Morocco has no valid claim on the territory of Western Sahara which it has illegally occupied for more than 45 years in defiance of the decisions of the organs of the United Nations but cannot continue to ignore indefinitely international legality which gives the Saharawi people the right to self-determination, reports a Namibian newspaper.
“Morocco has no valid claim on the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom continues to demonstrate its contempt for international law”, indicates an article published in the Namibian daily “New Era” devoted to the political and military expedition called “march green “organized by the Moroccan authorities 44 years ago to occupy Western Sahara.
It is stated in the article that it is this contempt for international law that gave rise to protest actions in El-Guerguerat, where Saharawi civilians demonstrated to demand the final closure of the illegal breach created in the wall of the shame through which the plundering of the resources of their country by the Moroccan regime is often operated. “Morocco must respond to the legitimate demands and the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination”, one writes, stressing the need for Namibia and South Africa to continue to support the Saharawi cause.
“Namibia and South Africa must continue to be champions of change for the continent and for the world,” reads the article, co-signed by South African human rights activist, Catherine. Constantinides, the Namibian journalist Vitalio Angula, and the representative of the Polisario Front in Switzerland Omeima Abdeslam.
“We cannot align ourselves with a state which continues to occupy and illegally colonize another African state”, they insist.
To this end, “the people of southern Africa must remain firm in their historical position and their policy in favor of the self-determination of the last colony on the African continent”, we add And to continue on the same path: ” The Saharawi people are the forgotten people of Africa and will become a scar for the conscience of the continent if we do not mobilize all our time, our efforts and our resources to break the chains hampering the people of Western Sahara “.
In this same article devoted to the propaganda of the Green March, the Namibian newspaper recalled that on November 6, 1975, some 350,000 Moroccans, escorted by 20,000 Moroccan soldiers, began an invasion of the territory of Western Sahara in view of the ‘annex. The march was organized in violation of the judgment of the United Nations International Court of Justice rendered on October 16, 1975, which concluded that “there was no link of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and Morocco”.
The court added that “the people of Western Sahara (Sahrawis) owned the land and therefore enjoyed the right to self-determination” after the departure of Spain, a former colonial power, and “45 years later, the Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara persists, “the newspaper denounces.
Following this expedition, and “in order to avoid war and preserve as much as possible its interests on the territory, Spain, agreed to start direct bilateral negotiations with Morocco, also involving the Mauritania “.
“Under pressure from Morocco, Spain also agreed that no representative of the Sahrawi population would be present in the negotiations which led to the Madrid agreements of November 14,” the newspaper relates, referring to a historical account.
In the days preceding the Madrid accords, Morocco entered the territory of Western Sahara illegally. The march continued for four days until November 9, when the volunteers were recalled after advancing 10 kilometers into the territory.
When the volunteers returned to Morocco, the military contingent of 20,000 Moroccan soldiers wreaked havoc on the territory, killing anything they found in their way.
Moroccan soldiers poisoned water wells, killed animals and executed or imprisoned Saharawis they found in their path. It is the sad story of the Green March which has displaced more than 163,000 Saharawis confined to refugee camps, reported by the Namibian New Era.
