Speaking at the UN General Assembly's Fourth Committee, Morocco's permanent ambassador to the UN, El Mostafa Sahel said Morocco, which remains firmly attached to resuming the negotiation process, thanks to dynamic created by its proposal, "exerts the international community to keep the momentum of negotiations, by consolidating the achievements witnessed by a serious process which enjoyed the Security Council's support, through resolutions 1754,1783, and 1813."
Sahel underlined that the settlement initiative offers "real opportunities to close this issue once and for all, bring and end to the suffering of the population in the camps, and step up the establishing of a Maghreb, where a spirit of reconciliation, cooperation, solidarity prevails."
"It is the path chosen by the Kingdom and its will, as expressed by king Mohammed VI," the Moroccan diplomat recalled, reiterating Morocco's sincere will to reach a happy solution to this issue, which depends on the readiness of other parties, notably Algeria, to take part to a constructive dynamic with the aim to build with Morocco a partnership strengthening the ties bonding the Moroccan and Algerian peoples.
Sahel stressed the obscurantist and non-constructive attitude shown by other parties vis à vis the General Secretary Personal Envoy, Peter Van Walsum, whose vision for "a realistic and negotiated approach of the Sahara issue doesn’t dates back to April 2008."
"Such a Face-off causes astonishment and confusion, as theses parties hailed the adoption of resolutions 1754, 1783 and even 1813 which marked the new process," Sahel went on to say.
"Morocco doesn't understand how theses parties, which kept reiterating their "supposedly support" to reach a solution to this disagreement, have spared no effort to denigrate the special Envoy as it happened with his predecessor, Alvaro De Soto in 2004.".
The Moroccan diplomat stressed that the persistence of such a stance shows, once again, this deliberate will to slow down the settlement of this problem and prolong the suffering of the population at the camps of Tindouf (southwestern Algeria).
Sahel also recalled that the resolution adopted by consensus in October 2007 by the General Assembly did not only show its firm support for resolution 1754 of the Security Council, but also deemed that “all the possible self-determination versions are valid if they respond to the wishes freely expressed by the peoples concerned.”
“Such a readiness largely consolidates the Moroccan initiative which seeks to be a form of expression of self-determination to abide by the freely made choices of the Sahara population,” he added.
He also recalled that the same resolution did not refer to any previous plans which proved to be limited, noting that it laid the foundations, through a firm support for resolution 1754, to a new settlement dynamic.”
“This solution has made the General Assembly on the same page with the Security Council regarding the true nature of this issue, and the means to reach a political solution,” the ambassador pointed out.
Touching on the conclusions drawn by Van Walssum before the Security Council on the unrealistic character of all options calling for the Sahara independence, Sahel said such an analysis is the result of three years of mediation and four rounds of negotiations.
In this regard, Sahel hailed the intellectual honesty and moral integrity of Van Walssum who, with well-judgment and courage, reached a conclusion which, for many observers, could constitute the basis of rapid denouement to this regional disagreement, adding that such a realistic approach was recognized and backed by the General Secretary of the UN.”
Source: MAP
News and events on Western Sahara issue / Corcas