By Augustine Ehikioya
The Morocco’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Omar Hilale, underlined, on Wednesday in New York, said that the growing dynamics of support to the Moroccan autonomy initiative demonstrates the international community’s adherence to the vision of the Kingdom regarding the future of the Moroccan Sahara.
Speaking before the 4th Committee of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Hilale, as monitored by Security Watch Africa (SWA), said that more than a hundred Member States, from all regions, including two permanent members of the Security Council, 19 European Union countries, as well as sub-regional and regional organizations have expressed their strong support for the Moroccan proposal as the only and unique credible basis for achieving the political solution, adding that the statements made before this Committee over the past days have clearly demonstrated this.
Regarding the opening of Consulates General of some thirty countries in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, the diplomat welcomed an “irrefutable proof” of the international recognition of the Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
The Autonomy Initiative within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty “is the one and only basis for the settlement of this regional dispute”, he said, adding that this initiative guarantees the management by local populations of their own affairs.
“It also promotes the renaissance of the Arab Maghreb on the basis of the universal principles of good neighborliness, sustainable development and regional stability,” the diplomat pointed out.
“This Initiative has the merit of projecting itself into the future in full harmony with the Pact for the Future adopted last month” in New York, said the ambassador, stressing that Algeria must grasp this message and understand that, after 50 years, its separatist project for the Sahara has irremediably failed.
“The Sahara became Moroccan again in 1975, as it has been since the dawn of time,” he concluded.
