Kamal Fadel
On January 30, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 1523, which extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until April 30 to give the government of Morocco, which illegally occupies Western Sahara, more time to respond to the latest peace plan.
The Security Council has signalled strongly to the Moroccan regime that its attempts to change the UN peace plan in its favour and its delaying tactics are not acceptable. Gone is the usual diplomatic language requesting that "the two parties" cooperate. Now the UN is stating clearly that it is Morocco that continues to defy the international consensus.
The ball is in Morocco's court.
January has been a bad month for the Moroccan monarchy. It has suffered three significant setbacks. The first was the release of 12 Saharawi political detainees from Moroccan jails, the result of an international solidarity campaign and the defiance of the detainees.
The release of Saharawi detainees was also a product of the failure of the Moroccan regime to crush the Saharawi people's resistance in the occupied areas of Western Sahara. It is an indication that the regime is weak and is not able to withstand pressure.
The second important event was the announcement that Saharawi family members — separated by the occupation, and the sand wall erected by Morocco to divide Western Sahara — would be allowed to meet. The visits will be sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and are part of so-called confidence-building measures, which the UN has been requesting Morocco to accept for a long time.
The visits will shatter the lie perpetuated by the Moroccan regime that Saharawis who have fled Western Sahara and live in refugee camps are "hostages" of Polisario Front, the liberation movement of the Saharawi people.
It is Morocco that continues to refuse to allow the return of refugees and to hold the referendum on Western Sahara's self-determination, which would provide the democratic test of what the Saharawi people want.
The third significant event, and another debacle for the Moroccan regime, was the passage of UN Security Council resolution 1523, which again reaffirmed the determination of the UN and the international community to implement the peace process, which is based on the organisation of a referendum of self-determination in Western Sahara.
During the past year, Moroccan officials — including King Mohammed himself — have mounted a huge diplomatic campaign to convince the UN to change the peace plan for Western Sahara and accept Morocco's illegal occupation.
In the coming months, many Saharawi families will be reunited after 28 years of suffering, war and exile. They will share their stories of resistance and their hope for a better future in an independent Western Sahara. This will boost the defiance of Saharawis inside the occupied areas, suffering from oppression under Morocco's rule.
In addition, the UN Security Council will again revisit the Saharawi cause during the next few months, which will place more pressure on Morocco.
[Kamal Fadel is the Polisario Front's representative to Australia.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 11, 2004.
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