Sahara: Referendum Option is Obsolete & Unworkable

Moroccan university professor and writer Bachir Edkhil has affirmed that the option of a referendum in the Sahara has become obsolete and incompatible with the reality of the region.

Speaking at a conference held lately at Anáhuac University in Mexico City under the theme: “Sahara: Spanish census & colonial goals”, Mr. Edkhil said Algeria and the Polisario have to admit this fact in order to advance the UN-led settlement process of the Sahara issue.

He accused the Algerian regime and the separatist group of providing aid agencies inaccurate data on the number of the people held in the Tindouf camps, knowing that no credible census has ever been conducted in the region.

This proves their inability to define the electorates and therefore the impossibility of holding a referendum, underlined Mr. Edkhil in his presentation, which gave a historical background of the Sahara issue and underlined the strong and longstanding bonds existing between the Sahrawi inhabitants and Morocco’s Monarchs.

The conference was held within the frame of a seminar organized by Think-thank “NijMaroc” on the Middle East and the Maghreb.

In Mexico City, Mr. Edkhil took part in a radio program titled “Dialogues with the World”, during which he spoke of his passion for poetry and in particular of his book “Dune Nue”.