Geneva-based Group voices full support for Morocco’s peaceful, legal action in Guerguarat
The Support Group for the Territorial Integrity of Morocco in Geneva has expressed its full support for the peaceful, legal and non-offensive action that has been carried out by Morocco to secure the passage of Guerguarat.
The group expresses, in a statement, “its total support for this peaceful, legal and non-offensive action, in the presence of military observers from MINURSO, which aims to ensure free civil and commercial movement at this border crossing post, linking Morocco and Mauritania.”
“This operation which took place, according to the MINURSO and the United Nations, without causing any casualties, had the sole objective of restoring order and putting an end to the maneuvers undermining free movement of people and goods between Africa and Europe,” the group notes, welcoming the great restraint and wisdom shown by Morocco during this operation, which took place after all possible diplomatic means were exhausted, including the good offices of the UN Secretary General.
The member countries of the group also welcome Morocco’s commitment to the ceasefire, in accordance with the agreements established under the aegis of the United Nations, and the political process aimed at achieving a political, pragmatic and lasting solution to the Sahara issue, on the basis of the parameters clearly set out by the UN Security Council resolutions adopted since 2007.
They also reiterate their full support for the exclusive efforts led by the United Nations to relaunch the Round Tables process, which made it possible to hold two meetings in Geneva with the participation of all parties.
The group also reaffirms that the Moroccan autonomy initiative remains the only solution to this regional dispute, recalling that the Security Council has rightly deemed it as serious and credible.
It denounces, moreover, “the obstacles of the host country (Algeria) to allow the registration and the census of the populations of the Tindouf camps in accordance with the calls of the UN Security Council and the rules of the international humanitarian law.”
The group on the other hand condemns the diversion of humanitarian aid intended for the populations of the Tindouf camps and asks humanitarian agencies and the donor community to be vigilant about the use of humanitarian aid to finance the arming of the polisario as part of the tension it maintains against Morocco.
The Group also expresses its concern over the withdrawal of the Polisario from the 1991 ceasefire agreement and asks the UN Secretary General to demand that the armed separatists respect the ceasefire and avoid any destabilizing action which will have unfortunate consequences for the resumption of the political process.
The group says it is “deeply concerned over the human rights situation in the Tindouf camps, the serious collective and individual violations committed by the Polisario against the populations of these camps, in particular the arbitrary detentions, the enlistment of children in separatist armed militias and the denial of fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly.”
It also denounces the instrumentalization of human rights for political purposes and welcomes the efforts made by Morocco for the protection and promotion of human rights and its regular and constructive interaction with the UN mechanisms in this area.
