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Rabat – Former Polisario member Mustafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud has urged Sahrawis to engage in direct dialogue with Morocco regarding Western Sahara.
The call to action came today in the form of an open letter to the mayor of Laayoune, Hamdi Ould Errachid, citing the credibility and trust the mayor has established with Sahrawis as the reason for addressing him specifically.
Mustafa Salma sees dialogue as key to reconcile and find a political solution to end the conflict.
The Sahrawi activist recalled the reconciliation that took place between the parties to Mali’s conflict and the ongoing settlements between Sudan and non-state armed movements.
Mustafa Salma also mentioned the inter-Libyan dialogue, seeking to find a lasting political solution to the country’s crisis.
“Reconciliation between the ‘enemy brothers’ has succeeded in most conflicts,” Mustafa Salma said.
He added that negotiations between the rivals can work once they realize that their destiny is shared and that “coexistence is based on the work of the rules of democracy, social justice, and good governance.”
“It has become necessary for wise Sahrawis to announce an independent initiative around which the Sahrawis can enter into direct negotiations with the Kingdom of Morocco, as happened and is happening in many countries,” the Sahrawi activist argued.
In the letter, Mustafa Salma calls on Sahrawi leaders and sheikhs to launch a Sahrawi initiative that preserves the dignity of refugees in the Tindouf camps and across the world. He emphasized that direct negotiations could work to solve the conflict.
“Morocco has extended its hand for a period of peace and has had an initiative on offer for negotiation for nearly ten years, but it has not found a free-willed Sahrawi partner to negotiate with him,” the activist said.
Morocco’s government put forward its Autonomy Plan in 2007, seeking to guarantee Sahrawis a leading role in running their affairs democratically, without discrimination or exclusion.
The Polisario Front continues to refuse the proposal, which Morocco considers the only realistic solution to end the conflict.
Algeria, which hosts, arms, and shelters the Polisario Front, continues to claim that the Western Sahara conflict is a matter of “decolonization.”
Mustafa Salma argued that the UN, which is leading the political process to find a solution for Western Sahara, does not find “independence” for the region as a rational demand.
The Polisario Front, however, continues to insist on the irrational demand “only because Algeria rejects any solution that does not guarantee its interests first,” Mustafa Salma said.
For the activist, Polisario’s claims are a losing card.
In social network posts, Mustafa Salma spoke about provocations that the Polisario Front continues to carry out in restricted areas, such as Guerguerat.
The activist said the provocations help the case of Morocco because they go against the UN.
The Polisario Front continues to defy the UN’s calls to refrain from any actions that would undermine the status quo of the area.
According to Mustafa Salma, such contradictions support Morocco’s position.
