AU Council calls for Morocco-SADR negotiations revival

ADDIS ABABA: The AU Executive Council meeting at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, has called for negotiations between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) to be re-launched.

On Monday, the AU said the assembly reiterated its call on the two member states to engage, without pre-conditions, in direct and serious talks facilitated by the AU and the UN for the holding of a free and fair referendum for the people of Western Sahara.

“While the AU stands ready to ‘operationalise’, if and when necessary, its Committee of the Heads of State and Government on Western Sahara, the assembly calls on the two parties to fully co-operate with the AU High Representative for Western Sahara, former president Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, and the personal envoy of the UN secretary-general, Horst Köhler,” the AU said.

The AU called on Morocco to sign and ratify the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the relevant mechanisms for the defence of human rights and to allow the AU Observer Mission to return to Laayoune, Western Sahara, in addition to permitting an independent monitoring of human rights in the territory.

In January 2012, the AU requested the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to send a mission to the occupied SADR to investigate violations of human rights and submit a report to the next regular session of the AUC in January 2013.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said authorities on both sides of the political divide continue to harass and obstruct human rights groups and media workers, both domestic and international.

“Many in Morocco and Western Sahara serve long prison terms after unfair trials for politically motivated offences,” said HRW.

The protracted conflict between Morocco and the SADR (a partially recognised state that controls a thin strip of area in the Western Sahara region but claims sovereignty over the entire territory) has been one of the festering disputes in African that the AU wants to resolve.

Morocco stormed out of the Organisation of Afrucan Unity (OAU) in 1984 following the OAU’s recognition of the SADR and remained out in the cold until its fairly recent readmission at the beginning of 2017

This readmission was contingent, however, on Rabat agreeing to future negotiations with the SADR in an attempt to resolve the long-standing dispute.

When former colonial power Spain evacuated the territory – formerly known as Spanish Sahara – Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania signed the Madrid Accords on November 14, 1975, leading to both Morocco and Mauritania moving in to annex the Western Sahara.

On February 26, 1976, Spain informed the UN that as of that date it had terminated its presence in Western Sahara and relinquished its responsibilities, leaving no administering power.

Neither Morocco nor Mauritania gained international recognition, and war ensued with the independence-seeking Polisario Front – SADR’s government in exile.

The UN considers the Polisario Front to be the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, and maintains that the people of Western Sahara have a right to “self-determination and independence”. – African News Agency (ANA)