At this conference organized by the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam, participants also welcomed the support of the international community to the Moroccan proposal, which is based on a participatory and democratic move enabling residents of the southern provinces to manage their own affairs and exercise their full rights.

Mr. Lahcen Mahraoui, a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), stressed that the findings of the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the Sahara, Mr. Peter Van Walsum, corroborated by the latest Security Council resolution converge towards a solution that can not be considered outside the context of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. 

By adopting such a position, he noted, the international community recognizes the serious efforts by Morocco which offers autonomy with international features and defines the framework within which negotiations between parties will evolve.
The Moroccan proposal, he recalled, was developed by Sahrawis and supported by all components of Moroccan society as the only solution to this conflict inherited from the Cold War and as a vehicle for social development and economic development of the region.

Mr. Mahraoui also highlighted the humanitarian dimension of the initiative of autonomy, insofar as it will bring an end to the suffering of the populations sequestered in Tindouf camps and bring together Sahrawi families.

For his part, Mr. Mohammed Boughdadi, the author of several books on the history of the Moroccan Sahara, recounted the circumstances and stages of the genesis of the conflict in the Sahara and recalled the historical evidence of the Moroccan Sahara (allegiance Dahirs, correspondences between Morocco and Sultans, stories and testimonies).  

Mr. Boughdadi has also stressed the important role played by members of the Moroccan community abroad to sensitize by historical evidence and arguments, the society in which they live on the accuracy of the national cause, "so that everyone can understand the reality of the impossibility of creating an entity that separates the Sahara from its inhabitants".  

He also said that the international community, familiar with the specificity of the family structure of the Sahara inhabitants and the historical circumstances that have been behind the existence of this conflict over the past century, namely the cold war and East-West rivalry, is firmly convinced that the only possible solution is autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

For his part, Mr. Abdelmajid Nadir, a professor at the University of Amsterdam, said that this conference takes place following the positive developments that have taken place these days, including the conclusions of Mr. Van Walsum and the Security Council resolution which supported the "realistic and feasible solution" proposed by Morocco.

Mr. Nadir said that these positive developments have crowned the efforts made by Morocco at all levels for the triumph of law and international legality and for an end to the plight of the families sequestered in Tindouf camps.

Source: MAP
-News on Western Sahara issue/ Corcas-