On December 10, 2020, Donald Trump published a tweet in which he recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. This publication was interpreted in certain spaces as “the beginning of the end” of the Sahrawi people’s struggle for self-determination and independence.
Nearly four years later, in an international geopolitical context determined by different war scenarios such as the war in Ukraine or the genocide of the Palestinian population, the people of Western Sahara remain determined on the path to the effective exercise of their legitimate rights. .
Moving forward in the timeline, on March 18, 2022, the letter addressed by the President of the Spanish Government to the King of Morocco was made public in which he recognized the Moroccan proposal on Western Sahara as “the most serious, the most credible and the most serious. realistic basis. » for the resolution of this dispute.
However, according to statements made a few weeks ago by the United Nations Special Envoy for Western Sahara, this position was rather a leap into the void, a totally ill-informed act, since this “more basis” than the UN as a whole does not consider, she explained today, almost three years after the letter sent by the President of the Government to Morocco.
On the other hand, there are many reasons why the criticism of the aforementioned letter was much greater than that sparked by Trump’s tweet (and would be much greater than that leveled by the French president). .
The above is explained first of all by the fact that Spain continues to be the administrative power of the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara. Another supporting element is the fact that the movement of solidarity with the Sahrawi people in the broad sense is the one that is articulated in the Spanish State; which shows that the links between Spanish and Sahrawi societies are indisputable, known and very solid (for example, the “Vacaciones en Paz” program).
Likewise, Spanish territory, for obvious historical reasons, has been (and continues to be) the destination chosen by the Sahrawi population forced, for one reason or another, into a double exile. A choice which is also largely explained by the existing solidarity network and the great welcome that society as a whole has always reserved for the Sahrawi people.
It is for this reason that the positioning transferred to Morocco – totally incongruous with the feelings of citizens – was experienced from an emotional point of view by many people as “the second betrayal of Spain towards the Sahrawis”.
However – beyond sentiments – there is no tweet, letter or statement that could change the legal nature of the Western Sahara issue.
Western Sahara remains a non-autonomous territory awaiting decolonization and, as such, all actors on the international political scene have an obligation to contribute to a free and independent democratic Sahrawi Arab Republic (or at least not to hinder its realization).
A timely, appropriate and just moment would have been the recognition of the Sahrawi state by Spain last May, when it recognized the State of Palestine.
However, his government has chosen to continue to relegate the rights of the Sahrawi people, among other excuses, to so-called “excellent neighborly relations”.
Concerning the French case, the formal declarations represent the confirmation of an open secret, given France’s political, economic and military support for Morocco in its demands and initiatives linked to Western Sahara. Some hostile declarations to the Sahrawi people, made during Macron’s visit to Morocco and ratified before the Moroccan Parliament.
In this context, the majority of Member States of the European Union individually, as well as the European Union as a whole, maintain a position aligned with international law, insisting on the fact – public and well-known moreover – that It is within the United Nations, through a referendum, that the future of Western Sahara must be decided.
The above is not surprising if we consider the judgments handed down by the Court of Justice of the European Union on October 4, which underline, among other things, the obvious distinction between Western Sahara and Morocco as well as the sovereignty of the peoples of Western Sahara. Sahara on the natural resources of the territory.
The Court, based on the previous arguments, annulled the agreements between the European Union and Morocco considering them concluded, violating the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people and the relative effect of the treaties. Likewise, he recognized, once again, the procedural capacity of the Polisario Front to act, before the Court of the European Union, to defend the interests of the people of Western Sahara.
However, in view of the declarations made by several institutions of the European Union, after the resounding victory of the Polisario Front, let us hope that the European Union will choose to stick to the decisions of its highest judicial body and not resort to legal engineering for escape. of the obvious.
In this context, we can therefore affirm that Morocco is failing miserably (and more and more clearly) – even if it makes many efforts to pretend the opposite – to convince of its aspirations, in general, through economic promises.
However, there is no doubt that, against all odds and despite numerous attempts, the Sahrawi people remain determined to fight with conviction and determination to effectively exercise their right to self-determination and independence.
Bukhari Ahmed (RIP), a great Sahrawi diplomat, summarized this conclusion as follows: “Those who believe that the Sahrawis will be victims of the passage of time do not know the nature of the desert. We may die, others will continue.
