New York (The United Nations) 17 September 2024 (SPS)– Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, the Frente POLISARIO's representative at the United Nations, issued a corroborated letter to Slovenian Ambassador Samuel Žbogar, the President of the UN Security Council, challenging Morocco's claims that the so-called “Madrid Agreement” with Spain has ended the conflict in Western Sahara as a decolonization issue.
In his correspondence, Dr. Omar declared that the so-called "Madrid Agreement" is "null and void and without any legal effect on the international status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory."
He vehemently refuted assertions made by the Moroccan representative that the decolonization of Western Sahara was "definitively settled" by the so-called "green march", with which the Moroccan regime officially invaded the territory back in 1975.
Dr. Omar pointed out that the Security Council had previously "unanimously deplored the holding of the march" and called for Morocco to "immediately withdraw from the Territory of Western Sahara all the participants in the march," underscoring the act as one of aggression that violated the Sahrawi territory’s integrity.
He remarked, “If the decolonization of Western Sahara had been ‘definitively settled”, as the Moroccan diplomat falsely asserts, “... why did the General Assembly deeply deplore ‘the continued occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco’ in its resolutions 34/37 of 1979 and 35/19 of 1980?”
On another hand, the letter emphasized the General Assembly's ongoing recognition of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory. Dr. Omar referred to the opinion of the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Hans Corell, who stated that the "Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the territory" and confirmed that the region remains a Non-Self-Governing Territory under international law.
He challenged the Moroccan representative's claims by asking, “If the decolonization of the Territory had been ‘definitively settled’... why did the Security Council establish the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to organize a referendum for self-determination?” and why did the former Moroccan King, Hassan II agreed on it?
Dr. Omar concluded his letter by asserting that the ongoing debate over Western Sahara’s status is rooted in Morocco’s inability to provide satisfactory answers to these fundamental questions. He described the Moroccan narrative as "an absurdity" and a "futile" attempt to justify the illegal occupation of Western Sahara, which has persisted since 1975. (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)
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