BRUSSELS – APS.dz.- The representative of the Polisario Front in Europe and with the European Union (EU), Oubi Bouchraya Bachir, declared on Tuesday that the support reaffirmed by the European Commission for the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination “is very important ” at a political and legal level, especially with regard to the question of “systematic plundering of the resources of the Saharawi people”.
The European Commission had stated, in a written reply to a MEP on 11 March, its support for the efforts of the UN SG to reach a just and lasting political solution in Western Sahara, based on the self-determination of the Saharawi people within the framework of provisions compatible with the principles and objectives of the Charter of the United Nations.
In a statement to APS, Oubi Bouchraya Bachir stated that the recent statement by the European Commission through the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevicius, was of political importance in terms of affirming the EU’s position against Morocco’s attempts to impose a colonial reality in Western Sahara and in support of international law that classifies Western Sahara as a non-autonomous territory, pending the continuation of the UN resolution process.
According to the Saharawi representative, “this declaration also confirms that the unilateral solutions that Morocco is trying to impose in the region will not be successful and that the solution sought must be based on self-determination”.
The Saharawi diplomat underlined that “this position appears at a particular moment, marked by the open diplomatic crises between Morocco and several European countries, which occur in the context of the rejection of the Moroccan expansionist theses”.
This statement comes “less than a month after the AU-EU Summit in Brussels, which constituted a major setback for the Moroccan occupation.
The Saharawi president had led a large delegation to the work of the 6th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the AU and the African Union, held on 17 and 18 February in Brussels, with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) being a founding member of the AU.
As for the legal meaning of this declaration and its impact on the plundering of the wealth of the Saharawi people, the Saharawi official stressed that “the European Commission recognizes the annulment by the EU court of the economic agreements with Morocco, but it does not find a valid reason to justify the recourse against the decision handed down on 29 September 2021.
“The systematic looting of Saharawi wealth by the Moroccan occupier in collaboration with the EU highlights Europe’s contradictions,” he said.
“The European Council and the European Commission continue to ignore the decisions of the European Court of Justice and international and European laws, which further complicates the situation in Western Sahara and postpones a definitive and fair political solution”, he lamented.
“With this policy, Europe encourages Morocco to disregard international law and, as a result, fosters instability and insecurity in a sensitive region of the world”, he denounced.
He stated that the Saharawi people, through its only representative, the Polisario Front, “has full confidence in European justice” and that “Polisario will spare no efforts to defend by all legal means the sovereignty of the Saharawi people over their country and the its natural resources”.
