thirty years any privilege in the Moroccan state, and all what is said about me in the news is not true and this is what makes troubles.
Question: At the time of the minister of interior Mr. Driss El Bassri Some leaders took profit from the region and deterred the political work of some national political parties, and these are some of the problems that the Sahraouis now fight against. Moreover, there have been demonstrations organised against you.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: You have to correct and renew your information. On the contrary, I participated in the demonstrations, and I didn’t belong to neither Driss El Bassri nor to the ministry of interior but I stood against it in the time it constituted a big power, and when nobody could stood against it. However, all what is said about the Sahara and the privileges is lies and cheat.
Mustapha El Alaoui: I will go back with you to the Algerian leadership that you defend. What is noticed is that the Algerian leadership is rising tension with Morocco as oil prices rise too.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: I am not defending the Algerian leadership. I am just expressing publicly what Algeria expresses publicly too. We must not say so. Algeria is a neighbouring country that has the right to buy and sale whatever it wants, and we wish it wealth and prosperity, and we must act so as Arabs and Muslims. However, we will ask our brothers the Algerians and claim our right to solve our problems and reach a compromise so as to establish the Maghreb Arab.
Mohammad Al Ayadi: Contrary to what you are saying that Algeria is not concerned, we find some voices from Algeria saying that they do not want an imaginary state. Louisa Hanoun, Ben Bella and others oppose the Algerian position from the Sahara case. Don’t you think in the council to open up on these sides and strengthen this trend in Algeria?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: We must not add fuel to the fire. We have to cooperate between us. We want from Mr. president Abdel Aziz Boutafliqa to recognize us as true Sahraouis that no one has created, and who want to be Moroccans able to handle their own affairs and to be reconciled with their brothers that are hosted in Algeria. We will say that many times to the president, the Algerian government and to all the countries. We will show them that POLISARIO is not the only and legitimate representative of the Sahraouis, and that the Arab Democratic Sahraoui republic is only a lie that does not exist on earth or in any tent or country and that it exists only in Hassi rabouni, 20 Km from Tindouf. We will say to them that the project we are preparing is a project that preserves dignity of all parties. We say to Algeria that wanted to defend a part of Sahraouis that it has not lost all what the Sahraouis aimed to realize.
Question: With this new tone and your declaration that you want meet the president Boutafliqa, don’t you think that you exceed the functions of this council?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is a new tone and reconciliation. There should not be envy in patriotism. This is a contribution to improve things and solve the problem. Anyone who can contribute to solve the problem is accepted and this is the peak of patriotism and national work. We should not envy administrative or personal issues or imaginary functions. Every Moroccan that can contribute in favour of the national cause must come and stand in the first rows. All of us support the king and it’s him who determines the functions of everybody.
Mustapha El Alaoui: There are people who consider autonomy as an extended regionalism. Thus, we must make a constitutional change to accommodate the project with the constitution. Are we in need of a constitutional change?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: it is clear that making a change in the constitution is among the functions of the king and the majority of the parliament. So, that’s clear, but it is self-evident that if a change in the administrative system of the Moroccan kingdom takes place it must be among the constitution.
Mr. Anzoula: From a combinatory reading of the current council, we find that it includes representatives of some provinces that do not belong to the Saharan region that is supposed to be a subject of a conflict. Does autonomy will include these provinces whose representatives are present in the council?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: the presence of these people inside the council is a moral power. They are part of the national unity, and this is an important role to the realization of the essential national goals.
Mustapha Al Iraki: Does the autonomy or regionalism include the geographical area that is the subject of the conflict, or does it extend to areas that have social or cultural characteristics?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The time has not come yet to ask this question. The royal consulting has not yet taken place to start working on this issue, and this is due to the content of the consulting. Is it a project, a question or a request to present a project?
Mustapha El Alaoui: You as a person interested in this file and as a president of the council, we will ask you about some mistakes that were committed in managing the Saharan file, and we want to shed light on some of the diplomatic mistakes. Did the retirement from the organisation of African unity was right? And did the vacant chair policy give bad results?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: We should not make judges on the past in a time and circumstances which are different. The decision of retirement at that time was due to the circumstances of that period. And talking of the vacant chair is a bit hard but surely it was followed by another policy.
Mustapha Al Iraki: Who are the responsible for these mistakes in the Saharan file? Is it necessary to monopole the file by a certain party related to Driss El Bassri? Has the file been handled in the right way?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This question needs an encyclopaedia, and who does not make mistakes? Does anyone in this life don’t make mistakes? The most important is to correct these mistakes. What is done is done and we cannot change the past unless we use a policy which is different from the one used in the past. I did say my personal view but it was not published by many newspapers. Thanks allah that this past has gone and that his majesty Mohammad VI has changed the track to the right one.
Mr. Anzoula: before 25 years your declarations contradict the current ones
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: No, it is just a different reading
Mohammad El Ayadi: What has been gained from the wrong experience?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: It is not wrong in the whole. There are only some mistakes in it, especially the negligence that took place after the ceasefire. I think that this comes from the feeling of rapture over an inexistent glory. This is a Moroccan phenomenon not only in the Sahara issues but in other matters too. It has been said at the time hat the Saharan problem is over and that there is no need to the Sahraouis any more. That was the cause of problems.
Mustapha Al Iraki: There is who see that you have exerted some pressure before March the 25th by your declarations to the newspapers. You criticized a ministerial delegation that was in Laayoune city, which was interpreted as a kind of pressure exerted by you so as to be nominated the council chairman.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: First of all there isn’t any Moroccan who can exert pressure on the royal decisions. These decisions cannot result from the pressure of any party. Moreover, this ministerial delegation is made up of my friends, my colleagues and people who are dear to me. I didn’t exert any pressure on them during the meeting you have mentioned. Newspapers publish a lot of news that are most of the time not true. This is the problem of the press. The royal council will talk to the press in order not to publish any untruths about the Sahara because this will harm the national cause. Journalists must search the exact information from its source.
Mustapha El Alaoui: In the framework of the fast changes that this case knows, there are who want to gain legitimacy and wealth at the expense of the humanitarian aids of the Morrocan Sahraouis who are detained, and the obliteration of the Moroccan identity by the expulsion of children to Cuba so as to be subjects to brainwashing and to be loaded of extremism. How can you stop that bleeding?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is one of the functions of the council. We have addressed a long letter to all the organisations that support the POLISARIO all over the world, and we ask them to cooperate with yes to get rid of this problem. We also thank them for the humanitarian aids they grant to our brothers in Tindouf, and ask them to work with us politically to solve this problem in the framework of the royal project.
Question: A group of Moroccan detainees in Tindouf returned home and kept the same functional situation. There has been said that the files of many of them do not figure neither within the frame work of the advisory council nor the Equity and reconciliation commission.
How can these people be compensated so as to send a message to the universal society?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: The issue of detainees is a painful issue, because they have suffered a lot in Tindouf camps, and they have our compassion of course. This is why if there problem is not solved we will talk to them to improve their conditions within the frame work of the defence of national unity.
Question: Algeria refused to grant the visa to the Moroccan comedic artist Jamal Eddabouz the day when he was to perform a show in Al jazayer city, because they consider that this artist cease all the opportunities to mention that the Sahara is Moroccan.
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: This is one of the issues we will tackle and we will require a lot of visas from them.
Question: Abdel Aziz El Morrakochi?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: His name is Mohammad or Aouhamtou. His father is an important member in the new council. I say to him that “Maa Al Aynayn greets you and that he tells you that Tantan has changed and that El Mkhizi El Bakouri who was in Tantan is dead”.
Question: Mohammad Salem Oueld Salek Franco?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid:: My friend Franco. I say to him that his children are missing their uncles who miss them too and that they have changed and want their families to come back.
Question: Mohammad Sidati?
Mr. Khallihenna Ould Errachid: His name is Mohammad laghdaf. I say to him that his brother Abdel Malek had a vision before two days where he saw him walking in Mohammad V Street wearing a beautiful modern suit.