Morocco: Western Sahara file is settled whether Algeria likes it or not

Morocco’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, said the regional dispute over the Western Sahara had finally been settled “whether Algeria likes it or not.”

Speaking during a conference of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24), Hilale said: “The Moroccan Sahara has been completely decolonised. The Moroccan Sahara has finally returned to Morocco. The Moroccan Sahara has been restored thanks to international law, negotiations, and thanks to the Madrid Agreement that the General Assembly of the United Nations took note of in its resolution issued in December 1975.”

“Let us be clear, the issue of Western Sahara has been resolved. The inhabitants of the Sahara live in peace in these Moroccan provinces and enjoy their full rights, as stated by Ghala Bahia, Vice President of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, who participated in the conference at the invitation of the Chairman of the Committee of 24 as a democratically elected representative of the Moroccan Sahara region,” he added.

The Moroccan official continued: “Ghala was elected during the 2015 regional elections in the Moroccan Sahara, and the Kingdom will organise the next elections at the regional level within ten days, including its southern provinces.”

Hilale indicated that the terms of elected officials will be renewed, noting that “this is the Sahara region. It is a cooperative democracy that includes all generations, and above all, it is the right of everyone to participate in the daily life of the Sahara.”

Hilale pointed out that Algeria and the Polisario Front are delaying the appointment of a new special envoy to the UN Secretary-General, adding that he hoped that Algeria would agree this time on the next candidate “without procrastination or evasion,” noting that “there is a political process in which Morocco is involved and Algeria is a concerned party.”

Morocco has been in conflict with the Algeria-backed separatist Polisario group over the Western Sahara since 1975, after the Spanish occupation ended. It turned into an armed confrontation that lasted until 1991 and ended with the signing of a ceasefire agreement.

READ: Algeria to reconsider relations with Morocco after ‘hostile acts’

Rabat insists on its right to govern the region, but proposed autonomous rule in the Western Sahara under its sovereignty, but the Polisario Front wants a referendum to let the people determine the future of the region. Algeria has been supporting the Front’s proposal and hosts refugees from the region.

The 1991 ceasefire came to an end last year after Morocco resumed military operations in the El Guergarat crossing, a buffer zone between the territory claimed by the state of Morocco and the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which the Polisario said was a provocation.

By launching the operation, Morocco “seriously undermined not only the ceasefire and related military agreements but also any chances of achieving a peaceful and lasting solution to the decolonization question of the Western Sahara,” Brahim Ghali, leader of the Polisario Front, said in a letter to the UN.

In December 2020, Morocco signed a peace agreement with Israel, under US auspices, in return for Washington recognising its sovereignty over the Western Sahara.

READ: Morocco dragging Israel into dangerous adventure against Algeria, Algeria FM says