The Sahrawi president called on the European Union to refrain from signing any agreement affecting the territories, airspace, or territorial waters of Western Sahara without the consent of the Sahrawi people, through their sole legitimate representative, the Polisario Front.
Brahim Ghali expressed the Sahrawi side’s willingness and openness to dialogue with the European Union and other partners on the issues of natural resources in Western Sahara. On the other hand, the president of the Republic condemned the Madrid tripartite agreement, calling it “a serious historical mistake, a shameful betrayal of the Sahrawi people, and a violation of international law.”
“Fifty years after this dark agreement, Spain has not corrected its perfidious and shameful position, while publicly boasting about supporting international legitimacy in Palestine,” lamented the president of the Republic during the November 8th occasion, the anniversary of the dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp and the National Day of the Sahrawi political prisoner.
The Spanish government has forgotten that its former colony, Western Sahara, is under Moroccan occupation, according to the same international legitimacy, stated the president of the Republic, regretting the support of Pedro Sanchez’s government for Morocco’s expansionist thesis and the illegal EU-Morocco agreements to plunder the natural wealth of Western Sahara.
Moreover, the International Association of Jurists for Western Sahara, through its president Inès Miranda, who is also president of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers (CGAE), indicated the day before yesterday that Spain, as a former colonial power, bears full responsibility for Western Sahara. This statement was reported by the official Western Sahara agency Sahara Press Service (SPS), a few days after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on the Sahrawi question.
In a long article published in the Spanish magazine “La María,” Ms. Miranda stressed that the United Nations recognize the Sahrawi territory as a “non-self-governing territory,” which means that the colonial power, namely Spain, has not completed the decolonization process and has not accompanied the territory towards independence.
In this regard, the president of the International Association held her country, Spain, “responsible” for the situation in Western Sahara, in accordance with Articles 74 and 75 of the United Nations Charter. She argued that Spain did not transfer the administration to another entity with the approval of the United Nations General Assembly, meaning that the responsibility still rests with it.
She added that before its withdrawal in 1975, Spain should have finalized this process by holding a referendum allowing the Sahrawi people to express their will, in accordance with UN resolutions.
For the Spanish lawyer, “international law does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over this territory.” According to this jurist, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) affirmed in 1975 that Western Sahara was not a “land without people,” but indeed a “territory inhabited by a sovereign community,” the Sahrawi people, without any sovereignty link to Morocco.
Consequently, Inès Miranda stressed, the sovereignty of peoples cannot be bargained away. “The current situation in Western Sahara constitutes a blatant violation of the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness between Morocco and the European Union, whose Article 2 states that in case of human rights violations, the agreement may be terminated,” she highlighted.
Finally, the International Association of Jurists for Western Sahara once again urges Spain to “activate” this clause, as Morocco is conducting a war of occupation against Western Sahara, which constitutes a blatant violation of the said treaty.