Algiers, 5 August 2024 (SPS) - African and Latin American ambassadors and diplomats reaffirmed, on Monday in Algiers, the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination and decolonization of the last colony in Africa, reiterating their unwavering support for the Sahrawi people's struggle until they regain their freedom and independence.
During a solidarity conference organized by the "Machaâl Echahid" Association and the daily newspaper El-Moudjahid, in collaboration with the embassy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the National Institute of Global Strategic Studies (INESG), the ambassador of the Republic of Namibia, the dean of the group of African ambassadors in Algiers, Pandulena Kaino Shingenge, condemned the French position supporting the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
"We condemn and reject the position of the French government, because the cause of Western Sahara is a question of decolonization of the last colony in Africa," she said, adding that the Sahrawi people aspire to organize a self-determination referendum.
The diplomat also expressed her full solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for an end to the suffering and criminal operations committed against them.
She called on all free men in the world to support the Sahrawi and Palestinian peoples in their struggle for freedom and independence.
For his part, the chargé d'affaires of the South African embassy in Algiers, Bernard Legodo Koporo, affirmed that France's position on Western Sahara, in favor of the so-called "autonomy plan for the territory of Western Sahara", was "unacceptable".
"France should have refrained from making such a statement, as this is an interference in the internal affairs of another country," he said.
In this context, he affirmed that South Africa will continue to support the UN resolutions on Western Sahara as well as the efforts of the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy to Western Sahara, in order to reach a just political solution.
For his part, the ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Algiers, Hector Igarza, told APS that "France, as a permanent member of the Security Council, had voted in 1992 in favor of the resolution recognizing the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination," adding that "the Sahrawi people are the only ones to decide their destiny, not other heads of state".
For his part, the ambassador of the Republic of Mozambique in Algiers, Mr. Carvalho Muiria, expressed in his intervention his solidarity and support for the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, recalling that this position is enshrined in the Constitution of his country.
As for the ambassador of Venezuela in Algiers, Juan Arias, he reaffirmed to APS "his country's support for the Sahrawi people's right to establish their sovereignty over their lands, as Western Sahara belongs to the Sahrawi people", deploring the fact that the Security Council was not assuming its responsibilities regarding the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.
The Venezuelan ambassador also stated that the lack of conditions to find peaceful solutions to achieve this goal opens the way to violence and war.
