في اليوم العالمي لضحايا الاختفاء القسري : الاستعمار الاسباني و قوة الاحتلال المغربي مسؤولان عن جرائم الحرب و الإبادة في الصحراء الغربية

Bali (Indonesia) 26 maggio 2023 - Il rappresentante del Fronte Polisario presso le Nazioni Unite, Sidi Mohamed Omar, ha sottolineato nella sua dichiarazione prima del seminario regionale C-24 del Pacifico dell'Assemblea generale delle Nazioni Unite, tenutosi a Bali, Indonesia dal 24 al 26 maggio, "che l'unica opzione possibile per la risoluzione del conflitto nel Sahara occidentale risiede nel consentire alle popolazioni del territorio di esercitare il loro diritto inalienabile all'autodeterminazione e all'indipendenza".

“L'unica opzione, quindi, è difendere la Carta delle Nazioni Unite e i principi del diritto internazionale, consentendo al popolo del Sahara occidentale di esercitare liberamente e democraticamente il suo diritto inalienabile e non negoziabile all'autodeterminazione e all'indipendenza”, ha concluso il suo discorso il rappresentante saharawi. 

Dichiarazione del Fronte POLISARIO (Sahara Occidentale).

Statement of the Frente POLISARIO (Western Sahara)

C-24 Pacific Regional Seminar, Bali, Indonesia, 24-26 May 2023

Ambassador Sidi M. Omar

Madam Chair,

Distinguished Representatives and Delegates of Member States,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to join the speakers who preceded me to thank the Indonesian Government for the warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for hosting this seminar.

It is a pleasure to address the Special Committee today in Bali on behalf of the Frente POLISARIO, the legitimate and sole Representative of the people of the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara in line with relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.

The seminar this year takes place at a time when the Sahrawi people are celebrating the 50th anniversary of both the establishment of the Frente POLISARIO, as a national liberation movement, and the launching of armed struggle against Spanish colonial presence in Western Sahara in May 1973.

In my statement today, I will briefly highlight some fundamental facts that underpin the question of Western Sahara in its legal and political dimensions, and which continue to frame the unfinished decolonisation of the Territory.

First, since including the Territory on its list of Non-Self-Governing Territories back in 1963 (resolution 1956 (XVIII) of 11 December 1963), the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies, including the C-24, have consistently addressed Western Sahara within the scope of Chapter XI of the UN Charter, thus recognising the status of the Territory as a Non-Self-Governing Territory and establishing the responsibility of the United Nations towards the Sahrawi people.

Second, the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination has been recognised in numerous resolutions by the General Assembly and the Security Council. In particular, General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) formed the basis for Security Council resolution 658 (1990) and resolution 690 (1991) whereby the Council unanimously approved the Settlement Plan and the establishment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

In line with the UN Charter and relevant General Assembly resolutions, the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence is inalienable, non-negotiable and cannot be affected by the lapse of time. The UN Secretary-General, the late Kofi Annan, made it clear after Morocco rejected the referendum in 2002 that “It is difficult to envision a political solution that … provides for self-determination but that nevertheless precludes the possibility of independence as one of several ballot questions” (S/2003/565, para. 52).

We often hear from the occupying state of Morocco and its apologists that Occupied Western Sahara has been transformed into “a paradise on earth” in all its aspects. This is obviously a typical colonial lie in view of the unspeakable cruelty and the physical and psychological violence inflicted on Sahrawi men and women in the Occupied Territories at the hands of the security forces of the occupying state.  

Third, in its landmark Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara, dated 16 October 1975, the International Court of Justice concluded that “The materials and information presented to it do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity” (para. 162).

The Legal Opinion issued by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs on 29 January 2002, at the request of the Security Council, established that “The Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the territory, nor did it confer upon any of the signatories the status of an administering Power—a status which Spain alone could not have unilaterally transferred” (para. 6). More precisely, in its resolutions 34/37 of 21 November 1979 and 35/19 of 11 November 1980, the UN General Assembly deeply deplored the aggravation of the situation resulting from “the continued occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco” (OP 5 and OP 3 respectively).

These facts, among others, confirm that Morocco does not exercise any sovereignty over Western Sahara, and that its presence in the Territory is an illegal, forcible occupation in violation of the UN Charter and resolutions. As such, it does not have any legal effects on the status of the Territory.

Furthermore, the sovereignty over Western Sahara resides with our people, the Sahrawi people, and it is not in the gift of any government or country, big or small, to give away to whomever or to bargain over with the occupying state.

Madam Chair,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Frente POLISARIO has made every possible concession with a view to advancing the implementation of the mandate of MINURSO. It remains fully committed to respecting the will of the Sahrawi people freely and democratically expressed in a UN supervised referendum for self-determination.

In this regard, there are lessons that can be learnt from this region where a decolonisation process was successfully concluded by means of a free UN-supervised consultation in which the colonial people overwhelmingly chose to be independent and to join the UN as a sovereign Member Sate. 

In conclusion, the legal nature of Western Sahara as a decolonisation issue on the agenda of this Committee since 1963 is abundantly clear.

Therefore, as I have stated on previous occasions, the main question before the Members of this Committee comes down to this: do they allow Morocco’s military occupation of parts of a Non-Self-Governing Territory to continue with impunity, and thus consent to Morocco’s expansionism and policy of fait accompli, or do they remain true to the founding principles and the mandate of this very Committee and therefore call for the immediate and unconditional end of Morocco’s occupation to allow the decolonisation of the Territory to proceed in line with relevant UN resolutions?

In a rules-based international order, the politics of power and “might makes right” can never be accepted as an option; otherwise, many peoples and countries, including Member States that are present here today, would have remained under colonial rule and foreign occupation. The only option, therefore, is to defend the UN Charter and the principles of international law by allowing the people of Western Sahara the chance to exercise freely and democratically their inalienable and non-negotiable right to self-determination and independence.

I thank you for your attention.”