On the 25th anniversary of MINURSO

Today, MINURSO celebrates the 25th anniversary of its existence in Western Sahara. The conditions under which this anniversary is celebrated are the worst that UN contingent could imagine.

Since the expulsion in March, of its civilian component, MINURSO is practically « blind ». Without the civilian personnel, it can not report on what is happening in Western Sahara. They are the eyes and ears of Ban Ki-moon. Thanks to their reports, the UN SG obtains the necessary elements for its annual report and to make an objective assessment of the situation on the ground.

His movements in the territory were reduced to minimum in the context of the measures imposed by Rabat in response to UN refusal to consider the pseudo-autonomy proposal as a solution satisfying the principle of self-determination.

On MINURSO fall the humor changes of the Moroccan authorities whenever Ban Ki-moon report stresses on the human rights issue, the natural resources question and the status of Western Sahara as a non-autonomous territory. The UN could not even force Morocco to change the license plates of MINURSO vehicles.

Little by little, Morocco was testing how far Paris is ready to go in its support of its position. Once assured of the strength of this support, Rabat went up a gear. Having disavowed the UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr Christopher Ross, Morocco attacked UN head himself and MINURSO.

Besides that, in these 25 years, the Moroccan forces of occupation continued to violate with impunity human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Torture, abuse, murder, is the daily bread in the areas under Moroccan occupation.

Since Gdeim Izik camp, Morocco prevents Sahrawi can camp in the Saharawi beaches during the hot summer days. Even sit-in to claim work are forbiden and those who organize them are savagely repressed.

Western Sahara still being a prison on a large scale in which the entrance to observers, international political figures and international press is prohibited in order to prevent them to give their testimony of the seriousness of the situation afflicting Saharawi people resident there. Added to this, since last October Rabat banned access to all Sahrawis who do not have moroccan documentation.

In the military field, Morocco maintains and reinforces the occupation wall that separates the occupied areas from the liberated territories of SADR. A wall separating families that have not been seen each other since 40 years and whose mines continue to reap lives under the complicit silence of the international community.