New York (United Nations), 27 October 2023 (SPS) - Dr Sidi Mohamed Omar, Member of the National Secretariat, Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations and Coordinator with MINURSO, addressed yesterday a letter to Ambassador Sérgio França Danese, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations and current President of the UN Security Council, in which he expressed strong condemnation of the recent demolition and destruction by the occupying state of Morocco of the homes and properties of many Sahrawis in the Occupied City of Smara.
The Sahrawi diplomat pointed out that the actions of the occupying state of Morocco are part of the continued scorched-earth policy pursued by the occupying state since the beginning of its illegal military occupation of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975 with the declared objective of annihilating the Sahrawi people and expropriating their land and resources.
He called upon the United Nations to shoulder its responsibility in all its dimensions towards the Sahrawi people until they have exercised their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The following is the full text of the letter, a copy of which was obtained by SPS:
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations
President of the Security Council
Your Excellency,
It is with great concern that I write to you again to draw your attention and that of the Members of the Security Council to the continued colonial practices and retaliatory actions carried out by the occupying state of Morocco in Occupied Western Sahara.
According to the latest reports received from Occupied Western Sahara, in the Occupied City of Smara on 24 October 2023, the Moroccan occupying authorities demolished and destroyed the residential homes of many Sahrawis using bulldozers accompanied by several cars of Moroccan security forces. The testimonies of eyewitnesses indicate that more than fifty houses have already been demolished in addition to other structures used for sheltering livestock and warehouses.
The Frente POLISARIO strongly condemns the demolition of the homes and livelihoods of the Sahrawis in Occupied Western Sahara, which is part of the continued scorched-earth policy pursued by the occupying state of Morocco since the beginning of its illegal military occupation of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975 with the declared objective of annihilating the Sahrawi people and expropriating their land and resources.
As we have affirmed on several occasions, the occupying state of Morocco has been engaged in a large-scale scorched-earth policy and collective punishment practices against Sahrawi families especially those living around major Sahrawi Occupied Cities, which involve the destruction of houses and livelihoods, destruction of properties, burning of tents, and the killing of livestock with the objective of uprooting Sahrawi families from their homes and lands and settling more Moroccans in the Territory as part of colonial settlement plans.
The Moroccan occupying forces also continue their repressive, punitive, and retaliatory practices against Sahrawi civilians in Occupied Western Sahara where human rights activists and defenders, journalists, and bloggers are constantly subjected to close monitoring and surveillance, harassment, threats, physical assault, abduction, arbitrary arrest, detention, banning from work, and deportation outside the Territory.
To cover up its crimes in Occupied Western Sahara, the occupying state of Morocco continues to impose a military siege and a total media blackout on the Territory and to deny access to UN bodies and rapporteurs, NGOs, international media, and observers as confirmed by the UN Secretary-General in his latest report (S/2023/729) on the situation concerning Western Sahara, dated 3 October 2023.
The General Assembly has been emphasising every year in its successive resolutions on Western Sahara the responsibility of the United Nations towards the Sahrawi people including protecting Sahrawi civilians and ensuring their physical and moral integrity, among other things. It is therefore incumbent upon the United Nations to shoulder its responsibility in all its dimensions until the people of Western Sahara have exercised their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
The situation of the Sahrawi political prisoners, including Gdeim Izik Group, which was referred to in the Secretary-General latest report (S/2023/729), continues to be alarming because of the appalling conditions in which they are being held in the prisons of the occupying state of Morocco and the degrading and retaliatory practices to which they are subjected daily.
We once again call upon the Security Council to take all necessary measures to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all Sahrawi political prisoners so that they could rejoin their homeland and be reunited with their families.
The latest reports coming from Occupied Western Sahara indicate that the Sahrawi political prisoners, Gdeim Izik Group, who are jailed in several prisons of the occupying state of Morocco, have begun today a 48-hour warning hunger strike in solidarity with the Sahrawi political prisoner, Mr Hassan Mohamed Radi Dah, who is on an open-ended hunger strike.
The Sahrawi political prisoners have begun their protest to condemn the retaliatory and degrading treatment to which Mr Hassan Mohamed Radi Dah has been subjected at the Moroccan Kenitra Central Prison as well as the discriminatory and racist policy pursued by the Moroccan penitentiary administration against Sahrawi political prisoners who are held unjustly in the prisons of the occupying state.
In the view of the foregoing, the time has come for the United Nations and the international community to realise that their deafening silence and failure to resolutely confront the continued illegal occupation of parts of Western Sahara by the occupying state of Morocco and its continued gross human rights violations are creating a dangerous situation that may have dire consequences for peace and security of the entire region.
I would be most grateful if you would bring the present letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration.
Dr Sidi M. Omar
Ambassador
Representative of the Frente POLISARIO at the United Nations Coordinator with MINURSO
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