Following the second informal talks on the Sahara, held on February 10-11 in Armonk, in the outskirts of New York, in a bid to find a lasting political solution to the regional conflict over the Moroccan Sahara, the spokesman said that "these talks, held under the aegis of UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy, Christopher Ross, were frank and intense."

    He added that "the Moroccan delegation seized this opportunity to present once again the autonomy plan, whose pre-eminence was stressed by the Security Council."

    "The substantial content of this initiative, its democratic spirit, strategic regional dimension and conformity with the international legality and the directives of the Security Council have been largely outlined," the spokesman said.

    He added that “the Moroccan delegation underlined anew the unfeasibility of the so-called polisario proposal, which recycles obsolete approaches and is based upon a referential deemed outdated by the United Nations.”

    He also said that the meeting "was also an opportunity to strongly condemn the strategy of human rights manipulation used by the other parties to sabotage the process of political negotiations initiated by the Security Council and hoped for by the international community."

    “The Moroccan delegation reiterated that regarding the fabricated individual cases, the Moroccan law, establishing rights and obligations, applies throughout the national territory in accordance with the international legality,” the spokesman said.

    He also said that “the Moroccan delegation underscored that the biased allegations about individual cases cannot obscure the utterly tragic situation of populations held against their will in Tindouf camps in the Algerian territory.”

    “In this regard, the delegation noted the repeated refusal by Algeria to allow, in accordance with its indisputable international obligations, for the registration and the census of these populations, a measure prior to the implementation of the humanitarian protection mandate of UNHCR,” he said.

    The spokesman also said that “the Moroccan delegation noted with surprise the confirmation by the Polisario that +its own laws apply in Tindouf camps+.”

    “This incongruous situation - where a sovereign State yields its powers to an armed group on its own territory - is unprecedented in the world and is illegal from an international law perspective.”

    “This reality leads to a dilution of responsibilities and confusion, which hurt the populations held against their will in Tindouf camps,” he said.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue/ Corcas