MP Mohamed Ouakli stressed the need to expand the missions and competence of the United Nations Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), to the monitoring of the human rights situation in the occupied Sahrawi territories.
MP Ouakli, member of the Algeria-Western Sahara Parliamentary Friendship Group, spoke during the 2nd day of the annual meeting of the UN Fourth Committee, specializing in special political issues and decolonization, held Wednesday at headquarters of the United Nations in New York, and whose work began on Tuesday by listening to the declarations concerning the question of decolonization of Western Sahara.
Illegal exploitation of the wealth of the Sahrawi people by the Moroccan occupier
Mr. Ouakli highlighted all forms of illegal exploitation of the wealth of the Sahrawi people and their natural resources by the Moroccan occupier, stressing that this was “a flagrant violation of UN resolutions in particular Resolution 1803 relating to permanent sovereignty over natural resources.
“Morocco continues its unjust exploitation of the wealth of the Sahrawi people which it now uses as an economic weapon or even a means of pressure to blackmail more countries with the ambition of legitimizing its presence in the occupied territories,” added Mr. . Ouakli, recalling, in the same context, the report of the international Observatory Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) of 2024, in which the latter denounced the continued illegal extraction, by Morocco, of phosphate from the Sahrawi territories. busy.
Engage in serious negotiations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front
The Algerian MP welcomed the historic decision of the CJEU invalidating the Morocco-EU trade agreements, based on the fact that Western Sahara is a distinct and separate territory of Morocco which does not fall under its sovereignty. He underlined “the need to expand the missions and competence of MINURSO to monitor the human rights situation in the occupied Sahrawi territories”, recalling the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the UN for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, despite the obstacles posed by Morocco to thwart his efforts.
Furthermore, Mr. Ouakli recalled Algeria’s constant position with regard to the question of Western Sahara which is based on the principles of international legality and UN resolutions in favor of the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. He reiterated Algeria’s call to initiate serious negotiations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, the sole legal representative of the Sahrawi people, without preconditions to achieve the organization of a free and transparent referendum under the under the auspices of the UN. The work of the 4th UN Committee will continue until next Monday to hear statements on decolonization in Western Sahara and other territories on the agenda.
