250 Political Figures Support US Recognition of Moroccan Sovereignty Over Western Sahara Region

Moroccan and American officials in the desert city of Dakhla on January 2021. (AFP)
Moroccan and American officials in the desert city of Dakhla on January 2021. (AFP)
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250 Political Figures Support US Recognition of Moroccan Sovereignty Over Western Sahara Region

Moroccan and American officials in the desert city of Dakhla on January 2021. (AFP)
Moroccan and American officials in the desert city of Dakhla on January 2021. (AFP)

A group of 250 political leaders and elected officials from 25 countries in Europe and Latin America signed a letter this week addressed to President Joe Biden, expressing support for the US’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.

“Mr. President, we, former heads of government, former ministers, elected officials, members of parliaments, have the honor to write to you to express our satisfaction with the sovereign decision of the United States of America to recognize the full sovereignty of Morocco over the entire territory of the Sahara,” read the letter, published by former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi.

Among the signatories of this letter are former Czech President Vaclav Klaus, former Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales Cabrera, former Bulgarian Prime Minister Georgy Bliznachki, former member of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) Stephan Todorov Davidov, as well as several members of parliament and senators currently in office.

“We can only welcome the US decision to recognize the autonomy initiative as the sole basis for a solution to the Sahara regional dispute,” they stressed.

They pointed out that the US decision came at a time when the political process needed a “new impetus.”

“We believe it opens concrete prospects for guiding the UN political process towards a final solution,” the letter added, indicating that they are convinced that the US, under the presidency of Joe Biden, will continue to move the Sahara issue towards a just and lasting solution through its continued support for the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative.

Autonomy is the only way to end the suffering of the people living in the Tinduf camps in Algeria, to ensure reconciliation and achieve permanent peace and stability in a strategic region, by creating a real vector of peace, stability, and prosperity in Africa and even in the world, it explained.

“We are concerned with the consequences that an indefinite extension of the status quo could have; allowing for acts of terror carried out by armed militias in a highly strategic area, and key to the stability of the African continent and the Euro –Mediterranean basin.”

“We are delighted about the developments taking place in the Sahara Provinces, which continue to record honorable human development indices.”

A progress that was made possible thanks to the New Development Model of the Sahara Provinces launched by King Mohammed VI in 2015, with a budget of eight million dollars.

They noted that this development, which brings jobs and prosperity, is visible in infrastructure, hospitals, town planning, services, schools, not to mention economic projects of all kinds, agricultural, industrial, tourism, and social and solidarity economy.

This development has gone hand in hand with flourishing democratic local governance. In 2015, the two regions of the Sahara recorded the highest turnout in the first regional elections held in Moroccan history.

Today, Sahrawis, including former “Polisario” official, chair the two regional councils in the region through internationally recognized free and transparent elections, making them the only legitimate representatives of the region’s population, it read, adding that these elected officials propose, vote and implement, in contract with the State, the development projects of their regions in order to meet citizens’ aspirations.

The management contributes a prelude to what the autonomy plan would offer under Moroccan sovereignty, with the creation of “regional legislative, executive and judicial bodies.”

“We believe it is no coincidence that a growing number of nations, including the United States, support the Autonomy Initiative as a realistic, viable, and sustainable political solution based on compromise,” the 250 signatories stressed.

“We are also delighted that the US has joined 20 other countries in opening consular representations in the Sahara, in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla.”

This decision, they said, not only recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara provinces, but also Morocco’s role as a historic link between Europe and Africa as a regional economic pole carrying many opportunities for investors from all over the world and prospects for future knowledge and employment for the youth of the African continent.

They finally welcomed the Trilateral Pact signed between Morocco, Israel, and the United States, which will strengthen the prospects for peace in the Middle East, in accordance with the historic role that Morocco has played in advancing peace in the Middle East.



Lebanese Officials Discuss South Lebanon with Visiting US Envoy

A handout photo provided by the Lebanese presidency shows President Joseph Aoun meeting with US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus at the presidential palace in Baabda near Beirut - AFP
A handout photo provided by the Lebanese presidency shows President Joseph Aoun meeting with US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus at the presidential palace in Baabda near Beirut - AFP
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Lebanese Officials Discuss South Lebanon with Visiting US Envoy

A handout photo provided by the Lebanese presidency shows President Joseph Aoun meeting with US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus at the presidential palace in Baabda near Beirut - AFP
A handout photo provided by the Lebanese presidency shows President Joseph Aoun meeting with US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus at the presidential palace in Baabda near Beirut - AFP

Senior Lebanese officials said Saturday's talks with visiting US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus were positive, focusing on south Lebanon amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

President Joseph Aoun and Ortagus discussed "south Lebanon, the work of the international monitoring committee and the Israeli withdrawal" from Lebanese territory, a statement from the presidency said, characterizing the talks as constructive.

The United States chairs a committee, which also includes France, that is tasked with overseeing the ceasefire that ended more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's office, in a statement, also said the discussions with the envoy were "positive".

Ortagus's second visit to Lebanon comes as Israel continues to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite a November 27 ceasefire with Hezbollah, and as its troops remain in several points in the country's south.

Under the truce, Hezbollah was to redeploy its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel was due to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops in five places it deems "strategic".

Lebanon's army has been deploying in areas the Israeli military has withdrawn from.

Ortagus and Salam discussed the Lebanese army's work in implementing United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and formed the basis of the November truce, his office said.

The resolution says Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only forces in south Lebanon, and called for the disarmament of all non-state armed groups.

- Economic issues -

Salam's office said the talks also addressed the Syrian-Lebanese border, where deadly clashes erupted last month, emphasising the importance of preventing "any tensions or chaos, and all forms of smuggling", according to the premier's office, AFP reported.

Hezbollah has long exerted influence over large parts of the Lebanese-Syrian border, and Israel has repeatedly struck the area.

The Lebanese and Syrian defense ministers last month signed an agreement addressing security and military issues along the border, which has no official demarcation.

Aoun and Ortagus also discussed economic reforms and "combatting corruption", his office said, a day after Lebanon's new central bank governor Karim Souaid took office.

Souaid has pledged to advance key reforms demanded by international creditors to unlock bailout funds amid a years-long economic crisis.

Salam and Ortagus discussed "the need to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund", his office said.

Ortagus also met on Saturday with parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, discussing "Israeli violations and attacks on Lebanon" as well as economic and administrative reforms, his office said in a statement.

She also met with army chief Rodolphe Haykal.

On her first visit in February, Ortagus sparked anger among Hezbollah supporters by saying the group had been "defeated by Israel" and declaring "the end of Hezbollah's reign of terror".

The Iran-backed group was heavily weakened during the war with Israel, but remains active.

Last month, Ortagus told Lebanese TV channel Al-Jadeed that the US and France had set up working groups that would address issues including the border disputes between the two countries and Israel's continued presence south Lebanon.

"We want to get a political resolution, finally, to the border disputes," Ortagus had said.