UN Resolution 2468 has been greeted as a "diplomatic gain" for Rabat because it acknowledges Algeria’s role in the Western Sahara conflict.
Rabat – Mustapha El Khalfi, the spokesperson of the Moroccan government, has said that the latest UN resolutions “prove Polisario’s violations” in areas east Morocco’s defense wall, which the separatist group has long claimed as “liberated zones.”
Commenting on the newly-adopted Resolution 2468, El Khalfi said that this resolution “put an end to the illusion of the alleged Polisario responsibility in the area to the east of the defence wall.” For El Khalfi, the resolution denounces all the “violations committed by the separatist group.
El Khalfi, who was speaking before the press for his traditional weekly report about the government council, added that the Polisario Front and Algeria are now facing the United Nations and must comply with its resolutions.
Morocco’s government has expressed satisfaction with the adoption of the new resolution adopted by majority on April 30. The resolution mentioned Algeria five times, breaking with the tradition when Algeria was only seen as a “neighboring state,” a third party in the Western Sahara conflict.
In its formulation, the resolution text refers to Algeria as as an integral party involved in the territorial dispute.
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El Khalfi added that Morocco appears in the resolution as a “key player fully committed to cooperating with the United Nations to resolve this conflict.”
El Khalfi also recalled that the resolution mentioned the “seriousness” of Morocco’s autonomy plan as a principle of “compromise, consensual, permanent, and realistic political solution.”
Reiterating Morocco’s position in the ongoing UN-led political process, El Khalfi stressed that the conflict must end within the framework of a political, realistic and mutually acceptable solution, adding that Morocco’s autonomy initiative provides a basis for such a solution.
The official also emphasized the importance of resolving the conflict to end human rights violations in the Tindouf camps.
Since March, Tindouf has witnessed several protests from Sahrawis calling on Algeria and the separatist Polisario Front to end the tightened restrictions on freedom of movement.
