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The South African
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The South African
Western Sahara: 50-year independence fight blocked by Morocco
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in northwest Africa, bordered by Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania. It spans 266 000 km² and is home to approximately 620 000 people, mostly Sahrawis. Spain colonised the region in 1884 and withdrew in 1975 under the Madrid Accords, transferring administrative authority to Morocco and Mauritania, though no sovereignty was ceded. This triggered Morocco's annexation and the rise of the Polisario Front. Additionally, the United Nations (UN) recognises it as Africa's last non-self-governing territory. Morocco controls 70-80% of the land; the Polisario governs the rest as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The region remains under UN supervision pending decolonisation and a referendum. The Sahrawi population includes hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi refugees in Algerian camps near Tindouf. The Polisario Front is led by Brahim Ghali, who also heads the Sahrawi Republic. Morocco's 2007 autonomy plan proposes local governance under Moroccan sovereignty. France endorsed the plan in July 2024, joining the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). Ghana reaffirmed its backing in June 2025, calling the plan 'the only viable solution'. The UK signed a joint communiqué supporting Morocco's proposal as 'credible and pragmatic'. The US maintains its recognition of Moroccan sovereignty, initially stated in 2020. Furthermore, Morocco claims support from many countries, including Kenya and Guatemala. Despite this, the UN still considers Western Sahara a non-self-governing territory. Algeria backs the Polisario Front and hosts Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf. The Polisario insists on a UN-supervised referendum including independence. In July 2025, it reaffirmed the 1991 UN-African Settlement Plan as the only legal solution. Internal dissent is growing in Tindouf camps, with calls for leadership reform. Algeria condemned France's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty and recalled its ambassador. The UN has criticised Morocco's refusal to allow human rights monitoring in the region. The European Court annulled trade deals involving Western Sahara due to a lack of Sahrawi consent. As a result, the conflict remains unresolved, with sporadic clashes and diplomatic tensions persisting. Morocco continues to exploit Western Sahara's phosphates and renewable energy. The Sahrawi Observatory (SONREP) reports illegal wind and solar projects, excluding locals. Green hydrogen projects in occupied Western Sahara risk exacerbating water scarcity and violating international legal standards due to a lack of Sahrawi consent. Foreign firms from France, China, and the UAE are involved in resource extraction and renewable energy projects in Western Sahara without Sahrawi consent. UN human rights experts condemned Morocco's demolition of Sahrawi homes linked to energy and infrastructure expansion. Human rights abuses include arbitrary detention, torture, and suppression of dissent. On the other hand, Morocco severely restricts UN access to Western Sahara for human rights monitoring. Civil society demands immediate humanitarian assistance and legal responsibility for any violations. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 11. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Maroc
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Maroc
Colombian Parliament Reiterates Support for Morocco's Territorial Integrity
Morocco's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale, sent a response letter to the President and members of the Security Council on Monday, debunking the Algerian ambassador's fallacious allegations regarding the Moroccan Sahara issue during a Council briefing. He emphasized that the Algerian representative had, as usual, engaged in his favorite exercise of distorting realities and misrepresenting evidence regarding the populations in the Tindouf camps. In this letter, Hilale first expressed Morocco's deep regret at the biased statement made by Algeria's Permanent Representative, Amar Bendjama, during the Security Council meeting held this Monday on "The Challenges of Forced Displacement around the World." In his remarks, the Algerian ambassador took advantage of the presence of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, to peddle lies, distort realities, and misrepresent the facts regarding the populations in the Tindouf camps in Algeria. In this regard, Ambassador Hilale provided elements to debunk the fallacious statements made by the Algerian representative, who was the only one to address the issue of the Moroccan Sahara during this briefing. The Moroccan diplomat affirmed that the populations of the Tindouf camps are in no way "forcibly displaced persons," as claimed by the Algerian representative, but rather populations held against their will for half a century, noting that Algeria deprives them of their most basic rights, including the choice to return to their motherland, Morocco, or to settle in a third country, or even to integrate into the host country, Algeria, as advocated by the durable solutions of the High Commissioner for Refugees. He pointed out that Algeria is also violating the rights granted to them by the legal instruments of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols, including the rights to freedom of expression, movement, and demonstration. He added that these populations are living in camps whose jurisdiction, control, and management have been entrusted by Algeria to the armed separatist group "polisario," in violation of international law and contrary to its obligations as a host country, as denounced by the Human Rights Committee in its report CCPR/C/DZA/CO/4 of August 17, 2018, paragraph 9. In response to the Algerian ambassador's allusion to a so-called "occupation" of the Sahara by Morocco, Hilale recalled, to the Algerian representative's great displeasure, that the occupation of the Sahara ended with the return of these provinces to their motherland, Morocco, under the Madrid Accords of November 1975, of which the General Assembly took note in its resolution 34/58 B of December 1975. "The Algerian representative pretends to ignore that the Security Council is considering the question of the Moroccan Sahara under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, for the peaceful settlement of this regional dispute, wholly created and maintained for half a century by his country, with incalculable consequences for the peace, security, and stability of the Maghreb and the African continent," the Moroccan diplomat emphasized. Hilale further noted that Algeria is not cooperating with United Nations agencies or humanitarian partners to ensure access to basic services for the populations of the Tindouf camps. He added that Algeria has refused to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to conduct a census and registration of the populations held captive in the Tindouf camps for over 50 years, despite clear instructions from the Security Council in successive resolutions since 2011. "The lack of a census encourages the misappropriation of humanitarian assistance, which has forced agencies and NGOs to reduce the volume of their aid," he continued. In this response letter to the Security Council, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the UN also pointed out that the misappropriation of humanitarian aid by the "polisario" and Algerian officials has been proven and noted in the reports of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the Office of the Inspector General of the UNHCR, the World Food Programme, as well as several NGOs and international organisations. Reacting to Algeria's so-called call for "a lasting solution" to the Moroccan Sahara issue, Hilale denounced this action as nothing more than window dressing, explaining that a lasting solution "requires compliance with Security Council resolutions, which call for the resumption of the political process and roundtable discussions. Algeria has refused to do this since the appointment of the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy to the Moroccan Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, in October 2021." Such a behavior condemns this process to immobility and stalemate, with its attendant humanitarian consequences for the populations held captive in the Tindouf camps, the ambassador lamented. He also affirmed that the lasting solution lies in the implementation of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, which the Security Council has described as serious and credible for 18 years. He emphasized that this Initiative is widely considered by the international community as the sole basis for resolving this dispute, while respecting the Kingdom's national sovereignty and territorial integrity. He added that "Algeria's blindness prevents it from realizing that this Initiative is supported by more than 100 United Nations Member States, including two permanent members of the Security Council, the former occupying power of the Moroccan Sahara, and 23 Member States of the European Union." In this context, he recalled the latest Security Council Resolution 2756 (2024), which welcomed the international momentum in favor of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative and urged that it be used to its full potential in the search for a definitive political solution to this dispute. This, he said, demonstrates the Autonomy Initiative's compliance with the right to self-determination. Regarding the Algerian ambassador's mention of holding a referendum, Hilale denounced Algeria's "obsessive fixation," noting that the Algerian Permanent Representative is well aware that the Security Council and the General Assembly have definitively shelved the referendum, in 2002 and 2003 respectively. In conclusion, Hilale emphasized that "the Algerian ambassador also forgets that the resolutions his country supported during his previous term on the Security Council, as well as those he submits annually to the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly, no longer make any reference to the referendum." Ambassador Hilale's letter to the President and members of the UN Security Council will be published as an official document of the UN body. It should be noted that the Algerian diplomat's fallacious and mendacious allegations were completely ignored in the response presented to members by the High Commissioner for Refugees during this briefing. MAP: 29 avril 2025
