Sahrawi delegation exposes to Chilean officials reasons of their refusal of baker's plan on sahara
Morocco-Chile, Politics, 10/10/2003

A delegation of Moroccan southern provinces wound up a four-day visit to Chili where their briefed Chilean officials on the latest developments of the Sahara issue with a particular empahsis on the rejection by the people of these provinces of the latest peace plan mooted by the UN secretary general's personal envoy for the Sahara, James Baker.

While insisting that any solution to the Sahara issue should respect Morocco's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the delegation, composed of Sahrawi notables and led by member of the Consultative Council for Sahrawi Affairs, Rachid Douihi, argued in a memo handed to Chilean officials that the proposal will cause tensions among tribes and will certainly lead to a civil war in the region.

The Sahrawi notables underlined, however, that they are ready to accept any solution that preserves Morocco's full sovereignty and the Moroccan identity of the Sahara population, insisting that this is a stand shared by all the Sahrawi tribes.

The delegation who also met the Chilean and international press and explained the political and humanitarian aspects of the Sahara issue and shed light on the human rights abuses and torture practices by the Algeria-backed Polisario movement which claims the independence of this former spanish colony retrieved by Morocco under a three-party agreeement signed in 1975 by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania.

At a meeting with members of the Chilean socialist party, the delegation highlighted the inhuman detention conditions of Moroccan prisoners of war in the Algerian territory in violation of the Geneva convention. The Sahrawi notables called on the party to exert pressure on the Polisario and Algeria to immediately and unconditionally release more than 900 Moroccan captives who are considered as the world's longest-serving prisoners by international organizations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The delegation also shed light on the plight of families held against their will in miserable conditions by the separatist group, mentioning the daily abuses that Sahrawi populations are subject to in Tindouf camps, southern Algeria.

The Sahrawis drew attention to the maneuvers of Polisario and Algiers to conceal reality about the Sahara conflict.

"Polisario has never been a movement of liberation, deplored a member of the delegation, explaining that it is actually "a mere tool created and financed by Algerian militaries to undermine Morocco's interests and territorial integrity."

On the long proposed referendum that would enable Sahrawis to choose whether they want to remain Moroccans or stand up on their own, Douihi recalled in an interview with the Chilean newspaper "El Mercurio" that Morocco supports the holding of the referendum and that it was the first to propose it as early as in 1981.

Douihi insisted that it is Algeria and the Polisario that are refusing a fair and just referendum given the conditions they want to impose on such a consultation.

For their part, the officials and journalists whom the delegation met voiced readiness to raise the awareness of people in their countries of the Sahara issue in the light of explanations made by the Sahrawi notables.

Secretary general of the Chilean Christian Democratic Party, Tomas Yoselin Khof, said his party is ready to back Morocco's claims, voicing desire to see relations between the two countries consolidated.

On Wednesday, the delegation left Chili heading to Mexico where it will hold similar meetings with Mexican officials to explain its stance on the Sahara question.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan southern delegation starts South-American information tour   (10/7/2003)
  President of foreign affairs committee in Chilean senate to visit Morocco   (6/21/2003)
  Chile supports Morocco in Sahara issue   (4/10/2003)

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