French State-owned AFP Distorts Facts about Western Sahara

Rabat – French news agency AFP has once again displayed pro-Polisario claims and misreporting amid Polisario leader Brahim Ghali’s visit to South Africa, challenging Morocco’s position over Western Sahara.

AFP shared a series of hostile remarks from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who vowed his “unapologetic” support for the Polisario Front’s claims of independence over the Western Sahara region.

Ignoring the recent UN Security resolutions, the news agency alleged that the international community “has long backed a referendum” to decide on the territory’s status.

Their “referendum” remark shows the French news agency is signaling a clear bias and supportive narrative which is also adopted by Polisario’s supporters, including South Africa and Algeria.

The referendum and self-determination comments cling to outdated claims used by Polisario and its supporters to challenge Morocco’s territorial integrity, despite the concept having been left out of official UN resolutions for years.

Several of the recently adopted UN Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2602, emphasize the importance of a “compromise-based political, realistic, pragmatic, and lasting solution” as the only way out of the long-running dispute over Western Sahara.

It is also likely that the UN Security Council might put further pressure on Algeria’s regime to engage in the UN-led political process to find a mutually acceptable solution to resolve the dispute without preconditions.

Contrasting AFP’s outdated claims on the referendum, the UN Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation on Western Sahara urged all parties to engage in the UN process and help the UN Personal Envoy toward finding a realistic and lasting settlement for the dispute.

The report also shattered Algeria’s claims as being merely an “observing” party calling on the North African country to be part of the UN process, taking responsibility as a main party to contribute towards a political solution.

Political observers argue that the UNSG report stands out as a clear message to both the Polisario Front and its primary backer Algeria, urging them to end their obstruction and obsolete approach aimed at hampering the UN-led political process.

Guterres also ruled that a referendum of self-determination is off the table, calling on all parties to the dispute to take into account the changes set forth by his previous personal envoys, implying that resolutions adopted during the tenure of his previous envoys are the only “guiding principle” for achieving a mutually acceptable political solution.

The UNSG report also rebuked Algerian claims, after Algiers had called on UN personal envoy Staffan de Mistura to “strictly inscribe” his mandate to the implementation of Resolution 690 of 1991 on the settlement plan accepted by the “two parties to the conflict.”

Algeria made this demand following the adoption of Resolution 2602 in 2021, describing the resolution as a “partial” text. The Algerian claims came as an apparent result of the country’s frustration with the UN’s urgent request for the regime’s engagement in the UN-led political process amid Tebboune’s government reluctance to shoulder responsibility as a main party.

In addition to the referendum claims, AFP suggested that Polisario has the recognition of more than 80 countries– a number frequently promoted by Polisario supporters.

The number of countries that support the Polisario Front decreased from 80 to less than 35 countries.

The government also emphasized that the number of countries supporting the Polisario Front will decrease, a situation that was proven by the recent withdrawal of recognition by other countries in recent years.

One of the recent withdrawals includes Kenya, one of the former traditional supporters of the Polisario Front.

In September, Kenya’s newly elected president William Samoei Ruto said that his country “rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity’s presence in the country.”

Many countries have joined the growing list, which also recently expressed support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible solution to end the dispute.

Some of the countries supporting Morocco’s position, also opened consulates general in Laayoune and Dakhla, including approximately 40% of African countries. The list of countries that opened consulates in Laayoune or Dakhla includes Gabon, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, and Burundi.

The number of countries that opened their representation in southern Morocco has reached 27 to date. Several other countries are expected to open consulates in the region such as Chad.

This is not the first time the news agency has made a pro-Polisario claim. In January, the news agency also misconstrued statements from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the dispute.

The agency misreported the UNSG remarks as citing “both sides” of the dispute, referring to Morocco and Polisario. The UNSG’s statement, however, encompassed other countries and parties involved in the dispute, including Algeria and Mauritania.