The UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted in his report to the Security Council on the Moroccan Sahara, the royal letter underlining the “irreversible” nature of Morocco’s peaceful intervention at the Guergguerat border crossing to restore free civil and commercial movement.
Guterres briefed the members of the Security Council on the letter sent to him by King Mohammed VI on November 21, 2020, in which he affirmed that the actions undertaken by Morocco in Guerguarate were “irreversible,” while stressing the Kingdom’s commitment to the ceasefire.
Guterres said that since October 22, 2020, “reconnaissance operations by Minurso helicopter over Guerguarate have noted the presence in the buffer strip of 12 armed members of the Polisario in military uniform,” in addition to “8 military vehicles, two of which were equipped with heavy weapons”.
The UN head explained that the Polisario front was informed by “MINURSO” that its presence in Guerguerat is regarded as “a violation of Military Agreement No. 1”, with its request to withdraw its military personnel and vehicles from the buffer zone.
He also referred to another letter sent to him by the King on November 12, 2020, in which he urged him to “increase efforts to quickly and definitively put an end to intolerable acts of provocation and destabilization made by the Polisario,” adding that Morocco, “in the respect of its attributions, by virtue of its responsibilities and in full compliance with international legality, reserves the right to act, at the time and in the manner it deems necessary, in order to safeguard the status of the zone and restore free movement in Guergarate.”
Guterres said that “no victim was reported to Minurso” when the Moroccan royal forces intervened, adding that “Polisario” forces fled from the zone after the intervention.
Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale stressed the “peaceful nature” of the Moroccan intervention, noting that it was carried out in the presence of the “MINURSO” forces, which monitored it fully, in order to protect civilians and peacekeeper forces’ lives.
Guterres’ statements regarding the presence of heavily armed “Polisario” militias in Guerguerat last October and November constitute a categorical refusal of Polisario’s claims that only civilians were present in the zone.
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