SADR wants AU to resolve Western Sahara conflict

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) President, Brahim Ghali wants the African Union (AU) to promptly find a solution to the Western Sahara conflict.

Special Envoy and Foreign Minister of the SADR, Ouldsaler Salem said this when he delivered a letter from Ghali to President Hage Geingob at State House on Monday.

“The letter of President Ghali is saying that the time has come for the AU to work strongly to end this occupation and to find a solution between the two countries,” he noted.

The Western Sahara conflict has been long-running between SADR and Morocco over Western Sahara, a disputed territory where the two sides fought a war until a 1991 ceasefire and where United Nations (UN) talks have failed to reach an accord.

“We accept to go with a referendum and ask the Sahrawi people whether they want to be independent or a part of Morocco, but Morocco is blocking the referendum,” Salem said.

In a second letter Salem read to Geingob, he stated that Morocco does not accept the AU's involvement in the conflict.

“Morocco has written a letter to the UN Secretary-General, saying it can't accept the involvement of the AU in the action of solutions for Western Sahrawi, because the issue is in the hands of the UN Security Council,” he said.

Morocco left the AU in 1984 when the union recognised the independence of Western Sahara.

However, Morocco was readmitted as a member of the AU after a vote at an AU Summit on 30 January 2017, in spite of the Western Sahara conflict.

In his response, Geingob said the Sahrawi people should be allowed to decide for themselves in a referendum.

NAMPA