Bir Lehlu (Liberated Territories), 18 February 2025 (SPS) - The Sahrawi government strongly condemned the visit of a member of the French government to the occupied cities of Dakhla and El Aaiun, deeming it a "hostile and provocative act" that can only be interpreted as "an overt attempt to legitimize the occupation."
The Sahrawi government, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Culture, described that "this visit reveals the true face of the French position, complicit with the policies of occupation and expansion, in blatant defiance of international law and complete disregard for the internationally recognized rights of the Sahrawi people, foremost among them the right to self-determination and independence."
It also represents "a gross violation of the sovereignty of the Sahrawi people and a blatant complicity with the Moroccan occupation in its desperate attempts to legitimize its illegal occupation of Western Sahara," according to the same statement, which held the French government fully responsible for this blatant complicity and called on it to cease any form of support for the Moroccan occupation.
Furthermore, it reaffirmed that "any projects or cultural initiatives taking place in the occupied cities under the auspices of the Moroccan occupation are invalid and illegal, and will not change the fact that Western Sahara is an occupied territory according to United Nations resolutions."
The Sahrawi government also called on the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, and all relevant international bodies to intervene urgently to prevent the exploitation of culture as a colonial tool by the Moroccan occupation and to stop any international complicity with its crimes, similar to the brave step and historic, binding decision recently made by the European Court of Justice regarding the natural resources in Western Sahara.
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