The call was made by the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, El Mostafa Sahel, in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, released on Wednesday.

    "For some time, Algeria and the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y de Rio de Oro (Frente POLISARIO) have sought to conceal their lack of political commitment to the Manhasset negotiation process by diverting the international community's attention towards alleged human rights violations against indigenous people of the Sahara region and other regions of the Kingdom," the latter deplored.

    Recalling that the secretary-general received a number of communications conveying these allegations, in the hope that repetition will eventually turn lies into truth, the diplomat insisted that “the Kingdom of Morocco has refused to be drawn into this scheme and has refrained from responding to these baseless accusations and diversionary tactics, preferring to devote its full energy to the success of the negotiations currently being conducted under your auspices and to the socio-economic development of the populations of that region.”

     “In order to clear up any ambiguity and avoid any confusion,” Mr. Sahel provided several clarifications regarding the points that have been a recurrent theme in those communications. In this respect, he recalled that the “Kingdom of Morocco, in implementing its plans to build a modern and democratic society, has undertaken far-reaching reforms and achieved significant, well-known and recognized progress in the area of human rights.”

    “The Kingdom, which has incorporated respect for universally recognized human rights into its Constitution, has ratified or acceded to most of the international instruments concerning human rights and humanitarian law and has sought to bring its domestic legislation into line with its international obligations,” he insisted, adding that Morocco cooperates closely and systematically with international human rights bodies and mechanisms, including those of the United Nations.

    He also underlined that the Kingdom has undertaken, in the context of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission and other forums, to examine all verified cases of past human rights violations since the country's independence and has assumed responsibility for providing individual and collective compensation to the victims.

    In this connection, he recalled that “the laws and regulations enacted to guarantee and protect the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms are implemented in the same manner throughout the territory of the Kingdom, including the Sahara region.” As regards economic, social and  cultural, Mr. Sahel stressed that “the Kingdom has made colossal efforts to improve infrastructure, education, health care and housing.” As a result, the diplomat went on, “this region's rates of school enrolment and health-care coverage are higher than those in other regions of Morocco.”

     Similarly, the diplomat notes, “significant progress has been made in the area of civil and political rights” and “the inhabitants of the Sahara region participate very actively in political life.”

    Moreover, Mr. Sahel said, “like the other regions of the Kingdom, the Sahara region benefits from the activities of national mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights. The Moroccan Ombudsman (Diwan al Madhalim) has opened an office in the region, and the Human Rights Advisory Council recently opened a regional administrative office in Laayoune.”

    He made it clear that “contrary to the allegations made by the other parties, the Sahara region is pursuing its socio-economic development process in an atmosphere of calm, tranquility and openness”, citing, in this regard, that “some 1,300 journalists representing the international media, including those fully sympathetic to the other parties' positions, have visited and reported on the Sahara region in complete freedom.”

    He also pointed out that “the allegations put forward by the other parties, which are part of a strategy that by now has been largely exposed, are intended to reopen questions that had been considered closed by the competent international bodies,” citing the question of the “prisoners of war”, “for whom Algeria and the Frente POLISARIO bear imprescriptible responsibility,” or “the issue of enforced disappearance, in respect of which the Kingdom's efforts have even been hailed by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which went so far as to cite Morocco as an example for other countries.

    In this regard, he insisted that “the authors of these allegations have used disinformation and obfuscation to exploit cases that concern persons detained under ordinary law,” noting that “such persons are guilty of illegal acts that are prohibited as offences under ordinary law (such as acts of violence against law enforcement agents, vandalism, arson, robbery, assault and battery, drug trafficking, counterfeiting and organization of clandestine emigration).”

    The diplomat concluded that “through its actions, Morocco has demonstrated its desire to enrich the dynamic launched by the Security Council” and that “it pledges to persevere in this vein.”

    Morocco and Polisario have so far held four rounds of UN-sponsored negotiations in Manhasset (outskirts of New York) with a view to putting an end to the 32-year Sahara dispute. A fifth round is expected, but no date has been set so far.

    A former Spanish colony, the Sahara was ceded to the north African country in 1975 under the Madrid Accord. However, a year later, the Polisario, backed by Algeria, started claiming the independence of this territory.

News and events relating to Western Sahara issue / Corcas