April 8 () –
The Council of Ministers of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) has denounced this Sunday France's plan to finance, together with Morocco, projects in Western Sahara, rejecting the intention to “participate in the plundering of Sahrawi natural wealth” and describing this idea of ”new escalation” in the “historical participation of the French State against the Sahrawi people.”
“France, in a new attempt to abort international legality in Western Sahara and ignore the international status of the Sahara as a matter of decolonization, has expressed its intention to invest and finance projects through the French Development Agency (AFD) in the occupied areas of the Sahara in flagrant violation of International Law,” says the Polisario Front in a statement collected by the SPS news agency.
The government body has asked the European Union to “stop favoring” Morocco and to “break the link with the occupation”, to “put an end to the plundering of Sahrawi natural resources in accordance with the resolutions issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
On the other hand, he has urged the African Union (AU) to impose “respect for the requirements of the founding charter, in particular the principle of recognition of international borders, non-interference and appropriation of land by force and resort to solutions peaceful to resolve differences.
Finally, he pointed out that “the conflict” in the area “directly challenges” Spain as the administrative power of the territory, for which he asks “to assume its moral and historical responsibilities.” “As a starting point, it would be to stop fighting alongside Morocco in the CJEU to keep Western Sahara within the Union's trade and fishing agreements with Morocco,” he proposed.
The day before, the Sahrawi Ministry of Information denounced the French plan, which it described as a “new escalation”: “We strongly denounce this measure, which represents explicit support for the illegal Moroccan occupation of parts of the Sahrawi national territory and a flagrant violation of the law. International,” he noted.
He also called on Paris to respect the international status of the territory and to contribute “constructively in the search for a peaceful, just and lasting solution to” decolonization. “The entire Western Sahara in its air, land and maritime space has become a war zone and has asked to refrain from carrying out any activity of any kind in the Sahrawi national territory, warning of the consequences that arise from this,” he added.
The French Minister of Foreign Trade, Franck Riester, visited Morocco on Thursday, from where he showed his willingness to invest through the private sector financial arm of AFD, Proparco, together with the Moroccan authorities in matters of “common interests” that imply a high tension line between Dakhla (southern Western Sahara) and the Moroccan port city of Casablanca.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 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 The differences over the preparation of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers have prevented it from being called so far.
The latest setback for the Sahrawis was the support of the Spanish Government for the Moroccan autonomy plan, a change of position described as betrayal by the Polisario Front, which recalls that Spain is still 'de jure' the administrative power of Western Sahara.
