Frente Polisario Reminds Ban Ki-Moon to UN Responsibilities in Western Sahara

Bir Lehlou — The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, has reminded the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the UN responsibilities to protect human rights and conduct a self-determination referendum in Western Sahara, highlighting that Moroccan government still evading its international obligations in a territory under the UN direct umbrella through the MINURSO.

"Every day passes, we be sure of the urgent and immediate need to set up a UN effective mechanism that enables the MINURSO to exercise its tasks independently and strictly, mainly to conduct self-determination of the Saharawi people and protect, monitoring and report about human rights in Western Sahara," wrote President Mohamed Abdelaziz, in a letter sent Sunday to the UN Chief Ban Ki-moon.

The President underlined that Moroccan government not only it did perpetrated intransigence and evaded its international obligations towards a political, democratic and equitable solution which is a referendum on self-determination, but it "continues to pursue brutal colonial practices over a territory under the direct responsibility of the United Nations.

He pointed out that Moroccan state deals with the UN presence in Western Sahara with "underestimation, disrespect and disregard."

Secretary General of the POLISARIO said that Moroccan occupying authorities commits "flagrant violations of human rights against Saharawi civilians, including rights activists, for they only demanded, through peaceful and civilized ways, the application of charter and resolutions of the United Nations, mainly to enable the Saharawi people of their sacred right to freedom, self-determination and independence, through a free, fair and transparent referendum organized and supervised by the UN."

The letter also noted that the Moroccan occupying authorities punished the Saharawi political prisoners incarcerated in Black Jail in occupied city of El Aaiun, capital of Western Sahara, after they gave shocked testimonies to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, who recently visited occupied Western Sahara, in which they spoke about all the heinous forms of torture they suffered.

On other hand, President Mohamed Abdelaziz recalled UN Chief to that Moroccan occupying authorities' decision to bring a group of Saharawi political prisoners to a military trail current October 24, calling for exerting the necessary sanctions and pressure on Moroccan state to comply with requirements of international legitimacy.

The President also called upon the international community to act in order to end Morocco's gross violations of human rights and remove the military separation wall in Western Sahara.

He finally urged the United Nations to put pressure on Rabat to stop the pillaging of Saharawi people's natural wealth, release all the Saharawi political prisoners and reveal the whereabouts of more than 651 Saharawi missing, since its military invasion of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975.