Statement of the WPC regarding the situation in Western Sahara

Friday, November 13, 2020

The World Peace Council follows with deep concern the situation in Western Sahara and vehemently rejects Morocco's violation of the cease-fire agreement this Friday, November 13. We denounce Morocco's decision to send in armed forces, breaching the buffer zone agreed upon under the 1991 cease-fire arrangement, against the Saharawi civilians that have been demonstrating in the Guergarat region.

Since October 21, Saharawi civilians have been protesting Morocco's 45-year occupation and its breach of the buffer zone, often carrying resources plundered from occupied Western Sahara, in violation of international humanitarian law. But this situation is in fact the result of the three-decade protraction of the cease-fire arrangement; the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has not been able to implement its mandate and hold the referendum since it was established, almost 30 years ago, nor to protect the Saharawi people under occupation.

The Saharawi people have been resisting in refugee camps and under the brutal Moroccan occupation and waiting since 1975 for the implementation of their right to self-determination and the decolonization of Western Sahara, as promised by the United Nations. Meanwhile, gross human rights violations under the Moroccan regime and the dire situation in the refugee camps have made the Saharawi people weary of international negligence. They have also protested the Moroccan plunder of their resources, which are sold to the European Union and many other countries, as well as France's and Spain's responsibility for Morocco's occupation -- the first as the occupier's staunch ally, the second as the colonial and administrative power that surrendered Western Sahara to Morocco in 1975.

Therefore, we join other peace-loving forces all over the world in the call for the urgent implementation of the Saharawi people's right to self-determination and for serious efforts for a just peace in the region. We condemn Morocco's violation of the cease-fire agreement and reaffirm that the situation is unsustainable. We also express our solidarity with the Saharawi people in their just struggle for national liberation and our hope that such an honorable aim is achieved through peaceful, diplomatic means.

Free Western Sahara!

The WPC Secretariat

13th November 2020