Join on WhatsApp 
Join on Telegram Rabat – In a letter to the Security Council and the UN Secretary General, Morocco’s Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, Omar Hilale, brought attention to Algeria’s silence and obstruction regarding the Western Sahara dispute.
The communique comes as a response to another letter sent by the Algerian ambassador Nadir Larbaoui to the UN. Hilale pointed to Algeria’s “culpable silence, questionable denial, its indecent denigration of the United Nations, and its fallacious allegations.”
“As is accustomed, the Algerian ambassador never answers to the acts that his country is accused of,” the letter said. “He prefers to deal in propaganda rather than providing tangible answers to the concrete and proven facts and dates directly incriminating Algeria.”
The Algerian ambassador’s letter was itself a reaction to another Moroccan letter that criticized the actions of the separatist activist Sultana Khaya and her incitement of armed violence in the Sahara.
Read also: Western Sahara: The Conclusion (Almost) Everyone Suspects Is Coming
Hilale considered Algeria’s silence as evidence of the accuracy of Morocco’s letter, which mentions Khaya’s repeated visits to the Tindouf camps and her participation in conferences organized by the Polisario.
Hillale added that Algeria’s ambassador “committed in his letter the unforgivable error of underestimating the intelligence of the security council’s members, concerning his country’s responsibility in this regional dispute.”
The Moroccan diplomat went on to elaborate about Algeria’s role as a main party to the Sahara dispute, citing a letter sent by Algeria’s Ambassador in 1975, where he said that “other than Spain as the administering power, the concerned and interested parties in the Western Sahara affair are Algeria, Morocco, and Mauritania.
Despite its direct involvement in the conflict, Algeria continues to identify itself as an “observer,” arguing that a solution to the dispute should concern Morocco and Polisario.
Hilale similarly pointed to the Polisario’s continued activity in Algeria and the country’s previously expressed stances supporting the separation of the Sahara from Morocco in the Baker plan era.
Speaking on the dire human rights situation in the region, he noted that “human rights in the Moroccan Sahara are much better than in Algeria,” adding that violations in Algeria have been condemned by the UN’s own bodies repeatedly.
A former detainee in a Polisario prison called out human rights abuses in the Tindouf camps on Thursday, accusing the Polisario of engaging in human trafficking as well as embezzling funds meant for humanitarian aid.
Algeria has also been previously criticized for its restrictions on free speech, political freedoms, and peaceful demonstrations, by the UN’s High Office of Human Rights.
