Pretoria (South Africa) 06 September 2024 (SPS)- The ruling coalition parties in South Africa organized a solidarity seminar today, Friday, at the headquarters of the Education and Health Workers' Union, in collaboration with the Sahrawi embassy in Pretoria, urging the United Nations to expedite the decolonization of Western Sahara through a referendum for the Sahrawi people and to end the last chapter of colonialism on the African continent.
The participants in the seminar, representing the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the Education and Health Workers' Union, and various youth organizations of the coalition, as well as the South African Solidarity Movement with the Sahrawi people, all agreed on the necessity of supporting the Sahrawi people's resistance until they achieve full independence from Moroccan occupation.
Several speakers addressed the Seminar, starting with a presentation by former South African General Keith Mokoape, President of the Solidarity Movement with the Sahrawi people, who provided a brief overview of the historical friendship and solidarity between the Sahrawi and South African peoples during the anti-apartheid struggle.
He recalled the support the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic extended to South Africa's struggle against the then racist government, stating that he himself was part of South African resistance units trained in Sahrawi military institutions, emphasizing that the Sahrawi Republic consistently defended the South African resistance within the African Union, advocating for increased African and international sanctions against the apartheid regime.
General Mokoape condemned Moroccan colonial policies, expressing his outrage over Morocco's ongoing crimes against the Sahrawi people and denouncing the Moroccan exploitation of Sahrawi natural resources in complicity with other international powers.
He asserted that these crimes would not go unpunished and called on the African Union to align with its founding principles of liberating African peoples from colonialism, urging the Union to impose all possible sanctions on Morocco for its clear violation of the AU's founding princples by its illegal and disgraceful occupation of parts of the Sahrawi territory.
In her intervention, lawyer Magdalene Moonsamy discussed the legal and political dimensions of the Sahrawi people's struggle against Moroccan occupation. She reminded the audience of the United Nations resolutions, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and various other opinions and judgments from the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights and the European Court of Justice, all of which agreed that Morocco is an occupying power with no sovereignty over Western Sahara.
She pointed out that Morocco is violating all these international decisions and judgments, committing a continuous war crime against the Sahrawi people since the 1970s, highlighting the grave human rights situation in the occupied Western Sahara and the plight of Sahrawi civilians and political prisoners as a result of the ongoing Moroccan occupation.
The speaker urged South African civil society to actively engage in solidarity with the Sahrawi people and to take concrete initiatives to support this African people's resistance and their just and noble cause, which should be the concern of all lovers of peace, security, and freedom in Africa and the world.
The closing speech was delivered by the Sahrawi Ambassador to South Africa, Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, who provided the audience with a brief overview of the latest developments on the political, military, diplomatic, and human rights levels in the Sahrawi people's struggle, led by their legitimate and sole representative.
He emphasized the determination of this proud African people to intensify their struggle until they achieve final victory and cleanse all national territory from the Moroccan settler occupation.
The seminar was attended by representatives of the ruling coalition parties in South Africa, members of the Confederation of South African Trade Unions, students and youth, as well as members of the diplomatic corps accredited in South Africa. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)
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