2023-05-26 22:20:00
Exercising several rights of reply to the provocative and biased statements of the Algerian permanent representative to the UN, Amar Benjama, during the annual seminar of the UN Committee of 24 (C24), Morocco’s ambassador to the international organization, Omar Hilale, stressed that the decolonization of the Moroccan Sahara has been definitively sealed since 1975, under the Madrid Agreement.
Before this seminar meeting this week in Bali, Indonesia, Hilale expressed the recognition and appreciation of the Kingdom to the overwhelming majority of the members of the Committee of 24 for their support for the Moroccanness of the Sahara and the Autonomy Initiative.
“To those who support the UN political process and the Personal Envoy of the SG, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, I reaffirm Morocco’s resolute commitment to this process in order to reach a realistic, pragmatic, lasting and compromise solution to this regional dispute, in accordance with Security Council resolutions, including resolution 2654,” he added.
“To those who always talk about decolonization, we tell them that the decolonization of the Moroccan Sahara is over. It was completed in 1975 with the Madrid Agreement, which was deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations and endorsed by the General Assembly, the same year”, retorted Hilale, noting that the question of the Sahara is a question of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom and not of decolonization.
Addressing those who advocate self-determination and exploit resolution 1514, he challenged them on their culpable silence on other United Nations resolutions, particularly resolutions 1541 and 2625, which preserve the territorial integrity of States. He denounced a “biased and ideological” reading of the principle of self-determination and resolution 1514.
The ambassador permanent representative of Morocco to the UN also stressed that “territorial integrity takes precedence over the right to self-determination”, affirming that “the principle of self-determination is a positive right, which does not only arose in 1960, thanks to resolution 1514”, whereas that of territorial integrity has existed since man has existed, since states were founded. “It is therefore a question of a centuries-old right”, insisted the ambassador.
Noting that self-determination is not an à la carte principle, the diplomat indicated that one cannot claim to apply this principle for a so-called people and refuse it to others. International law is universal and should apply to everyone, he insisted.
Responding to the insidious questioning of the Algerian diplomat on the “obstacles” facing the political settlement of the Moroccan Sahara issue, Hilale noted that Morocco has always supported the political process and the Personal Envoy of the UN SG and accepted Security Council resolutions.
Abundant in his reply, the Moroccan ambassador confronted his Algerian counterpart: “Who officially rejects the resolutions of the Security Council? Who refuses to return to the round table process? Who objects to the census of the populations of the Tindouf camps? Who harbors on its territory an armed separatist group against its neighboring country? Who denies the principle of good neighborliness? Who refuses the peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue advocated by the Charter of the United Nations? ”.
Omar Hilale also expressed the strong hope that this bilateral dispute could be settled within the framework of the UN political process supported by the international community, stressing that the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative is the only solution to this artificial conflict, which “will allow the return of our brothers and sisters from the Tindouf camps to their motherland, Morocco”.
Abundant in the sense of a speaker who indicated that the question of the Moroccan Sahara should no longer be discussed within the framework of the C24, the ambassador pointed out that indeed the Security Council does not consider it as a question of decolonization. , but of peace and security, within the framework of Chapter VI of the Charter of the United Nations.
In this sense, he recalled that Article 12 of this Charter requires that the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies, including the 4th Committee and the C24, refrain from intervening on any subject when it is considered by the Security Council. This is currently the case for the Moroccan Sahara.
The diplomat also recalled that the question of the Moroccan Sahara is a political dispute in which Algeria is a party, which is why Algeria is cited five times in the latest Security Council resolutions.
And to emphasize that this dispute will be settled when Algeria resumes its place at the round table, in accordance with resolution 2654, and this in full respect of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom.
Reacting to the truncated remarks of the Algerian ambassador on Morocco’s respect of its commitments to resolve this dispute, the diplomat specified that the Kingdom has always respected its commitments for the settlement of this dispute within the framework of the dialogue between Morocco and Algeria.
He recalled, in this context, that King Mohammed VI had, on several occasions, extended his hand to his brother the Algerian President to discuss, without conditions, all bilateral issues, whether that of the Moroccan Sahara or the opening of borders that have been closed for more than three decades, or sectoral meetings and bilateral cooperation.
“Morocco is always driven by good will, peace, good neighborliness and fraternity,” he stressed, expressing the wish that this will be possible very soon.
The ambassador concluded by expressing the hope that a virtuous dynamic will be set in motion between the two countries, “because there will be no solution to this dispute without a commitment on the part of the neighboring country, Algeria, so that we can find a solution within the framework of respect for the territorial integrity of Morocco and good neighbourliness, and ultimately the realization of the dream of the greater Arab Maghreb”.
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