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Rabat – Morocco continues to secure more support from the international community for its territorial integrity and sovereignty over Western Sahara.
State media reported that a new cohort of countries have joined the Support Group for the Territorial Integrity of Morocco in Geneva.
The group, which now has 32 states, issued a declaration within the framework of the 47th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) to reiterate support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
Justin Virad, the Permanent Representative of Haiti in Geneva, delivered the declaration to the HRC, conveying the group’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
The statement also recalled Morocco’s peaceful intervention in the border post of Gherguerat, linking Morocco and Mauritania to put an end to provocative moves Polisario militias staged in the region between October and November 2020.
The Polisario maneuver in Guerguerat affected the freedom of movement of people and goods for three weeks.
The group supporting Morocco’s territorial integrity in Geneva also welcomed the opening of consulates by many countries in the cities of Dakhla and Laayoune.
At least 20 countries have opened consulates in Morocco’s southern provinces, including Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, Senegal, Comores, and Cote D’Ivoire, among others.
For the group, the opening of the consulates constitutes a lever for “strengthening economic cooperation and investments, for the benefit of local populations, for regional and and continental development.”
The statement also commended Morocco’s commitment to the UN-led political process in the search for a lasting solution to Western Sahara.
In their declaration, the group also expressed unwavering support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the basis of negotiations to end the Sahara conflict.
During the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Moroccan delegation emphasized the country’s steadfast commitment to the UN-led political process in Western Sahara.
During the meeting, the delegation also countered Algeria’s continued allegations against Morocco’s territorial integrity.
Omar Zniber, Morocco’s permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva, denounced the Morocco-bashing agenda Algeria continues to promote.
Zniber said that the representative of Algeria made declarations that sought to undermine the territorial integrity of Morocco.
He also recalled that Algeria’s regime supports, arms, and finances the armed separatist group.
“The latest developments have shown that this gang is the image of its alleged leader,” Zniber said.
Zniber hinted at the discrepancy between Algeria’s claim to support human rights and freedom in Western Sahara and its sponsoring of a militant group with a history of rights abuses and high-profile crimes.
“How can the criminal called Brahim Ghali, protected by Algeria, claim, fallaciously, to represent a population, which has many victims of its barbaric behavior, unworthy and against the most basic human rights? grant this individual who cannot move freely, other than through falsified documents and a usurped identity, to conceal his entry into European territory and evade justice, through the Algerian regime.”
While the Algerian regime continues to give Ghali a privileged status, “the brotherly Algerian people are suffering from the absence of the most urgent needs,” Zniber concluded.
