SA to host solidarity conference
SOUTH Africa is to host the Southern African Development Community (SADC) solidarity conference with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Pretoria on March 25-26.
“South Africa is committed to working with the SADC for the freedom of the people of Western Sahara, and this must be done in our lifetime. South Africans will only be free when the people of Western Sahara and the people of Palestine are free,” Minister for International Relations and Co-operation Lindiwe Sisulu has said.
The SADC’s 38th ordinary summit approved the convening of a solidarity conference.
During the conference, the SADC heads of state will express the region’s support for decolonisation and self-determination for Western Sahara on the basis of the values and principles that have guided the quest for independence throughout Africa.
It will be the first time a regional economic community shows solidarity with the Sahrawi people.
“The conference was inspired by recent UN-AU attempts to close this chapter of Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara which systematically has been denied the right to self-determination,” Dr Garth le Pere, Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria, has said.
“The conference provides an opportunity to underscore the serious humanitarian plight of the Sahrawi people, compounded by the gross violation of their human rights; for it is they who are often overlooked in the high politics of the conflict.”
The SADC’s collaboration with Western Sahara has been informed by the region’s own decolonisation experiences and the quest for liberation and self-determination.
The conference is expected to conclude with the adoption of a SADC regional strategy and a declaration. The declaration will establish mechanisms to engage stakeholders and partners, including Morocco, to observe the spirit of the African Union and UN decisions to expedite the resolution of the Western Sahara matter.
The regional declaration will support the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s right to self-determination and independence based on the principle of self-determination and decolonisation, through the holding of a referendum.