The threat by the Algerian-backed separatist movement "Polisario" to resume armed struggle with Morocco, is an "obstacle" to UN-led peace negotiations to end the 32-year old dispute over the Sahara, according to declaration issued Wednesday at the end of a special session by the two Houses of the Moroccan Parliament.
The Polisario separatists who are planning to hold their congress in the buffer zone of Tifariti in the Moroccan Sahara - a decision which the parliament deemed "unacceptable" and "harms the United Nations prestige and credibility"- have gone even farther by including the so-called "resumption of armed struggle" on the congress agenda, "which in itself constitutes an obstacle to the UN efforts to start, with the support of the superpowers, real negotiations aiming to find a final and fair solution” to the dispute.
This is the first time in 16 years that the Polisario proposes to its congress the resumption of the armed struggle as a strategy since the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire, at a time when the separatists are holding peace negotiations with Morocco.
Such a behavior, the declaration read, not only stems from the “bitter failure of the Polisario to face up the growing support of the International Community to Morocco’s autonomy proposal for the Sahara, but is an additional proof of its lack of care about peace and stability in the Maghreb region, part of which has become a breeding ground for terrorists activities with the complicity of the separatists leadership.
“The Parliament urged the UN to intervene to stop this so-called congress slated for December 14-16, few weeks before the third round of the UN-led negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario in Manhasset, New York.
The Moroccan MPs warned against the “incalculable consequences” of such a decision on the whole region and called on the Algerian leaders to resort to wisdom and perspicacity” in order to preserve the unity of the Arab Maghreb.
The Moroccan MPs also reiterated Morocco’s resolve to carry on peace efforts.
Morocco had earlier sent a letter to the UN Secretary General in which it strongly denounced the holding of the Polisario’s “congress” deeming it a “violation of the ceasefire agreements” concluded in 1991.
Calling upon Ban Ki-moon to undertake the necessary steps to “face up these provocative and dangerous acts which threaten peace and stability in the region,”
Morocco reiterated its “determination to preserve its rights on the whole territory and its rejection of any attempt to introduce a de facto modification in the status of this zone.”
Morocco and the Polisario concluded in 1991 a ceasefire under the supervision of the United Nations that has, ever since, deployed a peace keeping mission in the region called the MINURSO (French acronym for the United Nations mission in the Sahara).
In implementation of the ceasefire, the North African country withdrew its troops from Tifariti to prevent any clashes, including with the Algerian army, the letter recalled. A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara was ceded to Morocco by Spain in 1975 under the Madrid Accords.
Source: maroc,post
