Florence (Italy), November 15, 2023 (SPS) - Representative of the Polisario Front in Switzerland and to the international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Oubi Boushraya Al-Bashir presented on Monday a lecture entitled “Western Sahara: State of Play, Strategies and Solutions”, at the invitation of the Departments of Law and History at the European University Institute, in the Italian city of Florence.
During the lecture, the Sahrawi diplomat touched on the history and developments of the conflict over the decolonization of Western Sahara within successive international contexts, the strategies adopted by the Sahrawi people over the past five decades, and the prospects now for the future of the issue in light of the inability of the international community, led by the UN Security Council, to implement the central United Nations mission related to organizing a self-determination referendum.
Ambassador Oubi Boushraya, who was accompanied by the representative of the Polisario Front in the Italian province of Tuscany, Mr. Abdallahi Bousheiba, touched on the negative role played by the European Union in the block group and some of its influential countries, especially France and Spain, over the past years, focusing in detail on the legal gains of the Sahrawi people since the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice in 1975, United Nations resolutions, passing through the rulings of the European Court of Justice in the years 2016, 2018 and 2021, and ending with the historic decision of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2022, which together formed a legal bulwark for the legitimacy of the struggle of the Sahrawi people.
The lecture shed light on the negative role of the European Union, which is embodied by its deception and violation of the decisions of the European Court of Justice to continue its involvement in the illegal plunder of Western Sahara’s wealth, and the effects of this on the European Union’s continued financing of the occupation economy and its projects to change the demographic structure on the ground through frenzied settlement.
The Sahrawi diplomat also stressed that Europe’s continued favoritism with Morocco does not encourage it to continue intransigence and turn its back on international legitimacy, but also opens the region to the possibility of greater slides in light of the reality of the war that has been ongoing since November 13, 2020, which may have serious repercussions on the security and stability of the region, including Europe.
In his responses to the questions of the audience about the prospects for a settlement in Western Sahara, Oubi Boushraya Al-Bashir stressed that “Morocco, of its own free will, is not ready to cooperate to reach any solution, and that its strategy is based from the beginning on procrastination in order to gain time, and that the rapid developments on the ground necessitate now more than ever that the UN Security Council must press to impose the realistic and applicable political solution, which is a referendum for self-determination.”
It is worth mentioning that the lecture was organized by the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, which is a European academic space that includes researchers in postgraduate studies in the fields of law, history, and political and social sciences. It is funded by the European Union and periodically organizes seminars devoted to issues and topics related to its field of interest.
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