 Petitioners from all regions of the world met on Tuesday in New York to reiterate before the UN 4th Committee, their "firm support" to the Moroccan autonomy initiative in the Sahara and advocate the right to return to the motherland of Sahrawis sequestered in Polisario camps.
Among the petitioners who spoke Tuesday before the Committee, there were politicians and representatives of civil society who talked about their daily lives in the southern provinces and the reason why they have "always supported the Moroccan Sahara as they continue to do so. "
The president of the U.S. NGO Nancy Huff at the 4th UN Committee
In addition, they told Member States in this debate which will continue until Friday, the various aspects of the issue: history, culture, development as well as the present and the future of this region.
Among the speakers former senior UN officials, academics and experts, as well as international NGOs which share their analysis on the issue and demonstrate to members of the 4th UN Committee the relevance of the Moroccan initiative described as "serious and credible" by the UN Security Council.
 Professor Aymeric Chauprade in New York before the 4th UN committee
Last year, before the same Committee, many speakers complained about the "lack of political will" showed by some parties to resolve the conflict which hinders the future of the peoples of the Maghreb and "obstruct any process of census in the camps ", yet a legal obligation under international law.
In its latest resolution on Western Sahara, in April, the UN Security Council called for a census of these populations. A call which remains unanswered!
This year, the works of the 4th Committee are held in a context marked by a particular disturbing regional situation because of the instability in the Sahel-Saharan strip posing a serious threat to the security in the Maghreb and beyond. "Implosion of a state in the neighborhood"
"It is never good to have the implosion of a state in the neighborhood," said to MAP Geoff Porter, an American expert in North Africa, with reference to events in Mali, where 50 per cent of the territory are in the hands of armed groups. For him it is a "bad signal" for the region.
Indeed, the destabilizing consequences do not concern just northern Mali - an area affected by insurgency and terrorism - but the entire region, according to western observers at the UN, mentioning in this regard the case of " the infiltration within Polisario of the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb "(AQIM), referring to the recent kidnappings of three Western aid workers in the Polisario camps.
The weekly magazine "Jeune Afrique" to be released this week says that the Polisario leadership "seems to have lost all control over its base."
According to a summary document by the European and North African intelligence services on the Sahara situation cited by the paper, the stranglehold of Islamist groups in northern Mali "has created, since more than six months, a heaven for hundreds of young recruits "especially from Polisario camps.
While "risks are enormous," supporters of "status quo" expose the sub-region to flourishing " terrorist organizations" whose spectrum extends beyond the sub-region, pointed to the MAP recently a Western diplomat at the UN.
Faced with this alarming situation, many voices are calling for pragmatism, arguing that a negotiated solution based on realism and a spirit of compromise in the Moroccan Sahara issue is a priority in the new regional order in the Maghreb, marked by profound change and the threat of terrorism.
In this perspective, the Moroccan autonomy initiative is the most realistic solution to this artificial conflict, stakeholders stressed before the 4th Committee.
In December, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution reiterating the UN support to the process of negotiations on the Sahara. In the resolution adopted by consensus, the General Assembly also took "note of efforts and developments since 2006," referring once again to the Moroccan autonomy initiative for the Sahara region.
Ex-Polisario Front leader, promoting autonomy in Western Sahara Territory
- News and events on Western Sahara issue / Corcas -
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