In this article I am publishing the full and final version of a petition that I submitted to the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade, urging the Maltese government to withdraw its support for the Moroccan government’s proposal of ‘Autonomy for Western Sahara’, presented before the United Nations’ Security Council as a solution to the ongoing conflict in the territory.

That proposal is a blatant disregard for the right of the Sahrawi people – who are under Moroccan occupation – to self-determination, offering them a degree of self-rule but insisting on maintaining Morocco’s territorial claim to their land.

I submitted the petition, which also calls on Malta to reaffirm its support for Sahrawi self-determination, on behalf of the Sahrawi-Arab Democratic Republic and the Polisario Front. I presented it directly to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, during a meeting held at the Ministry’s offices in Santa Venera on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

Please see the end of the article to read the petition.

The ongoing conflict

During these last months I have been in contact with many representatives, embassies, and delegations of the Polisario Front, which is recognised by the United Nations as the only legitimate entity that represents the aspirations of the Sahrawi people.

The Sahrawi people are indigenious to the territory of the Western Sahara, which is located in North Africa. It is currently under the illegal occupation of neighbouring Morocco, that invaded and annexed this territory in 1975 in violation of international law.

The UN considers this territory as one of 17 non-autonomous territories that have not yet undergone a decolonisation process. The Polisario Front, which is resisting the illegal Moroccan occupation, is advocating for the end of the illegitimate Moroccan presence so that the Sahrawi people can exercise their right of self-determination, which is a right guaranteed to them by UN resolutions on the basis of international law.

The referendum issue

Very few concrete efforts have been made to grant this right to self-determination. In 1991, after a fierce armed conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco that lasted for 16 years, the UN successfully negotiated a ceasefire between the two sides. The result of this agreement was that the territory was temporarily divided into two administrations. The Moroccan administration covers about 80% of the territory; a stretch of land that includes the coast and the richest natural resources. On the other hand, the administration of the Polisario Front controls about 20% of the territory.

However, this arrangement had to be a temporary one, as the UN had established a mission to organise a referendum so that the Sahrawi people could vote for independence or integration of their territory with Morocco or, possibly, with another neighboring country such as Mauritania. However, this referendum was never held because Morocco blocked any attempt by various means, including by transferring a number of illegal Moroccan settlers to live in the occupied part of the Western Sahara.

Today, these Moroccan settlers form the majority of the population of the territory and have turned the Sahrawi people into a minority. Morocco’s illegal transfer of settlers to Western Sahara has created a major obstacle to a referendum on self-determination. The Polisario Front rightly argues that these settlers, with no historical ties to the territory, should not be granted voting rights. Morocco’s insistence on their inclusion is a clear attempt to undermine the democratic process.

Morocco never wanted this referendum to be organised because it knows that the absolute majority of the Sahrawi people are in favour of independence. This historical fact was confirmed by a mission sent by the UN in 1975, which found that the Polisario Front is the dominant force in the territory and that the pro-independence movement consists of the majority of the Sahrawi people.

Morocco’s “solution”

While continuing to oppose and block any attempt by the Sahrawi people to determine their own destiny through free choice, in 2006 the Moroccan government announced its proposal to find a solution to this conflict under the name of ‘Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal’.

Although this proposal should guarantee the granting of a form of autonomous governance for the Sahrawi people, this autonomy is restricted because the same proposal stresses that the territory should remain under the sovereignty of the Morocco. This proposal, therefore, rejects the notion of independence for the Sahrawi people and does not include the possibility of a democratic referendum so that the Sahrawi people can freely decide their destiny. Instead, the Moroccan government will still have the role of managing many crucial areas, including foreign affairs and diplomatic relations, defence and security, and even the economy, with the currency intended to be used in the territory being the Moroccan dirham. Furthemore, the Moroccan government would still have legal jurisdiction over the territory.

This proposal is a contradiction of international law. By eliminating the possibility of a referendum that includes the choice between independence and integration it denies the Sahrawi people the right to decide on the status of their territory. Besides, Morocco has no recognised sovereignty with which it can enforce any presence and rule over the territory, because this territory has never been transferred to Morocco through a process that conforms with international law.

Support for Morocco’s proposal

Both the United States and the majority of the member states of the European Union, including Malta, have declared support for the Moroccan proposal. This position appears to diverge from the UN’s 1991 Settlement Plan, which emphasised the importance of granting the Sahrawi people the right to self-determination, including the option of independence, through a democratic referendum. While Morocco has consistently blocked the possibility of holding this referendum, the UN has consistently refused to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory.

In 1975, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that both Morocco and Mauritania had no sovereignty over the Western Sahara and therefore could not annex this territory before a referendum was held. This statement not only confirms the illegality of Morocco’s occupation of the territory, but also implies that the Sahrawi people have the right to be freed like the rest of the other colonies in Africa, in compliance with the UN’s policy on the decolonisation process as set out in Resolution number 1415.

Expulsion and oppression

Today, it is estimated that more than 200,000 Sahrawi refugees are living in refugee camps in the Algerian desert, where they have been living since 1975, far from their land. Most of these refugees are descendants of Sahrawis who were expelled from their land during the war that followed the illegal invasion of Morocco in 1975, while others fled the occupied territory because they were victims of harsh political persecution by the Moroccan regime.

The territory of the Western Sahara is among the most oppressive places in the world. The Sahrawi minority that remained in the territory is exposed to a treatment that has been described as inhuman and discriminatory. Any political activity in the territory, particularly in favour of independence, is violently suppressed by the Moroccan forces to prevent any protests and demonstrations. Those who do not cooperate are subject to being arrested without a fair judicial process or hearing in the courts, tortured and beaten by the police, and even killed by the Moroccan forces.

Because the Moroccan regime limits freedom of expression and journalistic activity in the territory, it is difficult to obtain detailed knowledge of the disturbing human rights situation in the territory, and therefore many Sahrawis have been declared as “disappeared” during these last decades.

A position in favour of justice

We cannot allow this situation to continue and remain passive. Malta, together with the rest of the international community, must take a position in favour of justice for the Sahrawi people and categorically condemn with the illegal Moroccan occupation of the territory.

Read more about the Western Sahara Conflict here.

Below is the full version of the petition ‘Supporting a Solution in Western Sahara Based on Human Rights, International Law and Self-Determination’

THIS PETITION IS PRESENTED TO THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALTA WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SAHRAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

PRESENTED BY EMAN FARRUGIA

THIS PETITION IS SUPPORTED BY:

• The POLISARIO Front, through their official representatives in the United Nations, Argentina and South Africa.

• Cocina por el Cambio, a Spanish organization that assists Sahrawi refugees in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

• SandBlast Charity, a British organisation that assists Sahrawi refugees in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

• Solidarity Rising, an international activism campaign by cyclists from Sweden in support of the Sahrawi people through raising awareness.

• UESARIO (Sahrawi Youth Union), the official branch of the POLISARIO Front dedicated to Sahrawi youths and students based in Tindouf, Algeria.

• AAPRP International (All African People’s Revolutionary Party), a left-wing, Marxist, pan-African political party, with members recruited from 33 countries.

• Saharawi Voice, a non-governmental organisation founded by Sahrawi youths and dedicated to activism for the Sahrawi cause.

• Equipe Media, a Sahrawi non-governmental organisation based in the occupied Western Sahara that conducts journalism through civic journalists.

A MESSAGE FROM HIS EXCELLENCY MR. SIDI MOHAMMED OMAR; THE POLISARIO FRONT’S REPRESENTATIVE TO THE UNITED NATIONS IN GENEVA AND NEW YORK.

Hello friends of Western Sahara in Malta,

Our representative in Argentina forwarded to me your message and email address.

I would like to thank you so much for your solidarity with our people. We highly appreciate your efforts to raise awareness about our question in Malta, especially at a time when your country is a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

Why the “autonomy” proposal made by Morocco, the occupying power of Western Sahara, is illegal and utterly unacceptable?

Let us start by some key facts:

1. Since including Western Sahara, within its internationally recognised borders, on the list of the Non-Self-Governing Territories of the Special Committee on Decolonisation in 1963 (Resolution 1956 (XVIII) of 11 December 1963), the United Nations General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies have consistently addressed Western Sahara within the scope of Chapter XI of the UN Charter, recognising the international status of the Territory as a Non-Self-Governing Territory as well as the responsibility of the United Nations towards the Sahrawi people and the decolonisation of the Territory.

2. In its landmark Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara, dated 16 October 1975, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations, concluded that “The materials and information presented to it do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity. Thus, the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonisation of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory” (para. 162).

3. The decolonisation process of Western Sahara was interrupted forcibly by Morocco which, contrary to its earlier commitment to the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination, invaded and occupied militarily the Territory on 31 October 1975 in violation of the Charters of the United Nations and the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) and their relevant resolutions on Western Sahara.

4. The UN and all international and regional organisations have never recognised as legal the Moroccan occupation and annexation of Western Sahara. More precisely, in its Resolutions 34/37 of 21 November 1979 and 35/19 of 11 November 1980, the UN General Assembly deeply deplored the aggravation of the situation resulting from “the continued occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco”.

5. The above facts, among others, confirm that Morocco does not exercise any sovereignty over Western Sahara, and that its presence in the Territory is an illegal, forcible occupation in violation of the UN Charter and the fundamental principle of the inadmissibility of acquisition of territories by force. As such, it does not produce any legal effects on the international status of the Territory.

6. The right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination has been recognised in numerous resolutions by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. In its first resolution on Western Sahara, adopted on 22 October 1975, the Security Council reaffirmed the terms of General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960 and all other relevant General Assembly resolutions on the Territory.

7. Both in the case of Western Sahara and other decisions, the ICJ affirmed that the exercise of self-determination, by its very nature, entails “the need to pay regard to the freely expressed will of peoples”. While the exercise of self-determination may be achieved through one of the options laid down by General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV), the process must be the outcome of the free expression of the genuine will of the people concerned, which constitutes the basic pillar of the right of self-determination.

8. The essence of the right to self-determination is free choice. In this sense, no genuine and credible exercise of the right to self-determination in the case of Western Sahara can be envisaged without the Sahrawi people, and only the Sahrawi people, making a free choice to determine their political status under the optimal conditions of freedom, fairness, and transparency and without any military or administrative constraints.

9. The right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence therefore is neither renounceable nor negotiable and cannot be affected by the lapse of time or forfeited by the Moroccan illegal invasion of Western Sahara in 1975 or its subsequent unlawful annexation of the Territory. As a corollary, only the Sahrawi people have the right to decide, through the free and genuine expression of their will, the political status of the Territory of Western Sahara in accordance with relevant General Assembly resolutions.

In view of the above, it can safely be affirmed that:

1. Morocco, the occupying power of Western Sahara, cannot grant an “autonomy” or any other type of territorial arrangements or otherwise to Western Sahara and its people, because Morocco does not have any internationally recognised sovereignty or administrative jurisdiction over the Territory. Morocco is simply an occupying power as confirmed by the relevant UN General Assembly resolutions.

2. The proposed “autonomy” undermines the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and to determine freely their political status because it prejudges and predetermines the outcome of their choice by limiting it to only one option, i.e., “autonomy”, which would be tantamount to Morocco’s making the choice instead of the people of Western Sahara. This would clearly be inconsistent with the right of self-determination under international law and relevant UN resolutions.

3. The proposed “autonomy” eliminates the independence option, which is one of the three options among which a people of a Non-Self-Governing Territory can choose in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution 1541 (XV). Moreover, independence has always been the demand of the Sahrawi people under the leadership of the Frente POLISARIO and cemented by decades of resistance to colonialism and occupation, and the establishment of the Sahrawi State (SADR).

4. The proposed “autonomy” is very dangerous not only because it cannot be the basis for achieving a just, durable, and sustainable peace as it would violate the principles of international law, but also because it would reward Morocco for illegally using force to occupy Western Sahara.

In conclusion, the “autonomy” proposal made by Morocco, the occupying power of Western Sahara, is illegal and therefore it is utterly unacceptable because Morocco does not have any sovereignty over Western Sahara. Because Morocco is an occupying power of Western Sahara, it cannot grant it any “autonomy” or the like. The proposal undermines the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and to determine their political status freely. Therefore, it can never be contemplated by any state or organisation that respects the fundamental rules of international law that prohibit the use of force to acquire territories and to deprive a people of a Non-Self-Governing Territory of their right to self-determination. In a rules-based world, political expediency can never justify violation of international law, and might can never be allowed to make right.

Once again, thank you immensely for your solidarity. Please keep us updated on your activities and initiatives.

Kind regards,

Sidi Omar.

‘’In early 1975, both Morocco and Mauritania agreed to abide by the decision of the International Court of Justice on the status of the Spanish Sahara, but when the court ruled in October 1975 that neither country was entitled to claim sovereignty over the territory, both governments chose to ignore the decision.’’  – United States Library of Congress Study of Mauritania (1990).

‘’The Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the Territory, nor did it confer upon any of the signatories the status of an administering Power, a status which Spain alone could not have unilaterally transferred.’’ – (Letter of the General Secretary for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel of the United Nations, Hans Corell, 2002).

WHY I AM PRESENTING THIS PETITION

Throughout the last few months, I have been organising solidarity intiatives for several causes related to conflict resolution and human rights for  refugees and stateless nations. This is why I chose to advocate for the cause of the Sahrawi people amongst other causes of similar nations,

Through my activism for a free Western Sahara, I have had the opportunity to get to know Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf, Algeria and their diaspora, Sahrawis who live under Morocco’s oppressive occupation in Western Sahara and representatives from the POLISARIO Front through their branches, embassies and delegations. I also had the chance to meet with non-governmental organisations and voluntary organisations who provide support for Sahrawi refugees through humanitarian work in refugee camps in Algeria, awareness campaigns, fundraising and activism for the Sahrawi cause.

I aim to spread further awareness about the plight of the Sahrawi refugees here in Malta. Through a successful fundraising campaign amongst my peers, I collected funds for the construction of a school located in the refugee camps in Algeria.

The situation of Sahrawis in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara and in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps is one of great concern. Various international human rights organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have regularly referred to the serious human rights violations on Sahrawis due to Morocco’s military occupation rule in the occupied Western Sahara. Amongst these grave violations, they refer to the lack of freedom of expression, arrests of political activists without a fair trial, the suppression of journalism, the violent crackdown of protests, the forced disappearances and torture of dissidents and the discovery of mass-graves; which are a testimony of Morocco’s grave war crimes committed during the Western Sahara War (1975-1991). These included the deliberate bombing of civilians with prohibited weapons such as white phosphorus and napalm.

Morocco’s persecution of the Sahrawi people is not solely limited to political activities. It involves attempts at erasing the Sahrawi national identity and their Hassaniya culture, by spreading false narratives about Sahrawi history and prohibiting aspects of Sahrawi culture, such as the Hassaniya Arabic dialect and the traditional tent (‘haima’).

The situation in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps based in Tindouf, Algeria, is also very precarious. Recent developments, such as the mass-displacement of tens of thousands of Sahrawis from the Liberated Territories (the POLISARIO-controlled zone) has further worsen the humanitarian situation in the camps; due to the growth of the population in areas that are already experiencing overcrowding, extreme weather conditions and the lack of basic humanitarian supplies and necessities.

It should be noted that more than 88% of Sahrawi refugees are either experiencing or at risk of suffering from food insecurity, it is estimated that around 11% of Sahrawi infants are suffering from malnutrition due to the lack of food supplies and that more than 60% of Sahrawis are economically inactive; thus meaning that they are exclusively dependent on receiving the limited humanitarian aid that is being provided to them by the World Food Programme and the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees).

Morocco’s recent aggressive actions, such as drone attacks, killing 80 Sahrawi civilians in 2023, have brought further escalation and destabilisation; negatively impacting the well-being of Sahrawis.

Morocco’s decision to illegally expand its presence into the United Nation’s buffer zone in Gueguerat by forcefully dispersing Sahrawi protesters on the border with Mauritania in November 2020, has meant a violation the 1991 ceasefire agreement, which lead to the resumption of the armed conflict between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, leading to casualties and mass-displacements.

It should be noted that Morocco has repeatedly refused to cooperate to pursue a resolution for the Western Sahara dispute through a referendum which is to grant the Sahrawi people the ability to exercise their right to self-determination which is guaranteed by the United Nations through various resolutions in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. The right to self-determination has also been recognised by the International Court of Justice in 1975; which refused to accept Morocco and Mauritania’s territorial claims on the basis that these did not excercise sovereignty on the territory during Spanish colonisation in 1884. This therefore confirms the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination which can only be exercised through a popular referendum which was the basis for the 1991 ceasefire agreement agreed upon between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front.

Despite Morocco’s promises of respecting the 1991 ceasefire agreement, instead it has blocked any attempts for holding a popular referendum amongst the Sahrawi population, despite that a census was already completed by MINURSO; the United Nations Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara. In violation of international law, particularly Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, Morocco has transferred Moroccan civilians into the occupied territory to cause a demographical change in the occupied Western Sahara. This has caused disagreements between both parties, since Morocco refuses to accept the MINURSO census and demands the inclusion of Moroccan settlers who have no connection to the Sahrawis and that were only transferred after Morocco’s invasion, military occupation and illegal annexation in 1975.

Evidently, the United Nations and the international community have failed to stop Morocco’s illegal occupation and its human rights violations, and have done negligible effort or diplomatic pressure to force it to adhere to international law and to previous United Nations resolutions about the territory. The Security Council has failed to ensure a human rights mandate for MINURSO and to organise the planned referendum in the territory.

However, the international community’s failures in protecting the Sahrawi people’s fundamental right to self-determination does not mean that this right should simply be ignored, and substituted with a solution that does not give the Sahrawi people the opportunity to excercise the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination; such as the so-called Moroccan Autonomy Proposal, which envisions limited autonomy for the Sahrawis but explicitly rules out the possibility of self-determination.

One should note that Morocco has no jurisdiction to enforce any rule, whether it includes autonomy or not, over Western Sahara. This is due to the lack of an internationally recognised hand over of Spanish administration. Even if one considers the internationally unrecognised Madrid Agreement as a treaty which transferred administration from Spain to Morocco, it should be noted that the treaty did not hand over Morocco any sovereignty over the territory, and was only considered to be by Spain as a temporary transfer of rule. Thus, it can be affirmed that Morocco has no legally recognised jurisdiction over the territory which grants it the ability to enforce autonomy under its sovereignty for the Sahrawi people. A referendum is necessary to settle the status of the territory.

WHAT THE PETITION IS CALLING FOR

The petition is calling for the Maltese government, through the Ministry of Foreign of Affairs, to begin to reconsider its support for the Autonomy Plan prepared by Morocco, given that this proposal violates the principles of previous United Nations resolutions and international law. This is due to the plan’s explicit elimination of the possibility of a referendum and therefore ignores the Sahrawi people’s right to exercise their self-determination.

A year ago, in June 2023, Malta’s Foreign Minister Ian Borg visited Morocco, where he reiterated Malta’s support for the Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal, proposed by Morocco as a resolution to the ongoing Western Sahara conflict. While it may seem to be a reasonable solution on paper, the reality is that the proposal denies the Sahrawi people the ability to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination which is guaranteed to them by a series of United Nations resolutions, including resolution 34/37, which was approved by Malta during a vote in the General Assembly, and international court rulings; including the 1975 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice and European Court of Justice rulings.Therefore, the petition is expressing disagreement with the Maltese government’s handling of its foreign policy by recognising Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara through its support for the Moroccan position on the conflict. As a “neutral state’’ we believe that Malta should have consulted the POLISARIO Front; representatives of the native Sahrawi people, before it took such a the decision of supporting the Autonomy Plan.

It is important to remember that foreign policy decisions will directly affect the lives of the Sahrawi people; particularly those in the occupied territory or who live as refugees and had to flee the territory due to the Western Sahara War or due to the ongoing political persecution against the Sahrawi pro-independence movement. If the Maltese government is supporting the Autonomy Plan, it is doing so without considering that the status of Western Sahara is yet to be decided and that no treaty has formally handed over Morocco the sovereignty that it need before it could even propose any plan which would enforce any rule, with or without autonomy, under the sovereignty of Morocco in Western Sahara. The plan disregards international law and is not compatible with the United Nations’ planned process of decolonisation.

Malta should promote a peaceful solution to the conflict in Western Sahara that respects the right of self-determination for the Sahrawis.

Back in the year 1979, Malta was among the few countries from the Western world that voted in favour of the granting of self-determination to the Sahrawi people in UN Resolution 34/37, that was presented on this subject in the General Assembly. In recent years, our country even welcomed informal talks between the representatives of the Saharawi people and the Moroccan government, and continued to consistently declare support for the granting of self-determination to Western Sahara and its people. This position is compatible with that of the United Nations regarding this conflict. The international position is that Western Sahara is a territory awaiting to be decolonised.

When the tensions between the Sahrawi people and the Moroccan occupiers in the territory started to escalate again during the Gueguerat Crisis of November 2020, the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in an official statement the following position about the status of the territory of Western Sahara and about our country’s stance regarding this conflict:

‘’Malta’s position on Western Sahara remains unchanged: a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, in line with international law. In this regard, Malta continues to support the United Nations-led process.” – (November 2020).

It seems, however, that this fair and correct position according to international law has now been abandoned and, instead, replaced by a position in favour of the continuation of the Moroccan presence in the Western Sahara. Last year, the same Ministry for Foreign Affairs expressed political support for a proposal put forward by the Moroccan government in order to formally annex the occupied territory to the rest of Morocco. This proposal, which is known as the ‘Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal’ denies the Sahrawi people the possibility of acquiring their full independence, as the Moroccan government is only proposing to provide them with limited autonomy. This proposal is unacceptable to all those who believe in the most fundamental human rights, as it does not recognise the true ambitions and of the Sahrawi people regarding their future; as it denies them access to self-determination.

During a visit to Morocco in June 2023, in which a number of trade agreements were finalised between Malta and Morocco, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, reiterated Malta’s support for the proposal put forward by the Moroccan government regarding the conflict in Western Sahara. At a press conference with the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Hon. Borg declared the following about the Moroccan proposal:

“Malta considers the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as a serious and credible contribution to the definitive resolution of the Sahara issue.” – (June 2023).

Evidently, this statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs differs from what the same Ministry had declared three years earlier. There is a need for the Maltese government to clarify its position regarding the Western Sahara conflict. It is unacceptable that the position of the Maltese government has changed in such a way as to deny the Sahrawi people the possibility of acquiring their independence and decolonisation from the oppressive, illegal Moroccan occupation.

By accepting the Moroccan position, Malta is ignoring the fact that Morocco’s sovereignty has no legal backing due to the lack of a recognised treaty handing over the territory’s administration and given that the territory is still awaiting a process of decolonisation under international law. Even if Malta is seeking a solution based on compromise rather than international law, and is seeking to accept the status-quo by not pursuing a solution that brings about any change to the territory’s administration, one should not ignore that there are many other problems, other than legal ones, which make the Moroccan position not viable as a definitive solution to the conflict.

One should not ignore the fact that there are serious human rights abuses and ongoing, violent political persecution in occupied Western Sahara which are threatening to eliminate the Sahrawi nation through forced assimilation and the denial of Sahrawi culture and identity. The Moroccan plan does not address these realities, and given Morocco’s track record, should it be trusted with ensuring the preservation of Sahrawi culture and identity? Under occupation, Sahrawis are denied equal treatment to Moroccans, as seen in cases of marginalisation in employment and housing.

In order to be compliant with the principles of recognising the rights of colonised nations, the Maltese government has to adopt a fairer position in line with international law. This can be done by;

a) withdrawing its support for the Moroccan government’s proposal;

b) declaring unconditional support for the granting of self-determination to the Sahrawis by calling for a fair, popular referendum;

c) adopting the positions taken by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice rather than unilaterally supporting the proposals of a party to the conflict;

d) establishing diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic;

e) clarify that Malta does not consider the proposal by Morocco as the only basis for the resolution of the Western Sahara dispute.

g) engaging in dialogue with the POLISARIO Front.

h) hosting another round of peace talks in Malta.

CLOSING REMARKS

I will take this opportunity to thank the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for supporting me and trusting me to represent them with the Maltese government. I also express my gratitude to the POLISARIO Front and its representatives, and the aforementioned individuals and organisations who showed support towards this petition and towards my initiatives in solidarity with the people of Western Sahara.

Thank you Prime Minister of Malta, Robert Abela, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ian Borg, and the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for accepting to discuss this petition, despite any possible divergence in our opinions about the conflict. I will remain committed in continuing to represent the Sahrawi people’s cause in Malta.

To conclude, I hope that the Maltese government, especially at the time when Minister Borg presides over the OCSE and with Malta also being a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council, will use this time to call and work for a diplomatic resolution to the Western Sahara dispute that respects the rights of the Sahrawis.