Rabat – Several of the Caribbean’s island states have voiced their support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only solution to the Western Sahara conflict. St. Lucia, Dominica, and Grenada all highlighted their support for the plan that would grant autonomy to the region under the sovereignty of Morocco.
Gathered at an event of the UN’s “Special Committee on Decolonization,” known as the C-24, a large number of African and Caribbean states spoke out in support of Morocco.
Dominica
The nation of Dominica, part of the Windward island group in the Caribbean, voiced its “unwavering” support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal.
The Dominican foreign ministry highlighted that “this initiative, presented by the Kingdom of Morocco, is in full compliance with international law, the Charter of the United Nations, the resolutions of the General Assembly, and the Security Council.”
The ministry described Morocco’s efforts to find a peaceful solution as “serious and credible,” arguing that it represents “the only compromise solution to the artificial regional dispute.” The Autonomy Plan, the ministry wrote, “made it possible to strengthen the empowerment of the populations of the Moroccan Sahara and to promote human development in the region.”
Grenada
Grenada, which is part of the Antilles, declared Morocco’s 2007 Autonomy Plan to be the only “viable” solution. “We welcome the Moroccan autonomy initiative presented to the Secretary General on April 11, 2007,” the Grenadan Foreign Ministry wrote.
The island nation considers the plan to be a “viable proposal to settle the dispute relating to the Sahara, and note that the Security Council welcomes the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco to advance the process towards a settlement.”
Grenada also declared its “unwavering support” for the plan as the only realistic peace proposal on the table and highlighted that “Grenada looks forward to the appointment of the new Personal Envoy.”
Hilale speaks out
Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Ambassador to the UN, spoke at the C-24. He addressed the current diplomatic crisis with Algeria and its role in the Western Sahara affair. “Algeria has never been a mere observer in the issue of the Moroccan Sahara,” Hilale told the gathered diplomats as he highlighted Algeria’s role as a “stakeholder in this dispute from the very beginning.”
“It is in an Algerian hotel that the so-called Sahrawi republic was created,” Hilale remarked as he highlighted Algeria’s defining role in fueling the conflict to the detriment of local and regional stability.
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The Moroccan UN representative addressed his Algerian counterpart directly as he openly asked: “Who finances the “polisario”? Who shelters it on its territory? Who arms it? Who equips it with missiles, tanks and other military vehicles unloaded at the port of Oran? Who issues its diplomatic passports? Who pays for its business class air tickets and its 5 star hotels? If not Algeria, which does so at the expense of its own population and its economic and social development.”
