Omar Hilale: Moroccanness of Western Sahara Is ‘Indisputable’
Rabat – Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the UN, stated on Wednesday that the Moroccaness of Western Sahara is undeniable and recognized by the Madrid Agreement of 1975.
Speaking to the Special Committee on Decolonization (C24) of the UN, the Moroccan diplomat said: “I would like to once again reaffirm that the decolonization of the Saharan provinces of Morocco was definitively and irrevocably settled in 1975 under the Madrid Agreement.”
Hilale emphasized the historical background of the Western Sahara dispute, noting out that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) had previously backed Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara even before the Madrid Agreement.
The Sahara was not terra nullius (land belonging to no one) at the time of Spain’s occupancy in 1884, according to the ICJ’s advisory opinion, and there had always been legal ties of allegiance and sovereignty between the Sultans of Morocco and the tribes of Western Sahara.
The Sahara conflict is being addressed by the Security Council as a regional conflict between Morocco and Algeria under Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter, Ambassador Hilale added.
He stressed that, as evidenced by its yearly resolutions, notably Resolution 2654 adopted in October 2022, only the Security Council has the authority to offer proposals and put forth a resolution to the regional problem.
The four irreversible parameters for addressing the Western Sahara crisis were reiterated in Resolution 2654, which also stressed that any meaningful resolution to the long-standing conflict must be “political, realistic, pragmatic, durable, and based on compromise.”
Hilale made it clear that the alleged “settlement plan” and “referendum,” which some still support, have been categorically rejected by the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General for more than 20 years.
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