Rabat , November 03, 2011 (MAP)
Rabat , November 03, 2011 (MAP)
The latest developments in the Moroccan Sahara issue illustrate the relevance and strength of Morocco’s position, supported by the gains accumulated during the negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations as well as at the bilateral and regional levels, said Wednesday Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri.
In response to oral questions in the House of Representatives on “developments in the national question and the humanitarian situation in the Tindouf camps,” the minister said that this evolution has occurred in a particular regional situation and in the context of bold democratic reforms initiated under the leadership of HM King Mohammed VI.
He recalled, in this regard, the content of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1979 that invites the parties to continue negotiations and to show seriousness, realism and a spirit of compromise, as it calls the neighbouring countries including Algeria, to be part of this process.
The resolution, he said, consolidated the relevance and the pre-eminence of the Moroccan autonomy initiative.
According to the minister, the resolution welcomed the innovative approach recommended by the U.N. Personal Envoy to boost the process of negotiations, and this by proposing new topics for discussion and seeking innovative methods of negotiation.
The Security Council has ignored in this text, the request of the opponents to expand the MINURSO powers to include what they unjustifiably call “monitoring human rights” in the Sahara.
The resolution, however, praised Morocco’s efforts in the field of human rights, citing the setting up of the National Council Human Rights, he noted.
The Security Council also strongly challenged the other parties on the situation of human rights in the Tindouf camps, Fassi Fihri said, stressing that it stressed, for the first time, the need to conduct a census of the population of the camps to allow the High Commissioner for Refugees to carry out its mission of providing aid pursuant to the 1951 convention.
Morocco, convinced of the legitimacy of the national cause and reinforced by successive achievements in this regard, had taken part in the seventh and eighth rounds of informal talks on the Sahara, held respectively on 5-7 June and 19-21 July, said the minister.
During these rounds, the debate focused on the innovative approach of the U.N. Secretary-General’s personal envoy on specific issues, particularly natural resources, good governance and the broad participation of representatives of the population of the region.
These two rounds, he said, were the opportunity to explain the profound dimensions and the rich content of the Moroccan autonomy initiative and its compliance with internationally recognized criteria.
Emphasis was also put on certain aspects of the Moroccan experience in implementing territorial governance, in light of the ambitious project of the advanced regionalization.
At the same time, added the Minister, the delegation rejected the unfounded arguments and fraudulent claims of the enemies of the nation and their obsolete arguments that contradict U.N. practices and references.
The involvement of the southern provinces’ population, through their legitimate representatives in the examination of certain subjects of negotiation, is likely to shed light on the fallacy of the claims about the representativeness of the separatists, who are in the minority and go against history, the minister said.
This involvement also confirms the ongoing commitment of the local population to their Moroccan identity, their participation in all local and national elected bodies and their active contribution to building a united and democratic Morocco.
He also recalled that Morocco reiterated on the occasion of the 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly, its full willingness to engage in intense negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution to the artificial regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara on the basis of the autonomy initiative, that the Security Council unanimously qualified, in six successive resolutions, as serious and credible.
