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Sanchez's decision on Western Sahara, concession made to Morocco

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Shaheed El-Hafed, 27 March 2022 (SPS) - Prime Minister Boushraya Hamoudi Bayoun said on Sunday that Spain's reversal on the Western Sahara issue was a "break in the Spanish historical consensus" and a "concession" made by the Spanish government to Morocco.
The decision taken by PM Pedro Sanchez "will not affect the legal status of Western Sahara, nor the nature of this conflict as a decolonization issue,” Boushraya Bayoun told APS.
"The support of the Kingdom of Spain to Morocco will not give the latter any legitimate authority over the territory, because the only holder of sovereignty over Western Sahara is the Sahrawi people, and the latter has its legitimate representative, in this case, the Polisario Front,” he continued.
The Sahrawi official stressed that the "biggest and strongest reaction" to Sanchez's decision came from the political scene in Spain “as all parties of the right and left, whether within the government coalition or supporters of the government in Parliament or the opposition, have rejected his decision and demanded that he appear before Parliament to be questioned" on this reversal.
Bayoun welcomed the actions of solidarity carried out by Spanish civil society, which called on the PM to reverse his decision and expressed its support for the Sahrawi cause and its solidarity with the Sahrawi people and their right to self-determination.
He also called the current Spanish government "weak", stressing that it "could not resist the pressure exerted by Morocco, and took the step of supporting the so-called Moroccan 'autonomy' plan.”
The Sahrawi PM also stressed that all successive governments in Spain, for 46 years, have not assumed their responsibility for the decolonization of Western Sahara, and have not "corrected this heinous act.”
In addition, the Sahrawi PM reminded Spain of its "legal responsibility" towards Western Sahara, as the administering power of this non-autonomous territory.
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