 The annual session of the United Nations Committee of 24 (C24), held recently in New York, was once again an opportunity for the international community to reaffirm loud and clear its full support for the autonomy initiative in the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Morocco, as a final solution to the question of the Moroccan Sahara, while welcoming the Kingdom’s efforts in favor of the socio-economic development of its southern provinces.
This session was also marked by the participation for the 3rd consecutive time in the work of the Committee, of Mhamed Abba, vice-president of the Laâyoune-Sakia Al Hamra region, and Ghalla Bahiya, vice-president of the Dakhla Oued Eddahab region, in as democratically elected representatives of the people of the Moroccan Sahara.
During this session, some twenty countries representing several regions of the world expressed their support for Morocco’s territorial integrity and its autonomy initiative as a basis for final settlement of the regional dispute around the Moroccan Sahara, recalling that this initiative has been described as serious and credible by the UN Security Council in all its resolutions since 2007.
The various representatives of the countries of Africa, the Arab world, the Caribbean and the Pacific welcomed the opening by several countries of general consulates in Laâyoune and Dakhla, in the Moroccan Sahara, considering that it is a question of “An undeniable surge of support for the ongoing political process” and for the sovereignty of the Kingdom over its Sahara.
Likewise, the speakers welcomed the “responsible and peaceful” intervention of Morocco in Guerguerat which allowed the restoration of free movement in this crossing point following its blockage in November 2020 by the armed militias of the Polisario.
Regarding the economic and social boom in the Moroccan Sahara region, several ambassadors and diplomats welcomed, during the C24 session, the new development model for the southern provinces of the Kingdom launched in 2015, welcoming that this initiative made it possible in particular to empower the populations of the Sahara region and to raise the human development indices there. They also praised Morocco’s “major achievements” in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the Moroccan Sahara, stressing that the current vaccination campaign has allowed wide access to the anti-COVID vaccine for the population of this region of Morocco. Kingdom.
Referring to the ongoing political process under the exclusive auspices of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the various speakers welcomed the holding of the two round tables in Geneva between Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario, in accordance with resolutions of the Security Council, in particular 2548. In this connection, they recalled that the Security Council asked, in this resolution, the next Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to pick up where it left off. predecessor, Mr. Horst Köhler.
In this sense, the representatives of the States insisted on the need to be inspired by the recommendations of the Security Council contained in particular in resolution 2548 which calls on all the parties, particularly Algeria, to get involved in good faith in the political process, under the aegis of the Secretary General of the United Nations, on the basis of Security Council resolutions since 2007, in order to achieve “a political, realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise solution” to this regional dispute.
The resolutions adopted since 2007, they stressed, all highlighted the preeminence of the Moroccan plan for autonomy in the Sahara, affirming that this plan has the merit of transcending traditional positions and meets international standards in terms of delegation of government. authority to local populations.
It is in this context that the Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain have reiterated their “full support” for the territorial integrity of Morocco and its sovereignty over its Sahara, while rejecting any attack on the supreme interests of the Kingdom, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.
In this regard, they praised the efforts and “sincere commitment” of the Kingdom of Morocco to reach a consensual and final political solution to this regional dispute on the basis of the autonomy initiative.
In addition, several African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Togo, Burundi, Gambia, Comoros, Djibouti, and Eswatini) seized the opportunity offered by the C24 meeting to express their high appreciation towards Morocco for its various initiatives taken in the direction of the socio-economic development of the Sahara, in particular the large-scale projects and other infrastructures which are set up within the framework of the new development model of the southern provinces , launched by HM King Mohammed VI, as well as the efforts made in the field of human rights, welcomed by the Security Council in particular in resolution 2548.
They thus highlighted the important achievements of Morocco in the field of human rights, as well as the efforts undertaken by the Kingdom to extend the national vaccination campaign to the entire population of the Sahara in order to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
On a broader geostrategic level, they affirmed that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty guarantees regional stability and security, believing that this is an issue of the utmost importance for the entire Sahel region. -Saharan. And to stress, in this regard, that the final resolution of the Sahara issue should contribute to the strengthening of cooperation between the Member States of the Arab Maghreb Union, to the stability and security of the Sahel region, without count its positive repercussions in terms of socio-economic development in this area and the well-being of its populations.
For their part, the representatives of the Caribbean countries (Dominica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia) as well as Papua New Guinea (Pacific), reaffirmed their full support for the autonomy plan presented by the Morocco as a “viable” proposal for the settlement of the Sahara conflict, welcoming the development efforts undertaken by the Kingdom in its southern provinces in various fields.
They also stressed the need to move forward towards a “realistic, pragmatic and lasting political solution to the Sahara issue, based on compromise”, as indicated in Security Council resolution 2548.
Considered serious and credible by Security Council resolutions since 2007, the “meritorious” autonomy initiative is “in conformity with international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the resolutions of the Security Council and the Assembly. general, ”they said.
The various speakers during this session also reiterated the call for the registration by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of the population of the Tindouf camps, in Algerian territory, as many once requested by the Security Council. They also spoke out against the human rights violations of the populations of these camps.
Speakers at the C24 session also welcomed the participation, since 2018, in the session of the Committee of 24 and its regional seminars of the two democratically elected representatives of the Moroccan Sahara, in this case the vice-president of the Laâyoune-Sakia Al Hamra region, Mhamed Abba, and the vice-president of the Dakhla Oued Eddahab region, Ghalla Bahiya.
Speaking on this occasion, the two elected representatives of the Moroccan Sahara highlighted the great economic and social growth experienced by this region, affirming that this development benefits the inhabitants of the Sahara.
Ms. Bahiya and Mr. Abba thus underlined that the inhabitants of the Moroccan Sahara plan, implement and manage the local development of their region within the framework of the new development model of the southern provinces launched by HM King Mohammed VI.
They specified that this model is based on the principle of the participation of local populations in the elaboration and implementation of their policies and development plans, in the context of advanced regionalization. This principle, anchored in the Moroccan constitution, grants regions wide prerogatives in the planning and implementation of territorial development projects, they explained.
The Committee session was also marked by the participation, for the second time, of Moroccan associative actors, who intervened before the members of the C24.
Thus, Touria Hmyen of the “Association for the Freedom of Women Kidnapped in the Tindouf Camps”, highlighted “the appalling conditions of the populations of the Tindouf camps who are denied international protection for the full enjoyment of their rights. ”.
For his part, Mohamed El Issaoui, of the “Organization for the End of Human Rights Violations in the Tindouf Camps”, deplored the fact that the children of these camps are being forced by the armed militias of the polisario to participate in military activities, in violation of the humanitarian principles of human rights.
The petitioner also denounced that the Tindouf camps have become a hub for arms trafficking to the Sahel and support for terrorist groups, adding that the Polisario “is part of a dynamic of radicalization within the nebula of groups. armed terrorists in the Sahelo-Saharan region ”.
For his part, Khalid Bendriss of the “Association for the support of the Moroccan autonomy initiative”, criticized the absence of a census of the populations of the Tindouf camps for nearly half a century, deploring that these camps remain “A unique situation and an atypical case in the humanitarian world”. Denouncing, moreover, the extremely serious violations committed against the sequestered populations in the camps of Tindouf, in Algeria.
Speaking during the debates, the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, reiterated that the autonomy initiative, within the framework of the territorial integrity of Morocco, is the one and only solution to the question of the Moroccan Sahara.
In this context, he specified that the autonomy initiative “enjoys the full support of the population of the Moroccan Sahara and of the international community. The Security Council welcomes this and considers it a serious and credible solution in all its resolutions since 2007 ”.
Mr. Hilale also affirmed that the UN parameters of self-determination are in no way predicable in the Moroccan Sahara. “Since the signing of the Madrid Agreement on November 14, 1975, the principle of self-determination as advocated by Chapter XI of the United Nations Charter has definitively ceased to apply to the Moroccan Sahara”, said Mr. Hilale, adding that the Moroccan Sahara is neither a so-called question of decolonization, nor a subject of self-determination, and even less a so-called “non-autonomous territory”.
Likewise, the Ambassador stressed that socio-economic development is an inalienable right in the Moroccan Sahara. “Aware of its responsibility towards all its citizens, Morocco has undertaken colossal efforts to ensure the socio-economic development and political emancipation of its southern provinces”, specified the Moroccan diplomat, adding that thanks to the clairvoyance of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan Sahara has become an example of socio-economic development both in its region and in Africa, particularly since the launch, in 2015, of the new development model of a budget of more of $ 8 billion.
|