El Aaiun (Refugee Camps), 30 January 2025 (SPS) - The Ministry of Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad condemned the ongoing Moroccan occupation's plundering and theft of Sahrawi resources, as well as its serious violations and crimes against the Sahrawi people, particularly in the occupied cities of Dakhla, El Aaiun, Smara, and Boujdour.
The Ministry stated in a press release that the Moroccan occupation continues its military, police, and media blockade of the occupied part of Western Sahara, confiscating the rights of the Sahrawi people in a "blatant challenge" to relevant international covenants and treaties, UN Security Council resolutions, United Nations lists, and the role of its mission to Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The statement warned about the "continuation of the criminal doctrine of the Moroccan military and civil occupation authorities, which is based on suppressing peaceful Sahrawi demonstrators for defending their right to self-determination and their demands for freedom and independence." It highlighted efforts to isolate them from the rest of their people, committing crimes against humanity that extend beyond torture, kidnapping, detention, and the trial of human rights defenders and civilian Sahrawis.
Moreover, the Ministry pointed out that the occupation has "revealed its true face," as its racist policies ultimately target all segments of the Sahrawi people through the recent systematic wave of repression against Sahrawi civilians in Dakhla, El Aaiun, Smara, Boujdour, and Assa, who demand their right to benefit from the natural resources of their land, which the Moroccan occupier continues to steal without accountability, accompanied by methods of revenge, displacement, detention, and harassment.
The statement also indicated that the Ministry, while monitoring this dire situation for wide segments of the Sahrawi people, expresses its solidarity with all affected Sahrawi groups due to the catastrophic situation caused by the continued racist and repressive practices of the Moroccan occupation.
It called on the international community to "take urgent action" to protect Sahrawi civilians and ensure their fundamental rights in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, considering the legal status of Western Sahara, classified as a territory awaiting decolonization.
The statement urged the United Nations to expedite the organization of a self-determination referendum that guarantees the Sahrawi people the right to express their aspirations for freedom and independence.
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