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Top US House Democrat warns against Trump “casting aside legitimate multilateral avenues of conflict resolution” in Western Sahara

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Washington (USA) 11 December 2020 (SPS)- The top House Democrat with oversight of foreign affairs, Rep. Eliot Engel, warned Thursday that Trump's move to recognize Morocco’s claims in Western Sahara threatens legitimate multilateral efforts to solve long-standing conflicts.
President Trump on Thursday, has announced what it considered as a breakthrough of diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco, which he claims having made possible in exchange of a proclamation he made through Twit recognizing Rabat’s “sovereignty” over the occupied territory in Western Sahara, over which Morocco has no sovereignty.
“I am concerned this announcement upends a credible, internationally supported UN process to address the territorial dispute over Western Sahara, which successive administrations of both parties have supported,” Rep.  Engel said. 
He recalled that “Morocco annexed the territory of Western Sahara in 1979 in a move that was not recognized by the international community and failed to bring an end to ongoing violence in the region between the Polisario independence movement on behalf of indigenous Sahrawi people.” (SPS)
090/500/60 (SPS)