South Africa reiterated its backing for the Polisario separatist forces. Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, advocated on Sunday for the “Sahrawi people to secede from the Kingdom of Morocco.”

In his speech outlining the foundations of South Africa’s foreign policy ahead to the BRICS summit, Ramaphosa said that South Africa “supports and will continue to support marginalized and oppressed peoples in various parts of the world.”

He stated, “The freedom and international solidarity that we attained demands that we continue to support the colonized people who are subject to racial discrimination, like the Sahrawi people.”

Support for the Polisario Forces and opposition to Morocco’s territorial integrity are indications of South Africa’s stance toward Morocco.

On the other hand, a statement from the Indian government said that South Africa sent out invitations for the BRICS/Africa meeting, scheduled for August 24 in Johannesburg, unilaterally and nationally.

“The President of South Africa’s remarks reveal a contradiction in the diplomatic rhetoric of this country. He opposes Morocco’s territorial integrity and important choices while simultaneously inviting it to the BRICS summit, according to international law expert Abbas El Ouardi.
On Saturday, Morocco denied having submitted an application to join the BRICS organization, stating that its participation in the BRICS/Africa meeting was “not at all possible at any level.”

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Abroad, Morocco was not asked about accepting the invitation to the BRICS/Africa summit.

“South Africa’s attempt to drag Morocco to this summit failed after Morocco decided not to participate for objective and realistic reasons that can be reflected in the South-African president’s statements,” claims Charifa Mouiyer, a political analyst for Hespress AR.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation, and Moroccan Abroad, the South African administration unilaterally decided to take the lead in organizing the BRICS conference.

Read also: BRICS/Africa” Meeting: South African Analyst Blasts ANC Government’s Untenable Contradictions

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As preparations are made for the impending Russian-African summit set for July, Moscow is now undertaking comprehensive consultations with various African leaders. The Kremlin Palace wants to make sure the conference is successful, but there is still one significant outstanding question: Will the Polisario front be invited this time?

Algeria and South Africa have pushed for the Polisario to attend the summit, therefore the decision to invite them or not has been divisive.

The Polisario was not invited to the bilateral summit with Africa in 2019, much to the dismay of some African leaders. Building stronger political and economic ties between nations had been the summit’s main goal. Many people are now speculating about the possibility of another historical occurrence as the peak draws near.

Several publications contend that the Kremlin Palace will invite only African United Nations members to the conference this year, rather than inviting the Polisario.

In view of the escalation of the Ukraine issue, according to Rachid Lazraq, director of the North African Institute for Studies, Research, and Public Policy Assessment, “Africa has become a battlefield for the American-Russian fight.” Faced with sanctions from the European Union, Russia is working to strengthen its economic ties with the African nations.

During the height of the Cold War, Lazraq claims that “ideological Russia did not recognize the Polisario Front, let alone the nationalist Russia that seeks its economic and political interests, especially in light of the complex international circumstance that put the siege on it.”

After a period of rapprochement, he continued, “Russia is attempting to benefit from the contacts it has with Morocco, especially since Moscow has become dependent on UN Security Council resolutions to establish its stance on the Moroccan Sahara issue.”

Lazraq predicts that, despite Algeria’s efforts to have the Polisario attend, “the Russian-African summit, which will be held next July, will again exclude the separatist Polisario Front, similar to the first version in 2019 given the political pragmatism that characterizes the Kremlin Palace’s moves in the region.”

Algeria had been stunned by the summit’s initial iteration in 2019 when they learned that only UN member states were invited to participate.

Read Also: King Mohammed VI inaugurates medical center in Errahma, Casablanca

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Youssef Amrani, the ambassador of Morocco to South Africa, has vehemently denied the false claims made about the Moroccan Sahara issue recently by Alvin Botes, the country’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, in an opinion piece that was written specifically about the Moroccan Sahara issue and appeared in the party magazine “ANC Today.”

The Moroccan diplomat dissects South African discourse on the Moroccan Sahara issue and corrects misconceptions, baseless claims, and intellectual deficiencies of an ideologically skewed and limited perspective in his reaction to these insulting, unsubstantiated, and inappropriate accusations.

Additionally, this unquestioning allegiance to Algerian theses raises serious concerns about its utility and purpose, betraying the ambition, vision, and ideal of forging a powerful and united Africa. In reality, he recalled Morocco’s historical support for the fight against colonialism and apartheid, which played a crucial role in the formation of the liberation movement in South Africa.

According to the late Nelson Mandela, denying this historical fact is an insult to the sacrifices made by the Moroccan people in their fight against colonialism and ignores their unwavering support and solidarity as well as their voluntary support for the brethren African peoples in pursuing the same objective.

Amrani questioned how South Africa, which had during its time in the Security Council in 2007 voted in favor of the Resolution on the Moroccan Sahara issue enshrining the preeminence of the “autonomy initiative” and the political process, can still promote outdated theses and abandoned for more than 20 years while pointing out the contradictions in its position. A bygone idea from a bygone period that has been obviously abandoned and buried by the United Nations and the international community is only kept alive by continuing, without any sense of coherence or reason, to view the referendum as the solution to the Moroccan Sahara issue.

Returning to these unjustified and unfounded semantics on the subject of human rights, the ambassador adamantly stated that Morocco has nothing to hide and has no complexes, taboos, or lessons to learn. Morocco also has nothing to hide. In fact, Morocco, a country with a thousand-year history and a DNA infused with concepts of tolerance, openness, and peace, has permanently inscribed the universality of human rights in the Kingdom’s Constitution. It is clear that the people of the Southern Provinces are fully committed to the process of establishing democracy in the Kingdom by participating in such prodigious numbers in the general and municipal elections scheduled for September 2021.

The ambassador expressed sorrow in his letter that the piece supported the inaccurate claims made about the alleged “activist” Sultana Khaya and even veered off topic to merely spread “polisario” misinformation. Amrani noted in this regard that various officials and UN bodies had purposefully distanced themselves from her deceptions and nefarious claims when her intents, lies, and dishonest tactics had been revealed.

The Moroccan envoy also rejected the claims that “Morocco is plundering the resources of the Sahara region” with numbers. He highlighted that Morocco has made socioeconomic growth and infrastructure building among its top goals ever since it gained its independence. The adoption of the Development Model for the Southern Provinces, created with complete local engagement in all areas of its planning and execution, eight years ago, has strengthened this human and inclusive development.

The results of this vision are currently 80% of the allocated budget, or more than 7.5 billion dollars, realized, he said. The main socio-economic indicators also show that the Southern Provinces are performing better than the rest of the Kingdom, particularly in terms of GDP per capita, which is 50% higher than the national average, or in terms of poverty rate, which is three times lower than the national average.

Ambassador Amrani questioned the deputy minister about Pretoria’s blindness and shameful silence on the terrible humanitarian situation in the Tindouf camps, in Algeria, denouncing the politicization of the human rights issue. Why is Tindouf the only “refugee” camp in the world where the UNHCR is prohibited from carrying out its duties? How is it acceptable that Algeria has given an armed separatist organization the responsibility of protecting human rights on its own territory?

In complete violation of the international agreements and treaties Algeria has signed, this de facto transfer of authority from Algeria to the “polisario” on its soil has left the residents of the camps in a precarious, abandoned, and insecure situation and denied them access to the institutions of judicial recourse. He stated that a state cannot delegate its authority and consequently its duty to an armed militia operating on its soil.

The envoy said that the Sahara issue is more than just a topic on the Security Council’s agenda for the Moroccan people. According to him, it is a matter that is closely related to the sovereignty of the country of Morocco.

In addition to being acknowledged as credible, serious, and realistic by the UN Security Council and the major countries, the Moroccan Autonomy Plan also serves as the catalyst for the UN-led political process that we are all working to promote, he continued. The Autonomy Plan is indisputable evidence of Morocco’s willingness to consider a practical and constructive solution while maintaining the Kingdom’s territorial integrity in the current complicated geopolitical environment. It is evidence—if any were required—of the Kingdom’s real dedication to long-term tranquility, uniformity, integration, and prosperity in the area and across the continent.
Read Also: Sahara: Staffan De Mistura ends his informal consultations

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Omar Hilale, Morocco’s ambassador and permanent representative to the UN, denounced, in two letters addressed last Wednesday to the UN SG and to the president and members of the Security Council, South Africa’s complicity with Algeria and the “Polisario”, its unconditional appropriation of Algeria’s geopolitical agenda and its blind ideological support to the armed separatist group.

Reacting to a letter circulated by the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the UN on the Moroccan Sahara, Hilale stressed that the Kingdom of Morocco “deeply regrets that South Africa lends itself, once again, to the role of factor of an armed separatist group, whose connections with terrorism in the Sahel are proven. In his letter, Omar Hilale said that the infamous terrorist “adnan abu al walid sahrawi”, was a member of the “polisario” before becoming the leader of the terrorist group “Islamic state in the great sahara” and recalled that this individual had his habits of taking refuge in the camps of Tindouf, and to be treated, before being eliminated on September 15, 2021. Mr. Hilale added that the deputy of abu al walid sahrawi, the notorious terrorist “lakhal sidi salama”, alias “abdelhakim sahraoui”, was also a member of the “polisario” and was eliminated on 23 May 2021.

Furthermore, the German newspaper Die Welt, dated 27 January 2023, published the results of an investigation based on the convergent reports of several European intelligence services, confirming, with evidence, that the ‘polisario’ has made the Tindouf camps a hub for the financing of terrorism in the Sahel, through the ‘hawala’ which allows the illicit and anonymous transfer of funds between Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, particularly to terrorist groups and actors involved in regional destabilization.

Read Also: German newspaper sheds light on the ‘Polisario’ money laundering and terrorism scandal

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Algeria has informed the UN Security Council of its opposition to the round table format for negotiations on resolving the Sahara problem, which it considers “counterproductive,” according to a senior Algerian official.

Morocco and the Polisario Front separatists, as well as Algeria and Mauritania, are participants in the Security Council-recommended round table arrangement.

“We confirm our formal and irreversible rejection of the so-called Round Table format”, which has become “counterproductive”, declared to the official APS news agency Amar Belani, Algerian special invoy in charge of the question of western Sahara and the Maghreb countries.

Belani further accused Morocco of “instrumentalizing” this format to oppose Sahara “decolonization,” warning of “severe risks of escalation” in this “War situation.”

By the end of October, the United Nations Security Council must adopt a new resolution on the Sahara and the mandate of MINURSO, the UN Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara.

Belani called the first draft of the new resolution “extremely imbalanced,” thinking it will “only sanction a predetermined standstill in the political process and foreshadow the failure of the new UN invoy’s efforts.”

In early October, the United Nations named experienced diplomat Staffan de Mistura as the new invoy for this crisis, despite the fact that UN-sponsored talks had been stalled since spring 2019.

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United Nations – In his report to the UN General Assembly, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has once again unmasked the violations, lies and false allegations of Algeria and the “polisario” on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, after doing so earlier this month in his report to the Security Council.

In this report, Guterres stresses that the issue of the Moroccan Sahara is considered by the UN as a matter of peace and security, thus as a regional dispute under Chapter VI of the UN Charter, relating to the peaceful settlement of disputes.

In addition, the UN Secretary General confirms, once again, that the final solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara can only be political, realistic, pragmatic, sustainable and compromise, in accordance with Security Council resolutions 2440, 2468, 2494, 2548. It reaffirms, thus, the final burial of all obsolete plans supported only by Algeria and “polisario”, including the referendum.

Resolutions 2440, 2468, 2494 and 2548, to which the solution must be fully compliant according to the UN SG, and all those that preceded them since 2007, confirm the pre-eminence, seriousness and credibility of the Autonomy Initiative as the only solution to this regional dispute, within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.

These resolutions also established the round table discussions, with the participation of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the “polisario” as the sole framework for conducting the exclusively UN political process aimed at achieving a political solution to this artificial conflict set up, nurtured and maintained by Algeria, which reaffirms, once again, the obligations of this country as a major stakeholder in the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara.

In his report, the UN SG confirms, moreover, that the armed elements of the “polisario” have indeed blocked the passage of Guergarat in October and November 2020, defeating the vain attempts of the “polisario” and Algeria to conceal this truth.

It is worth to mention that following the blockage by the armed separatist militias of the “polisario” for more than three weeks, the road passage of Guergarat, between the borders of Morocco and Mauritania, in October and November 2020, Morocco undertook, on November 13, 2020, a civil engineering action by which it restored, once and for all, the free movement of people and goods in this passage.

The peaceful aspect of this intervention of the Royal Armed Forces was noted in the report of the UN Secretary General who said “no casualties were reported to the Minurso in connection with the events of November 13,” which is a strong denial of the accusations of the “polisario”, whose armed elements fled the buffer zone of Guergarat, following the intervention of FAR, as confirmed by Guterres.

The UN Secretary General also highlighted, in this report, the Royal letter underlining the “irreversible” character of the peaceful actions carried out by Morocco at the border post of El Guerguarat to re-establish free civil and commercial circulation.

The report confirms that “Morocco has remained committed to the ceasefire,” while preserving its right to respond to any provocation by the “polisario” militias. The UN SG also drew the attention of the UN General Assembly to the illegal renunciation by the “polisario” of the ceasefire, in flagrant violation of the Security Council resolutions.

In addition, Guterres welcomed Morocco’s cooperation with MUNURSO, particularly through the vaccination, by the Moroccan authorities, of its personnel.

Also, this report is distinguished by highlighting the diplomatic achievements of the Kingdom in the Moroccan Sahara during the past year. In this context, the UN SG shed light on the historic inaugurations of Consulates General by 16 countries in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla.

Guterres stressed, to this effect that “Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Jordan, Libya, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Suriname, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia have announced their intention to inaugurate or have opened Consulates General in the Sahara”. These diplomatic representations follow the 10 consulates of African, Arab, Caribbean and other countries, opened in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla for a total of 26 since December 2019, which illustrates the international and diplomatic recognition of the Moroccan Sahara.

The UN Secretary General also mentioned the historic proclamation, on December 10, 2020, by the United States, of the full and complete sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco over its Sahara.

Indeed, Guterres said that “the United States has recognized the Moroccan sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara and reaffirmed its support for the serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal of Morocco, as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to this conflict”. He also informed that on December 24, 2020, the United States announced the inauguration of a virtual consulate in the Sahara.

In addition, Guterres emphasized the economic and infrastructural development of the Moroccan Sahara, as well as the continuation of Moroccan investments in its southern provinces. He said in this regard that “on April 30, the Moroccan authorities announced the winning bid for the construction of the Atlantic port of Dakhla and that its construction is underway.

Similarly, Guterres noted the continuation of “construction work on a highway linking Tiznit to Dakhla”. Large-scale projects that several Arab countries were able to see during their on-site visit last June. Indeed, as evidenced by the Secretary-General in his report, “diplomatic delegations from Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Yemen” visited, on 24 and 26 June 2021, Dakhla and Laayoune to “explore investment opportunities in the Sahara”.

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sharply condemned the Polisario severe and unjustifiable restrictions on MINURSO after its unilateral withdrawal from the ceasefire in his report to the Security Council on the Moroccan Sahara issue.

The “Polisario” is criticized in the report for obstructing (MINURSO capacity)’s to carry out its major job of supervising the ceasefire and monitoring the militias of this armed group, as well as the situation on the ground.

Mr. Guterres called the Security Council’s attention to the fact that his Special Representative and MINURSO Head have consistently criticized these limits.

Despite these protests, the “Polisario” continued to impose severe restrictions on MINURSO’s freedom of movement, preventing it from carrying out logistical and other maintenance tasks, affecting equipment repair and maintenance, as well as the supply of fuel and food to the UN Mission, forcing the situation (MINURSO) to reduce the number of its military obsessives.

The separatist movement was also urged by the United Nations Secretary-General to “immediately lift all restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement of land convoys, air transport, and (MINURSO) personnel located in the east of the defense system, as well as to allow freedom of movement for logistics and maintenance.”

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Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has raised concerns about one of the greatest types of human rights violations done by Algeria and the “polisario” against the sequestered populations in the Tindouf camps, namely the enlisting of minors in the military.

“There is a matter that greatly worries Morocco, in particular, and the international community in general, and that is the military enrollment of minors in the Tindouf camps,” Hilal said in his intervention before the UN-sponsored C24 in Dominica (August 25-27).

“Algeria, which claims to be a neutral observer in the Moroccan Sahara dispute, shelters training camps and forced enrollment of children as young as ten years old,” he added, waving dozens of photos of young children carrying weapons in military parades and training militarily in the Tindouf camps around the room.

“The Algerian representative says that there is no proof. Here are photographs and even films from the so-called polisario’s own websites, showing dozens of youngsters in military uniforms, even naked chests, sorting out These photos horribly overwhelm his country,” the Moroccan Ambassador stated.

“These youngsters are being taught to kill by Algeria and the Polisario. They train kids to be terrorists, like as Daesh Khorassan, who was broadcast on CNN, BBC, and France 24 on this same day before and after the terrorist assault he carried out at Kabul airport.

They expose these youngsters to the same intense training and fanatical brainwashing as the children in the films. Unfortunately, this is the true face of the Polisario’s hate, since evidence of their collusion with terrorist organizations in the Sahel-Saharan area has been established. This emphasizes Algeria’s clear international responsibility, as the forced military enlistment of minors occurs on its territory, according to Hilale.

“It is exceedingly problematic that Algeria, which is a signatory to all international conventions, covenants, and declarations on children’s rights, enables an armed group to indoctrinate youngsters to wage war, conduct military operations, and become commandos and murderers. Instead of providing them with school, education, art, and music, like in the Moroccan Sahara, Algeria and the Polisario separate them from their families, rob them of their childhood innocence, and leave them with no other option except war and military brutality” Ambassador Hilale regretted before the audience, which was well aware of Algeria’s and “Polisario” militia’s heinous treatment of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent kids.

In response to the Algerian ambassador to the United Nations, Soufiane Mimouni, who attempted to absolve his nation of these grave and widespread abuses of children’s rights, Omar Hilale said, “But where are the training camps for child soldiers?” It is located in Algerian territory, near the Tindouf desert.

Those who train them are Polisario armed elements, and those who supervise them are Algerian instructors,” he concludes, “and the Algerian colleague’s vein denials cannot absolve Algeria of its international responsibility towards these innocent children, who would have loved to learn dancing songs, instead of war songs, and to use the pen and brush instead of the Kalashnikov”.

This tumultuous discussion between the Moroccan and Algerian embassies went place oddly under the frantic gaze and shameful silence of the “polisario” separatists’ spokesman.

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Polisario leader Ibrahim Ghali will appear tomorrow, Wednesday, May 5^th, before the Spanish court, to be interrogated in the context of investigations into several crimes he committed against a number of Tindouf detainees.

In addition to Ibrahim Ghali, 4 other leaders of the separatist front will appear before court. They are: Sidahmed El Bellal Hedda, commonly known as Al-Batal, Bachir Sayed, Mohamed El Khalil, and Mohamed Salec Abdesamad, aka Boulsane.

Spanish media reported that judicial sources in Madrid confirmed that summoning Ibrahim Ghali to appear before the Spanish court follows a complaint submitted by rights activist Fadel Barika.

Barika accuses Ghali of being responsible for his kidnapping during the period from June 18^th, 2009 to November 10^th of the same year.

In one of his statements, Barika said, “I have been kidnapped for nearly five months and tortured in the prisons of the Tindouf camps for the simple reason that I demanded the disclosure of what happened to Ahmed Khaled, who was kidnapped by the Algerian intelligence services in January 2009”.

“I have also condemned on social media the recruitment of children by the Polisario Front and the acts of violence committed by its leaders” Barika added, noting that “through this complaint and the appearance of ‘this criminal’ and other Polisario leaders before court, I demand justice for all victims of Polisario atrocities”.

Brahim Ghali, who entered Spain using a fake Algerian passport and forged papers, was the subject of several complaints in Spain on charges of kidnapping, detention, rape and torture.

It should be recalled that, in 2008, an arrest warrant was issued against Ibrahim Ghali. In 2013, he was indicted by Spanish justice.

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