Saharawi President reaffirms in Florence the right of Saharawi people to self-determination and independence - APS : Algérie Presse Service

FLORENCE (Italy) - Saharawi President Mohamed Abdelaziz reaffirmed Saturday in Florence the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence through the holding of a fair and transparent referendum in Western Sahara illegally occupied by Morocco.

"As you know the question of Western Sahara issue is a clear and simple in that it is a problem of decolonization included in the UN agenda since 1965, its solution lies in the exercise by the Saharawi people of its inalienable right to self-determination freely and transparently," said Abdelaziz before the 2nd international conference on" Law, human Rights, Western Sahara between occupation and self-determination."

"Since 2004, Morocco was constantly revealing its intentions to evade its international obligations by rejecting the referendum or any other solution that does not legitimize its illegal occupation of Western Sahara", he said, noting that "to date, the international community has failed to impose sanctions and exerting the necessary pressure for the implementation of its decisions."

"Due to this deadlock, the Saharawi people had only to continue their resistance through a peaceful protest called "Independence Intifada," started since May 21, 2005," the Saharawi President said.

"The Moroccan authorities of occupation have responded to this peaceful resistance by a policy of brutal repression that continues until today" citing the example of brutal aggression against Gdeim Izik camp.

For Abdelaziz, "the Moroccan government thus violates international law by occupying the Western Sahara and violates international humanitarian law by its shameless repressive practices certified by the International human rights Organizations including the United Nations High Commission on human Rights."

"To date, we continue to witness the treatment reserved by the occupier to Saharawi civilians, who does not only kill in cold blood, but avoid its responsibilities while trying to hide the truth by any means, including the burial of victims in the absence of their families and avoiding submission to the autopsy as it was the case with Said Bember in El-Ayun," Abdelaziz said, indicating that the Moroccan government "unfairly keeps Sahrawi citizens in jail, for the mere fact of having claimed the application of the Charter and UN decisions, much more, it threatens to bring before the military courts Saharawi political detainees," he added.

"We cannot understand that the world remains complacent before the plundering of natural resources of an entire people by the occupation and plunder by multinational corporations which are complicit," said Abdelaziz.

"The Saharawi people is facing many challenges, including repression perpetrated in the occupied territories, exile, and survival in refugee camps due to the annexation of our country by Morocco and the difficulties inherent in the lack of humanitarian aid or the threat of terrorism which is illustrated by the abduction of European partners in the Sahrawi refugee camps’,” Abdelaziz said.