2023-05-16 09:41:00
MADRID, 16 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States Government has reiterated that the autonomy plan presented by Morocco for Western Sahara is a “serious, credible and realistic” option and has added that “it is one of the many potential positions to satisfy the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara”. .
“There is no change in the position of the United States on this matter,” said the vice spokesman of the US State Department, Vedant Patel, after being asked if Washington had changed its position after the statement on the recent conversation between the Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Moroccan counterpart Naser Burita did not refer to the plan.
Likewise, Patel stressed that the United States “fully supports” the United Nations special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, in his work to “intensify the UN process in Western Sahara with a view to a lasting and dignified political solution for the people of Western Sahara and the region”.
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite resistance from the Polisario Front, with whom it remained at war until 1991, when both parties signed a ceasefire with a view to holding a self-determination referendum, but the differences on the elaboration of the census and the inclusion or not of the Moroccan settlers have prevented its call up to now.
On November 14, 2020, the Polisario Front declared the ceasefire with Morocco broken in response to a Moroccan military action against Saharawi activists in Guerguerat, in the agreed demilitarized zone, which meant for the Saharawis a violation of the conditions of the Stop the fire.
The latest setback for the Saharawi independentistas has been the support of the Spanish Government for the Moroccan autonomy plan made public on March 18, 2022 in a letter addressed to the Moroccan King, Mohamed VI, a change of position described as treason by the Polisario Front, which recalls that Spain is still ‘de jure’ the administering power of Western Sahara.
#reiterates #autonomy #plan #Western #Sahara #credible #realistic