Rabat – Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has reiterated the EU’s commitment to the UN-led political process in Western Sahara, stressing that the European bloc does not recognize the statehood claims of Polisario’s self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
“None of the Member States of the European Union recognizes the SADR and participation in the EU-AU summit does not change the position of the European Union and its member states,” Borrell said.
The senior EU official’s remarks came in response to a question by a member of the European Parliament (MEP) regarding the EU’s position on the Polisario Front’s self-styled SADR.
“This has no bearing on the position of the European Union,” Borrell said of the recent participation of a Polisario delegation in the latest EU-Africa summit. He emphasized that the EU’s stance on Western Sahara is “well known and remains unchanged.”
Speaking on the EU’s position on the Sahara conflict, Borrell emphasized that the European bloc supports the UN-led political process to find a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict.
Borrell’s comments come on the heels of MEPs heavily criticizing the EU regarding the participation of Polisario leader Brahim Ghali in the recent EU-AU summit.
Citing converging reports of the alarming human rights situation in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps, MEP Tomas Zdechovsky said that the presence of the Polisario Front in the summit was “contrary to the values and principles of Europe relating to human rights and democracy.”
Zdechovsky further pointed to Polisario’s recruitment of child soldiers in Tindouf and its association with terrorist organizations as particularly alarming and worsening the instability of the already fragile Sahel-Sahara region.
Borrell’s remarks on the EU’s position echoed those of EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Spokesman Peter Stano regarding the participation of Brahim Ghali in last month’s Europe-Afrique summit.
Stano had rejected claims that the EU invited Polisario, saying: “The fundamental point to clarify is that, for this summit, the European Union is a co-organizer with the African Union … so it is the African Union which took care of the invitation.”
The EU does not recognize Polisario’s self-proclaimed SADR, he added, stressing that the presence of Polisario’s leader at the EU-Africa summit would not “change the position of the European Union.”
