Rome, January 17 2017 (SPS) - Italian parliamentarians on Monday questioned their government on the situation in Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, calling on it "to take all useful international initiatives" with a view to ensuring a solution respecting the right of self-determination of the Saharawi people and ensures peace and security in the Maghreb and in the Sahel region.
Meeting in Rome in the framework of a conference under the theme "Sahrawi: what prospects?", The Italian parliamentarians recalled that since 1 January 2017, Italy has occupied a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, stressed that this represents "an important opportunity" to support the implementation of the mechanisms of numerous resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly on the Saharawi conflict.
In a document published at the end of their meeting initiated by the Italian Parliamentary Intergroup of Friendship with the Saharawi people, Italian MEPs called on Rome to "take all useful international initiatives to promote the resumption of negotiations, in particular by convening a new conference in order to encourage the parties (Morocco and the POLISARIO) to open a new fruitful dialogue under the aegis of the United Nations with a view to setting as soon as possible the date of the Referendum of self-determination for the Saharawi people.
These discussions will also enable MEPs to "ensure a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, a solution that respects the right of self-determination of the Saharawi people and that ensures peace and security in the Maghreb as well as In the Sahel region ".
The Italian parliamentarians also ask their government to take steps to "extend the mandate of the Minurso mission to monitor human rights in Western Sahara in order to strengthen the role and the effectiveness of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara of this mission, which also includes Italian soldiers.
The United Nations has included Western Sahara in the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories and since 1991 it has set up and sent to Western Sahara an international interposition mission called Minurso, the only UN mission without a specific mandate Protection of human rights, it is recalled in the document.SPS
125/090/TRA