Sahrawi refugee camps, Algeria (EFE).- The Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian region of Tindouf registered large-scale demonstrations against the proposed United States resolution on Monday, prioritizing Moroccan autonomy for Western Sahara. This resolution is expected to be voted on in the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, Oct. 30.
The Polisario Front (a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement) considers the draft resolution prepared by the US to be “a very dangerous and unprecedented deviation from the principles of international law” that underpin the Sahrawi issue from the perspective of “decolonization.”
Thousands of people demonstrated in the refugee camps, which were set up 50 years ago in the Algerian desert to house those fleeing Western Sahara, coinciding with the Green March launched by Morocco in 1975, following Spain’s withdrawal.
“We have heard so many words that are not true. The time for words is over, as is the era of lies. What we want is a free Sahara. We are fighting for our country,” a young demonstrator named Lila Salama told EFE.
Ibrahim al Mujtar Boumokhrota, the Polisario Front’s representative in Asia, praised the large gathering in the El Aaiún camp, one of the five areas that comprise the refugee settlement, as a rejection of “being part of an autonomous region within the State of Morocco.”
“Morocco is an occupying power. They have no right to decide our future. We ask the Security Council to approve a resolution that respects international law and legality, and to recognize the right of the people to self-determination,” al Mujtar said.
Today, Rabat controls 80% of this former Spanish colony, and the Polisario Front is demanding a referendum on self-determination that would include independence for the territory.
On Thursday, the UN Security Council will address the continuation of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), established in 1991.
According to the Polisario, the draft resolution distributed on Oct. 22 by Washington prioritizes autonomy within Moroccan borders while relegating the holding of a referendum, while the Sahrawi independence movement considers the future vote a “non-negotiable” aspect.
On Thursday, the Front sent a letter to Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, warning that it “will not participate in any political or negotiation process based on the content of the presented draft resolution.”
Days earlier, the Polisario had opened the door to direct negotiations with Morocco to reach a “just and lasting” solution, in which Moroccan autonomy would be one of several options for a referendum and would not be the “only” solution and the “imposed” one.
In 2020, the United States President Donald Trump administration recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, which the UN has not validated, and maintains that the area is a “non-self-governing territory” pending decolonization.
The Sahrawis have called for new protests in the refugee camps on Tuesday. EFE
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