Western Sahara protests
SOUTH Africans demonstrated outside the Embassy of Morocco in Pretoria yesterday, demanding freedom and self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.
Morocco’s inclusion as a member in the AU at the recent summit served as a catalyst to reignite solidarity among South Africans and Africans with occupied Western Sahara.
Morocco’s AU membership has introduced a dilemma to the body as it is bound by the Constitutive Act of the AU which recognises the right of occupied people to selfdetermination. The Western Sahara is considered as the last remaining colonial outpost on the continent.
The protesters demanded that the Kingdom of Morocco respect the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination as stipulated in the AU’s Constitutive Act. “You cannot continue to occupy another member state. You need to respect articles 3 and 4 of the Constitutive Act of the AU,” read the protesters’ memorandum to Moroccan representatives in Pretoria.
The memo pointed out that 40 years had passed since Morocco illegally occupied Western Sahara, and that it was now time to allow the UN referendum to take place so that the Sahrawi people can exercise their choice to be independent or be part of Morocco.
Placards read “Hands off Sahrawi,” and “We demand an end to the occupation”.
The issue of the liberation of Western Sahara remains crucial for the South African government, which will seek a resolution to the conflict both within the AU and at the UN, and will insist on Morocco’s adherence to the AU constitution.