Algeria deplores the “inertia” of the UN
Pleading this issue, the representative of Algeria was not satisfied with generalities and rhetoric. He cited facts.
Sofiane Mimouni, Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations
When it comes to defending his country’s positions of principle, Algeria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Sofiane Mimouni, is not going with the back of the spoon. Speaking before the Committee on Special Policies and Decolonization (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly, Mimouni reiterated Algeria’s constant position in favor of the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination in accordance with international legality, deploring the consequences of the “inertia” in which the action of the UN has taken place with regard to this non-autonomous territory.
The Algerian diplomat did not fail to stress that the nature of the conflict in Western Sahara does not suffer from there is no ambiguity and that “its solution requires the free and authentic expression of the will of the people of Western Sahara”. Pleading this issue, the representative of Algeria was not satisfied with generalities and rhetoric. He cited facts. He recalled in this regard that the United Nations and the AU reaffirmed, last February, in a joint declaration, their attachment to the settlement of the conflict in Western Sahara within the framework of international legality.
To ignore these facts, “would be tantamount to departing from the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations”, to ignore this reality, would be “to deviate from the terms of the settlement plan accepted by the two parties to the conflict and endorsed by the Council of security, ”warned Mimouni. Moreover, this approach risks sweeping away a wave of the hand all the efforts made by the international community to complete the decolonization of Western Sahara.
In this regard, the Permanent Representative expressed Algeria’s concern about the impasse in the political process led under the aegis of the United Nations for the settlement of the question of Western Sahara. He thus regretted the fact that “the political process has not seen any development since the resignation of the personal envoy Horst Kohler”, noting that “the inertia in which the action of the United Nations had settled” is a source of “deep concern” especially as it is likely to seriously compromise the confidence of the two parties in the implementation of the peace process and to exacerbate tension in the region. What to expect, if not more the frustration of the people of Western Sahara who see the hope of freely exercising their right to self-determination fading away. Patience has limits.
As such, “Algeria deplores this situation just as it regrets the lack of prospects” in the appointment of a personal envoy of the Secretary General to Western Sahara.
Western Sahara has been on the list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 and the process of its decolonization has encountered many obstacles for nearly sixty years.
The legal status of the question of Western Sahara has been affirmed and confirmed, on numerous occasions, by the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and of the United Nations Security Council, all of which have recognized the legitimate right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination.
The International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion, delivered on October 16, 1975, confirmed this legitimate right. More recently, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled clearly on the issue by emphasizing the separate and distinct status of the territory of Western Sahara as recognized by the UN.
