Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, challenged Algeria to abandon its Cold War-era mindset after its representative called for the secession of the Western Sahara from Morocco.
At the end of the 79th regular session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Hilale reminded Algeria, which continues to call for the Western Sahara’s secession from Morocco, of “the end of the Spanish colonization of the Moroccan Sahara with its presence under the dome of the same council.”
The Moroccan diplomat responded on Monday to Algeria’s claims of supporting the UN process in the Sahara file, saying: “This is completely untrue, and the whole world knows that the UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura, was appointed three years ago, so why have there been no negotiations?”
”The absence of negotiations is simply due to Algeria’s refusal to participate in negotiations.”
Hilale attacked Algeria’s “contradictions” on the Sahara issue, noting that “this country (Algeria) rejects the political solution, claims to support UN efforts, and at the same time puts obstacle before the negotiating table.”
“Everyone wishes that Algeria would assume its responsibility in this conflict, especially since its name is found in all Security Council resolutions,” said Hilale.
“The Kingdom does not distort or change the facts, but it is Algeria that refuses to recognize a set of facts, the first of which is the support of 199 UN member states for Moroccan autonomy in the Sahara, and the list expands with the European Union,” said the ambassador.
The third fact that Algeria refuses to recognize is “29 consulates in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla in Morocco’s southern provinces, nearing 30, and there are many more countries coming on the list,” he said, calling on Algeria to “see the truth, the most important of which remains the economic development in the Moroccan Sahara.”
“Algeria is the mother of crises in the Sahel-Saharan region, as it harbors terrorists within its territory,” Hilale said, stressing that ”the wave of terrorism and tension in the Sahel-Saharan region exists, and its real causes are at the hands of Algeria, which interferes in the internal affairs of countries and does not respect their initiatives and political choices.”
The Moroccan diplomat stressed that “the world must realize that this rhetoric towards Algeria comes as this country is keen every day to train Polisario members, has hosted terrorists on its soil for half a century, and has allowed them throughout this period to pass to our Moroccan territory to attack it.”
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