Physical Address
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The permanent representative of Algeria to the United Nations in New York, Amar Bendjama, pleaded during the work of the session of the UN Decolonization Committee (C-24), this Wednesday, in favor of the right of the people of Western Sahara for its independence.
At the start of his speech, the diplomat recalled the fundamentals of Algeria’s immutable position on this issue. “Our foreign policy is based on cardinal principles including the right to self-determination that we claim for the benefit of the colonized peoples on this land and we will not change,” he said. “The C-24 is of particular importance for us, we countries having suffered from colonization and today independent and present with pride in this hemicycle,” he said.
After observing that the territory of Western Sahara found itself, as soon as the former colonizer withdrew, invaded and militarily occupied by its two neighbors, Morocco and Mauritania, who illegally and indecently shared the territory between them. , and while specifying that three years later with the withdrawal of Mauritania, Morocco occupied the other part of the territory, Ambassador Bendjama asked two nagging questions.
He questioned, firstly, “if Morocco really had inalienable historical rights to this territory, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) denies it, why did it agree to carve it up and share it with the Mauritania? “.
Then, he launched the second question: “If Morocco was sure that the Sahrawis live in a paradise in Western Sahara why, is it resisting the consultation by the United Nations of the Sahrawi population through a referendum ? And does it concede, in exchange, a plan for autonomy within the framework of its sovereignty? “. Bendjama wished to recall that the legal status of Western Sahara has long been clearly defined at the UN, General Assembly and Security Council combined, it is a distinct and separated territory from Morocco and all UN resolutions enshrine the legitimate and inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination. Statement confirmed by the ICJ.
Bendjama then recalled an undeniable historical fact by emphasizing that, “under pressure from the international community, his late majesty King Hassan II, may God rest his soul, had conceded here, that Morocco solemnly undertakes to consider itself as obliged and bound by the results of this referendum”. He added that the Security Council itself created, with this objective, MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) which was to census the Sahrawi population and organize the referendum under its control. But since then, “from denial to denial, and with proven ill will, the Kingdom of Morocco has discouraged several personalities charged by the UN SG with facilitating the organization of this referendum”.
The C-24 session devoted to the Sahrawi question saw the participation of a large number of petitioners from the four corners of the world to speak loudly and clearly the voice of the Sahrawi people oppressed by the Moroccan occupier. Member States supporting the just cause of Western Sahara took the floor, in turn, to reaffirm the need to complete the process of decolonization of Western Sahara in accordance with United Nations Resolution 1514, like Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, Timor-Leste, Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mexico, Peru, Angola, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Colombia, Namibia, Belize and Mozambique.