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Rabat – Morocco’s head of government Aziz Akhannouch has highlighted Algeria’s role in the Western Sahara issue, stressing that there can be no long-lasting political solution to the territorial dispute without the Algerian regime’s “serious, well-intentioned participation” in the UN-led round tables to reach a final resolution.
Speaking at the General Debate of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Akhannouch said that Algeria’s “recognition of its responsibility in creating and pursuing this artificial conflict is the first condition to reach a final political settlement to this issue.”
The Moroccan head of government has once again expressed Morocco’s condemnation and “grave concern over the catastrophic” human rights violations, as well as the “absence of the rule of law,” in the Tindouf camps.
Describing the situation in Tindouf as a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” Akhannouch said that Algeria has “ceded its responsibilities over this part of its land [Tindouf] to armed separatists militias, which have documented links to dangerous terrorist networks in the Sahel region.”
He called on the international community to urge Algeria to “answer the calls” of the UN Security Council and allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to “organize a census and register the Dwellers of the Tindouf camp.”
Read also: Aziz Akhannouch Calls for International Support to Mitigate Africa’s Economic Crisis
Earlier this month, the US delegation to the Human Rights Council in Geneva expressed similar concerns over the human rights situation in the Tindouf camps, condemning Algeria’s refusal to address the issue despite the appeals of UNHCR.
Last August, the UN team in Algeria called for urgent food and nutritional aid as malnutrition and other health issues rose among Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf camps.
Akhannouch reiterated Morocco’s commitment to finding a final political solution to “the artificial regional conflict around the Moroccan Sahara,” stressing that the country’s Autonomy Plan is the “sole solution.”
He highlighted the immense support Morocco’s Autonomy Plan has received from the UN Security Council, as well as from more than 90 states, since its submission in 2007.
Akhannouch recalled the new development models that Morocco has been implementing in its southern regions throughout the past years. He highlighted the “active participation” of the inhabitants of Morocco’s southern regions in the development plan, through the “democratically elected representatives in the Moroccan Sahara councils.”
Addressing several other issues in his speech, including the food and energy crisis that Africa has been suffering due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Moroccan head of government called for international, collective action to help the continent mitigate its economic crisis.
The event was also an opportunity for Akhannouch to reiterate Morocco’s support for the Palestinian cause, calling for “the two-state solution that is agreed upon internationally.”
