Morocco envoy to UN: the Sahara problem is closed

“Let it be understood, the Sahara problem is closed,” affirmed Omar Hilale, Morocco’s ambassador to the United Nations.

In response to Algeria’s ambassador to the UN’s statement, Hilale asserted, on Sunday that the regional dispute around Western Sahara was settled once for all for the North African kingdom.

“No offense to Algeria, the Moroccan Sahara was completely decolonized. The Moroccan Sahara returned definitively to Morocco. The Moroccan Sahara was reinstated thanks to international law, thanks to negotiations and thanks to the Madrid Agreement, of which the UN General Assembly took note in its resolution of December 1975,” stated Hilale.

Hilale explained that “the people of the Sahara live peacefully in these Moroccan provinces and they fully enjoy all of their rights, as stated by Mrs. Ghalla Bahiya, vice-president of the Region of Dakhla Oued Eddahab, which participated in the seminar, at the invitation of the President of the C24, as democratically elected representative of the Moroccan Sahara region.”

As Morocco’s general elections approach, the Moroccan UN ambassador said the elections will include the southern provinces too. “This is the Sahara, it is participatory democracy, generational inclusiveness. It is above all the right of everyone to take part in the daily life of the Sahara,” told Hilale.

The diplomat recalled a letter addressed on November 19, 1975 by the former Ambassador of Algeria to the United Nations, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In the letter, the Algerian representative merely stated the following: “in addition to Spain, in its capacity as a powerful administrator, the parties concerned and interested in the question of Western Sahara, are Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania.”

There was no such thing as Polisario back then, demonstrated Omar Hilale. He also recalled that it was Algeria that created the “Polisario” front.

“It was in an Algerian hotel that the so-called chimerical Sahrawi republic was created,” he underlined. Addressing the Algerian Ambassador, he added: “Who is funding the “polisario”? Who shelters it on its territory? Who arms it? Who equips it with missiles, tanks and other military vehicles landed at the port of Oran? Who issues diplomatic passports to it? Who pays for business class plane tickets and 5-star hotels? If not, Algeria is doing it at the expense of its own population and its economic and social development.”

During the C24 seminar, provocative statements were made by the Algerian ambassador Sofiane Mimouni. In response, Hilale exposed the catastrophic situation of human rights in Algeria and Tindouf camps.

“No country has ever been cited as many times in recent years by the High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, as Algeria.” Stated Hilale when confronting the Algerian diplomat with multiple statements from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Algeria has been pinpointed by UN human rights and independent experts for its brutal human rights violations. Noted by the UN official, 2,500 people suffered arbitrary detentions, 1,000 went through unjust trials, and Hirak leaders and participants were forced to disappear.

“The Algerian representative should know that when he falsely denigrates the situation in the Moroccan Sahara, he is expressly attacking Morocco”, he said.

In the seminar, Morocco’s Representative Omar Hilale decried Algeria’s refusal of the registration of the populations in captivity in the Tindouf camps, in violation of its international obligations and Security Council resolutions.

“Algeria has opposed registration for more than four decades because it simply does not want the world to know the number of these populations. It uses the Tindouf camps as a symbol of the persistence of a conflict,” he proclaimed.

Accusations by Algeria’s representative proceeded claiming Morocco imposes the law of silence in the Moroccan Sahara. “Morocco has extended 14 open invitations to UN human rights experts to conduct visits to Morocco, including the Sahara. How many has Algeria made?” asked Hilale giving the free movement of separatist members as an example to correct him.

Hilale extends his explanation demanding: “When Algeria forces a conflict on Morocco, for 45 years by a separatist group, is this not a serious violation of international law? Is it not a violation of the UN Charter? Is it not a violation of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Union?”