Rabat - Abdelilah Benkirane, the Moroccan head of government, reaffirmed Thursday his country's stance supporting the 1991 ceasefire agreement with the Polisario Front, which was negotiated by the U.N. with the Polisario Front.
Rabat – Abdelilah Benkirane, the Moroccan head of government, reaffirmed Thursday his country’s stance supporting the 1991 ceasefire agreement with the Polisario Front, which was negotiated by the U.N. with the Polisario Front.
In regards to the kingdom’s recent orders to evict parts of MINURSO – a U.N. affiliated peacekeeping mission based in the Western Sahara – Benkirane’s spokesperson and communications minister, Mustafa Al Khalfi said, “Morocco made necessary decisions in accordance with the dangerous and physical [verbal] slides that insulted the Moroccan people and the territorial integrity of the country.”
The country’s recent decision to close MINURSO offices in Laayoune and Dakhla – in response to United National Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s use of the term “occupation” to describe Morocco’s presence in the Western Sahara – is “irreversible,” according to Benkirane’s statement.
“Morocco is sticking to the ceasefire and will defend it,” Khalfi said, stressing that the kingdom “will continue its contacts with all friendly countries in the Security Council in this area.”
“Morocco has no problem with the United Nations or the Security Council,” the spokesperson added.
Ki-moon remarks, which led Moroccans in the country and the diaspora to launch protests against him, came earlier this month after his visit to Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria – the Front’s home city.
The U.N. leader’s visit to the camps’ schools and facilities, which Ki-moon said had “saddened” him, came as part of his diplomatic tour of North African countries. The tour did not include Morocco as his scheduled dates in the country conflicted with King Mohammed VI’s visit to Russia
