The U.S. Under Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Michele Sison, reiterated from Rabat that the autonomy plan presented by Morocco is a «serious, credible and realistic» solution to resolve the dispute over Western Sahara.
«The United States continues to consider the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as serious, credible and realistic,» she said at a press conference after a meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita, as reported by the daily ‘Le Matin’.
In this regard, he affirmed that Washington supports the work of the UN envoy for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, as well as the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The former Spanish colony of Western Sahara was occupied by Morocco in 1975 despite the resistance of the Polisario Front, with whom it was at war until 1991, when both parties signed a cease-fire with a view to holding a referendum on self-determination, but differences over the elaboration of the census and the inclusion or not of Moroccan settlers has so far prevented its convocation.
On November 14, 2020, the Polisario Front declared the cease-fire with Morocco broken in response to a Moroccan military action against Saharawi activists in Guerguerat, in the agreed zone of détente, which was for the Saharawis a violation of the terms of the cease-fire.
The latest setback for the Saharawi independence fighters was the support of the Spanish government for the Moroccan autonomy plan made public on March 18 in a letter addressed to the Alaouite king, Mohamed VI, a change of position described as a betrayal by the Polisario Front, which recalls that Spain is still ‘de jure’ the administering power of Western Sahara.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
