Rabat – The UN Security Council meeting on Friday ended without any major decision on the status of Guerguerat giving Morocco tacit approval to continue with the construction on a road leading to Mauritania.
Morocco has taken a police action on August 14th by sending in its security forces to stop drug smuggling and small arm dealers from continuing their business. It is also building a road to provide more security for the region.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said last week that the construction has been met with resistance by Polisario Front fighters, who are separated from Moroccan troops by only around 120 metres.
The Polisario Front protested the building of the road and had gone as far as to send 32 armed combatants with a purpose of stopping Morocco from building the road. It also accused Morocco of breaking the 1991 ceasefire agreement.
The UN is “actively engaging with the parties and key member states to urge restraint and identify options for an acceptable solution to the current crisis”, Dujarric said.
The UN has also acknowledged that there was no violation of the ceasefire agreement from 1991 on the part of Morocco.
“Morocco told the UN General Secretariat and the council that the work that leads to where to go or are eminently civil and limited in time, until the finalization of the construction of the road,” said the permanent representative of the Kingdom to the U.N. Omar Hilale.
“This objective is strategically safe and Morocco is resolutely determined to achieve, said Hilale in an interview with MAP.
Morocco maintains that the Guergurat region was rife with nefarious trade and smuggling.
Last week, Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces seized 500 kilos of cannavis at the 280-meter security wall near Boujdour. Among those arrested was Majidi Hamim Ida Hamim, son of Ibrahim Ida Hamim, former wali of camp Es-Smara in Tindouf and present “Development Minister” in the “SADR.”
“The cleansing of the area is eminently imperative for security reasons,” emphasized Hilale.
