USA: high-level panels call for support for Morocco’s efforts to resolve the Sahara confli

Berlin, Germany, 2021-Apr-16 — /EPR Network/ — Two conferences were organized two days apart in the United States this week in support of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces and the relevance of US proclamation on Moroccan Sahara.  The first conference was organized by the “Republic-Underground” center and the second one by the “New York City Bar Association”. The theme of both conferences was to discuss the Sahara issue and to call on the current US administration to support Morocco’s efforts to resolve the Sahara conflict on the basis of a political solution based on the autonomy plan. A status quo of this situation, they all agreed, is getting in the way of regional integration and present security challenges in North Africa.

The participants in the conference organized by the American “Republic-Underground” center, pleaded for the deployment of the American consulate in Dakhla in order to facilitate contacts between local economic operators and their American counterparts. The aim will be to promote investments and American development aid for the region, in accordance with the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Morocco. The panelists also called on Algeria to contribute effectively in the efforts of the United Nations to reach a political solution to the regional dispute to assume its responsibility as a real party to the conflict.  Only such an approach is able to put an end to the suffering of the populations of the Tindouf camps, to reduce security threats and to allow regional integration and cooperation in the Maghreb.

This meeting was defined by the participation in particular of Michael Flanagan, former member of the American Congress; Erik Jensen, former Head of Minurso and Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the Sahara (1993-1998); Richard Weitz, Director of the Center for Politico-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute; Elisabeth Myers, lawyer and academic, and Nancy Huff, president of the American NGO “Teach the Children International”, as well as Ghalla Bahiya, vice-president of the Dakhla Oued Eddahab region and Mohamed Abba, vice-president of the Laayoune Sakia region El-Hamra. All concluded that the United States should oppose certain abuses of international law and the principle of self-determination aimed at destabilizing and fragmenting sovereign states. According to international law, the principle of self-determination does not apply to the territory of the Sahara, which is geographically and historically an integral part of the Kingdom of Morocco and shares the same ethnic, religious and cultural characteristics. They underlined the responsibility of the Polisario for its destabilizing and provocative actions, while underlining the role and responsibilities of Algeria as host country of the Polisario.

Likewise, the panelists pleaded for the strengthening of the Morocco-United States-Africa triangular cooperation as an effective tool to counter competition from the great powers on the continent, while recommending that the American administration work with the United States. Morocco as a moderate and progressive voice in North and West Africa to face urgent regional crises, especially in Libya and the Sahel.

Speaking at a virtual conference organized by the New York City Bar Association (NYCBAR) on the same subject, Elliott Abrams, former senior US diplomat and Assistant National Security Advisor to the White House (2005- 2009) and a specialist in the Middle-East affairs at the prestigious US Think Tank “Council on Foreign Relations pointed out that the current American administration should maintain and endorse the Proclamation adopted by its predecessor, given that the Kingdom of Morocco is “a long-standing loyal strategic ally” of the United States of America. Abrahams also shed light on the role Algeria plays in the perpetuation of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, noting that in the absence of “the blatant Algerian support for the Polisario, this conflict would have ended a long time ago.

Professor Kontorovich also underlined that the US policy on the Moroccan Sahara “remains consistent with international law”, recalling that a large and increasing number of Arab and African countries have recently opened Consulates in the Sahara as a sign of full recognition of the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Morocco over this region.

The two American experts have challenged the biased theses put forward by the other panelists participating in this conference, in particular John Bolton and Christopher Ross, whose strong positions in favor of the enemies of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom are known to all.