Former Spanish PM Rodriguez Zapatero urges Sahrawis to be realistic

The Sahrawi Movement for Peace, a movement promoted by dissidents of the Polisario, commemorated the first anniversary of its creation by organizing an online conference on Wednesday, April 21 in Laayoune, and former Spanish Prime Minister, the socialist José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was once again the guest of honor of the event.

Taking the floor, he urged Sahrawis to favor a “realistic” political solution, arguing that “politics, if it is not realistic, is something else, perhaps a dream or a destructive utopia”, reports EFE news agency.

“Peace is an agreement, it means giving in, admitting that you are never quite right [because] it is almost always true that requesting the maximum is not the best alternative”, he said alluding to the separatists’ whims.

“Forty-five years after the start of the war in the Sahara, an unequivocal understanding is necessary between those involved in the conflict,” he said.

Zapatero is a regular guest at meetings organized by the Sahrawi Movement for Peace. He had already taken part in its first congress organized on October 3-4 in Laayoune and Dakhla. During this event, he had expressed his “unequivocal” support for the ideals and values of the new movement, the Spanish media had then reported.