Morocco says that the presence of the “pseudo” SADR in the AU is “a legal aberration”

31 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Government of Morocco has affirmed that the presence of the “pseudo” Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) within the African Union (AU) represents “a legal aberration” and an “institutional obstacle” in the face of resolving the conflict in Western Sahara.

“The existence of the pseudo-SADR is a legal aberration because it does not correspond to the constituent elements of a State at the international level,” said the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Naser Burita, during a meeting with former African prime ministers and ministers who advocate the expulsion of the SADR from the organism.

“His presence is an institutional obstacle and an anomaly within the pan-African organization,” said Burita, who has spoken of a “violation” of International Law and the principles of national unity, as reported by the Moroccan state news agency, MAP.

Thus, he has maintained that the SADR embodies “an Africa of divisions” and “a contradiction” to the practice of the AU, at the same time that he has advocated “building an action plan” to “sensitize lawyers and the media about this aberration”. “If the SADR is a State, its first place should be in the United Nations”, he has concluded.

Morocco rejoined the AU in 2017, an organization it left in 1984 in protest at its recognition of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony occupied by Moroccan forces since 1975.

The former Spanish colony was occupied despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers has so far prevented its call.

On November 14, 2020, the Polisario Front declared the ceasefire with Morocco broken in response to a Moroccan military action against Saharawi activists in Guerguerat, in the agreed demilitarized zone, which meant for the Saharawis a violation of the conditions of the Stop the fire.