 International experts have denounced, in New York, the proven links of the Polisario armed separatist group with terrorism and organized crime in the Sahel-Saharan region.
"The Sahel-Saharan region is a major area of illicit activities and a transit corridor to different parts of the world for small arms and drugs, where the Polisario is a concrete example of three overlapping agendas: terrorism, separatism and organized crime," said Solomon Assor Sydney, president of the NGO "Surry Three Faiths Forum", in his speech before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly.
He noted that the Tindouf camps, which have long become a "hotbed of repression of sequestered populations, are linked to terrorist networks and traffickers in arms, drugs and human beings," noting that these camps located in northwestern Algeria, are now a "huge breeding ground for terrorists and outlaws.
"The transnational illicit networks find in the camps a rear base that provides them with food from diverted humanitarian aid addressed primarily to the population of the camps, but also weapons, vehicles and fuel," denounced the petitioner, warning that the presence on Algerian soil, at the crossroads of the borders of Morocco, Mauritania and Mali, of the armed militias of the Polisario is a "destabilizing factor" for the international security.
He also said that the persistence of the artificial conflict around the Moroccan Sahara has generated a "marriage of interests" between Polisario and terrorist networks very active in the Sahel-Saharan region, adding that "the idea defended with fervor by the host country of the camps, to have a micro-state in the Maghreb is not only unsustainable, but dangerous, and will lead the whole region in trajectories of unprecedented violence.
The speaker also noted that the regional dispute on the Sahara lives at the pace of a positive and realistic, stressing that the Moroccan autonomy initiative remains the only solution to close definitively this "unfortunate chapter", building an environment conducive to lasting peace and security, and ending the geopolitical instrumentalization of terror to undermine the territorial integrity of the countries in the region.
"One of the realistic measures against the development of the arms trade in the Sahel is the dissolution of the Polisario," he said.
For his part, the president of the Sahel Institute of Research and Analysis for Conflict Transformation, Souleymane Satigui Sidibe, spoke out against the encouragement of non-state armed groups in the Sahel-Saharan region, which constitutes a "permanent danger for the people and mortgages their future and their aspirations for a dignified and peaceful life.
He denounced the behavior of some states in the region "who are complicit in this situation thinking that their stability depends on the instability of their neighbors.
The former Secretary General of the African Youth stressed the urgency of recalling the danger that threatens the Sahel region with the encouragement of armed groups or in any form, while they are, in most cases, groups that operate with terrorists, drug traffickers and all obscurantist forces to the detriment of peace and human tranquility.
"Many terrorist groups are supplied from humanitarian sites whose management of food and fuel are hijacked by allies disguised in fighting and a tour of the markets bordering the Sahel will show that the Polisario is no exception," he said.
He noted that "those who claim to be a state have no legitimacy because the vast majority of the population of the Moroccan Sahara recognizes in the efforts" of Morocco under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI for the promotion of the southern provinces to build a bridge of development to the African continent and the Sahel-Saharan area in particular.
The President of the Sahel Institute for Research and Analysis for Conflict Transformation has, in this context, highlighted the dynamics of socio-economic development and better living conditions enjoyed by the people of the southern provinces.
He also said he was impressed by the degree of integration of African migrants, who eventually chose Morocco to settle in the Saharan provinces, where they have access, like the local population, to employment, health services and school for their children.
"Behind this welfare, Sahrawi women and men, members of democratically elected councils, manage all aspects affecting the daily lives of their constituents and ensuring the design, implementation and management of social programs and development of their respective cities," said Mr. Sidibe.
He also said that the decision of the Moroccan authorities to entrust the Sahrawis with the management of their local affairs has led to an inclusive dynamic beneficial to all segments of society and whose interests are defended by democratically elected institutions present around the negotiating table through the presidents of the two regions of Sakia El Hamra and Oued Eddahab.
The expert noted, in this context, that the autonomy plan presented by Morocco is "the right solution to the Sahara conflict and the prelude to the happiness of the African people, because the Kingdom of Morocco is a blessing for Africa.
"Let's avoid the mistakes of some countries supporting separatism at the expense of the people who pay the heaviest consequences," he concluded.
|