Jul 27. () –
The government of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) has announced the express exclusion of France from any international initiative or process related to the decolonization of Western Sahara in response to its support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for this territory. This measure expressly includes the veto of France in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
“The Government of the SADR condemns in the strongest terms the hostile stance of the French Government towards the Sahrawi people and their inalienable right to freedom, independence and self-determination,” it said in a statement reported by the official Sahrawi news agency, SPS.
“With this hostile and escalating stance, France has excluded itself from any initiative related to international efforts for the decolonization of Western Sahara,” because “it places France in the same position as the occupier and makes it unwelcome,” “including its participation in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara,” MINURSO.
For the Sahrawi government, this is “a dangerous escalation” that will have “dangerous consequences for peace, security and stability in the entire region.”
“The Sahrawi people will never forget France’s colonial past and its direct involvement in the attempts to exterminate our people, against their resistance since the beginning of the 20th century, in the mid-1950s and mid-1970s,” he said.
He also mentioned the bombing of Sahrawi civilians by Jaguar aircraft and support for the “illegal occupation” of Western Sahara since 31 October 1975.
It therefore places France as “involved in the current aggression against the Sahrawi people” as “a direct and premeditated accomplice to all crimes associated with the genocidal war unleashed by the occupying Moroccan state against our people.”
This position “reveals once again the true colonialist face of France” despite “the fact that it boasts of being the birthplace of the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. “Those who truly defend human rights do not support the occupation of a territory awaiting decolonisation. Those who truly defend democracy and the sovereignty of peoples do not support an invasive, repressive and expansionist regime,” he said.
Finally, the Sahrawi government assures that it will “thwart all attempts by the Moroccan occupying state and those who support it, such as colonial France.” “The Sahrawi people are more determined than ever to continue their struggle and resistance by all legitimate means, including armed struggle, to defend their imprescriptible and non-negotiable right to freedom and independence.”
The reaction of the Sahrawi government follows that of the Sahrawi president, Brahim Ghali – also leader of the Polisario Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra – and of the Algerian government, a historical ally of the Polisario Front. However, there has been no official French statement recently that includes a change of position on the Western Sahara dispute.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite resistance from the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both sides signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a referendum on self-determination, but differences over the preparation of the census and whether or not to include Moroccan settlers have so far prevented its convening.
One of the latest setbacks for the Sahrawis was the Spanish Government’s support for the Moroccan autonomy plan, expressed in March 2022 in a letter from Pedro Sánchez to Mohamed VI, a change of position described as treason by the Polisario Front, which recalls that Spain is still ‘de jure’ the administering power of Western Sahara.
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