Assahafa.com
Morocco’s ambassador to the UN Omar Hilale said on Wednesday in New York that the growing support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan reflects the international community’s endorsement of the country’s vision for the future of its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
Over 100 member states from all regions support the plan, Hilale said during a Fourth Committee session of the UN General Assembly.
He said the support comes from the growing list of countries and global actors, including two permanent members of the Security Council and 19 EU countries, as well as regional and sub-regional organizations that strongly support Morocco’s autonomy initiative as the only credible basis for a political solution.
Hilale referenced France and the US, who have both officially recognized Morocco’s territorial integrity and full sovereignty over its southern provinces.
The US recognized the country’s sovereignty in December 2020. Meanwhile, France expressed its unwavering support for Morocco’s territorial integrity this year in July, reflecting an expanded international support for the country’s Sahara position.
Hilale also commented on the opening of general consulates in Morocco’s southern cities of Laayoune and Dakhla.
The openings, according to Hilale, are “refutable proof” of the international recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
He added that the autonomy initiative within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty is the “only basis for resolving this regional dispute.”
“It ensures local populations manage their own affairs and promotes the revival of the Arab Maghreb based on universal principles of good neighborliness, sustainable, development, and regional stability,” he said, noting that the Moroccan plan merits “looking to the future and full harmony with the Future Pact adopted last month in New York.”
In his speech, the ambassador also pointed to Algeria’s involvement in the dispute, calling on the Algerian regime to recognize that its separatist project for the Sahara has “irretrievably failed.”
”The Sahara became Moroccan again in 1975, just as it has been since time immemorial,” Hilale added.
Algeria continues to reject its central role in the dispute despite years of campaigns intervening in Morocco’s internal affairs. It hosts, finances, arms, and backs the Polisario Front with their independence claims determined to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ new annual report on Western Sahara highlights Algeria’s avoidance.
“On 27 February 2024, my Personal Envoy met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria, Ahmed Attaf, in Algiers, Algeria. On 16 April, he met again with Mr. Attaf on the margins of the Minister’s working visit to New York on Security Council matters,” the UNSG said.
He further added that the Algerian official “conveyed the continued focus of Algeria on ensuring Western Sahara’s people the right to self-determination.”
Despite the UN resolution calling on all parties to engage in the UN-led political process, Algeria’s regime continues to refuse to take part in potential roundtable discussions to contribute to finding a mutually acceptable and agreed upon political solution to the dispute.
Source: Morocco word news
