Here follows the full text of the statement:

Question: The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs made significant effort in improving the civil and social rights of the inhabitants of the South, you referred in your speech to a range of things that have been achieved during the last three years

Khalihenna: Yes, true, many people are not aware of the Council’s work, although we often say to the press and other media that the Council’s task is not to prepare self-government project and defend it both domestically and internationally. One of its core functions is to address social and economic issues that have contributed in harming rights of individuals or groups, or were the focus of disagreement between the people and management.

  That is why in these two years we faced complicated issues unresolved for a long time resulting in inappropriate things. The Council has worked with the departments concerned to give quick solutions to these issues, including wanted people, in addition to a variety of issues, public issues, issues of civil rights and public rights, that they contributed to political tension in the region. They needed to be resolved and today they are resolved thanks to the relevant departments of the Ministry of the Interior Ministry of Justice, the Council and stakeholders.

There was also the 3 decade long problem of the phosphate administration that has been exploited abroad by the international institutions and civil society. This was among the things that gave credibility to the work of the Council, and cooled the atmosphere between the retirees and living or dead legal claimants. A compromise was signed last year, which took into account the demands of the claimants and the interests of the company.  

There were also issues concerning the sheiks that made identification who were claiming royal gesture in view of the national effort that they did whether at home, in the Tindouf camps and Mauritania, these people provided services and the King responded to them and decorated them with medals as a recognition for their distinguished service

There were also damages repeatedly asked by the old council members. Today, this was resolved by consent and included members and beneficiaries at the same time

There were also issues related to teachers and professors under the Spanish rule that we also resolved on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. Those people were given their retirement and package rights through the Ministry of National Education in compensation for the years they worked.

There is also the problem of returnees. It requires studies and arrangement according to specializations, priorities and needs. We are working on it to cope with the problem in a fair, equitable and satisfactory manner to all.

There is also the problem of those who were working at Maroc Telecom its privatization. A solution was found to them without harming their interests and those of the company. We are addressing issues of this kind.

  We have a number of points that have been approved by His Majesty the King and we are working on them with the administration. I did not want to mention those that have not yet been resolved, and they are many, relating to anomalies or social complaints that affect a number of people resulting in wrong out of place political. However, these errors were not deliberate, but either through the failure to find a mediator to find appropriate solutions or through not giving appropriate solutions in a timely manner  

Therefore, we continue in this process, which I call social individual and collective human rights, which are main human rights on the expression of opinion.

  Therefore, we are discussing the remaining issues of this kind along with issues tackled in two years. For example, the problem of housing is also a problem of rights, all those who have lived for 17 years in non-decent homes suffering climatic conditions live today in good conditions. It also concerned people from the other Territories who have not benefited from parcels of land from the State for some reason. All this contributed to political tension and was considered as violation of human rights.

We are now studying every issue in all our regular sessions, because special sessions was devoted to political issues. Every session contains developmental and political point. Today, we reconcile these points because they accumulated and  reflected results concerning credibility, effectiveness and seriousness, and in relation to the commitment to address the real problems of people mainly housing, education, vocational training, health… I think that if there is a real efficacy in this field, either in the coordination between departments, speed and implementation coordination, it means that the Council has achieved significant gains in addition to the political gains regarding the national issues and self-government.

  Source: Corcas
(News on Western Sahara issue- Corcas)