SADC solidarity meeting with the SADR
THE SOUTHERN African Development Community will today and tomorrow convene a Solidarity Conference with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Tshwane.
The conference will confirm the region’s support for the decolonisation of the occupied territory and for the holding of a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.
Western Sahara is a Non-Self-Governing Territory of the UN that lies in the Sahel region bordered by the Kingdom of Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. The territory has been occupied by Morocco since 1975. The occupation was triggered by the November 6, 1975 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice stating that there was no “legal tie of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and the Moroccan State”.
On February 26, 1976, Spain terminated its status as Administrative Power, making Western Sahara the only Non-Self-Governing Territory without an Administrative Power, meaning that de facto the UN has primary responsibility for the territory.
In response to the Moroccan occupation, the Saharawi people mobilised for armed struggle under the leadership of the Polisario Front.
UN General Assembly Resolution 34/37 of 1979 recognised the Polisario Front as the sole legitimate representative of the Saharawi people.
A ceasefire agreement was concluded in 1991, culminating in the establishment of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.
South Africa has a long association with the Polisario Front and the Saharawi people based on the common Struggle for decolonisation and liberation from occupation.
During the Struggle against apartheid, South African liberation movements and the Polisario Front cultivated strong fraternal relationships, and activists mobilised and supported each other’s causes across the globe. After liberation, then president Nelson Mandela signed the directive setting up full diplomatic relations between South Africa and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in June 1995.
Mandela was also clear that the struggle for the freedom of the people of Western Sahara should continue and be supported by South Africa.
The UN has expressed itself on various occasions and in various resolutions on the imperative of liberating the Saharawi people. Resolution 1514 of December 14, 1960, also known as the “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples”, interprets the UN Charter in such a manner that it amplifies the anti-colonial struggles of peoples and their desire for self-determination and full sovereignty in the community of nations. The declaration boldly states that the “subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights”.