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Join on Telegram Rabat – Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN, Omar Hilale, has once again stood firm in response to a fresh wave of hostile remarks directed towards Morocco by Algeria’s regime.
The Moroccan ambassador responded to Algeria’s claims in a letter to the UN Security Council (UNSC) President and members following the provocative, false, and misleading statement made by Algeria’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the Western Sahara issue.
The Algerian diplomat, Lounes Magramane, made his remarks on Tuesday, during a discussion themed “Addressing the Historical Injustice and Enhancing Africa’s Effective Representation in the Security Council.”
While the discussion addressed the absence of effective African representation within the UNSC, Algeria deviated from the agenda by incorporating the Sahara dispute into the conversation.
The issue was not part of the discussion nor its theme. Still, the Algerian regime raised it solely to echo their entrenched hostility towards Morocco, challenging the country’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
During his speech, the Algerian regime echoed Polisario’s independence claims over the Sahara dispute, adding that the separatist group is “patiently awaiting the international community’s recognition of their inalienable right to self-determination.”
Continuous hostility
In his letter, Hilale responded to the claims, stressing that the Algerian delegate “gave free rein to his country’s anti-Moroccan sentiment and its unhealthy obsession with the Moroccan Sahara.”
The Moroccan diplomat further stressed how the Algerian representative chose the “path of deceptive arguments, erroneous assertions, and false claims” instead of proposing tangible measures and formulating effective strategies to address the injustice of Africa’s lack of representation within the Security Council.
Hilale emphasized that such remarks from the Algerian representative showed “outrageous” disrespect to the President of Sierra Leone, who was leading the discussion.
President Julius Maada Bio, in his capacity as President of the African Union’s Committee of Ten Heads of State and Government on Security Council Reform (C10), sought to make this case of African representation the flagship event of his country’s presidency of the Security Council.
“Regrettably, this was undermined by the Algerian representative’s deviation, who was the only one who could address the issue of the Moroccan Sahara during this session,” Hilale stressed.
Ambassador Hilale also highlighted Algeria’s double standards in its approach and understanding to the principle of self-determination, pointing out that the regime wields this argument solely to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity.
He further noted that the Algerian delegate deliberately omitted to mention that Resolution 1514 explicitly states that the right to self-determination should not, under any circumstances, compromise the territorial integrity of UN member states.
A call for Algeria to focus on its own development, first
The Moroccan diplomat stressed the palpable setback for Algeria’s regime as Morocco continues to gain momentum on the international stage.
The Algerian representative’s remarks come just weeks after France decided to support Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in the Western Sahara.
France’s position, which includes describing the Autonomy Plan as the only political solution to the dispute, has further angered Algeria.
France’s endorsement of the autonomy initiative aligns with a growing list of countries that view Morocco’s efforts as the most credible and serious framework for resolving the long-standing dispute over Western Sahara.
Hilale concluded his letter by inviting the Algeria representative to read the UNSC reports since 2016, including those from 2021, 2022, and 2023 from the UN Secretary-General which confirms Morocco’s efforts in terms of massive investments in its southern provinces.
“This is not the case in Algeria, which, instead of using the billions of dollars in revenue from its oil and gas to develop its own country, uses them to finance and arm its proxy, the Polisario, as well as other terrorist and separatist groups that operate in its immediate vicinity and dangerously destabilize neighboring countries,” Hilale added.
He also condemned Algeria’s role in hampering the progress of the UN-led political process, recalling how Tebboune’s government refused to resume its place at UN-sponsored roundtable discussions.
“The Algerian delegate presents to forget that the current blockage of the political process is entirely attributable to his country, which continues to refuse to return to roundtable discussions despite calls from the Security Council,” Hilale said.
