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The expansionist policy of the Morocco regime is a real danger to peace and security throughout the North African region. This is the conclusion of the work of an international conference organized in New York, in the United States, devoted to threats induced by the Moroccan occupations of Western Sahara and its refusal to apply the UN resolutions on the organization of a referendum of self-determination of the Sahrawi people since the signing of cease-fire agreements 35 years ago.
Participants in this international conference organized by the Global Monitoring Center American unanimously said that the continuation of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and its expansionist aims constitute the main threat to peace and security in the region.
They called for urgent decolonization of the occupied territory to guarantee stability and security in North Africa. They also denounced the Moroccan policy which, according to them, uses the occupation of Western Sahara to consolidate its own regime weakened by the economic and social crisis, the impoverishment of large strata of the population, galloping inflation and the absence of political freedoms.
For speakers, the crimes committed against the Sahrawi people, the expansionist strategy of Rabat against its neighbors (Algeria, Mauritania in particular) and its consequences make heavy threats weigh on neighboring countries and even to the countries of the Sahel.
In addition, the participants urged the international community to break with the policy of “two weights, two measures” and to admit that lasting peace in North West Africa depends directly on the end of the expansionist ambitions of Morocco and the recognition of the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.
In his intervention, Jacob Mundy, professor of studies on peace and conflicts at Colgate University in New York, retraced the history of the conflict since Spanish colonization. He recalled that the advisory opinion rendered by the International Court of Justice in 1975 confirmed the absence of any Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. On this point, he explained that this verdict had been reinforced by many UN resolutions recognizing the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self -determination.
The academic also mentioned the profound motivations of the Moroccan invasion, including expansionist ambitions in neighboring countries, the internal legitimacy crisis of the time regime, but also the attraction for the considerable natural wealth of the region and the projects of their exploitation, in particular phosphate and fishery riches.
For his part, the lawyer specializing in international law, Kathleen Thomas, recalled the legal nature of the question of Western Sahara as a case of decolonization. With her experience within Minurso, she testified to the many Moroccan maneuvers aimed at distorting the peace process, in particular by trying to alter the electoral census by the massive installation of Moroccan settlers in the occupied territory.
According to her, “Morocco fears the result of a referendum, because he knows that the Sahrawi people would choose independence”. It regretted the inaction of the Security Council in the face of Moroccan attempts to manipulate the process and qualified the “autonomy initiative” proposed by Rabat as a simple maneuver intended to legitimize an illegal occupation.
The lawyer also pointed out that, unlike the Moroccan regime, the Saharawi Republic had built solid democratic institutions based on the rule of law, developing a political culture anchored in tolerance, openness and peaceful coexistence. It insisted that an independent Sahrawi State is a factor of stability in North Africa, while the Moroccan regime represents a danger to the security of the whole region.
She also denounced Rabat’s attempts to discredit the struggle of the Sahrawi people and to tarnish the image of the Polisario Front, affirming that the US officials, within the administration and the Congress, know full well that the Moroccan accusations are unfounded.
For its part, Sidi Mohamed Omar, representative of the Polisario Front with the United Nations and coordinator with Minurso, reaffirmed the legal legitimacy of the Sahrawi cause, rejecting the Moroccan proposal, calling it “insignificant” and “grotesque” because contrary to international law.
He finally assured that the Sahrawi people will continue their struggle by all legitimate means until the exercise of their inalienable right to self -determination and independence.