Moroccans protest over UN Ban's West Sahara position
Date
3/13/2016 12:11:14 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelillah Benkirane speaks during a special session at the parliament to discuss statements made by the United Nations chief earlier in the week regarding the disputed territory of Western Sahara in the capital Rabat on March 12 2016. Earlier in the week Morocco accused United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon of speaking out of turn during a visit to restart talks between Rabat and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front on disputed Western Sahara. The UN has been trying to oversee an independence referendum for Western Sahara since 1992 after a ceasefire was reached to end a war that broke out when Morocco sent its forces to the former Spanish territory in 1975. Morocco has ruled out the idea of ??independence and argues for a broad autonomy for the territory under its sovereignty. The UN envoy for Western Sahara Christopher Ross resumed diplomatic efforts in February 2015. AFP
By Aziz El Yaakoubi
RABAT: Tens of thousands of Moroccans marched though the capital Rabat on Sunday to protest against U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s position on the Western Sahara dispute and rally support for the king.
Waving portraits of King Mohamed and Moroccan flags protesters chanted the “The Sahara is ours the King is ours” as they packed the streets near the parliament building in a rally supported by the government.
Morocco’s government last week accused Ban of no longer being neutral in the Western Sahara conflict saying he used the word “occupation” to describe Morocco’s presence in the region that has been at the centre of a dispute since 1975.
“That was a serious attack on the feelings of all Moroccans the march shows we are all united in our national cause” Mbarka Bouida delegate minister for foreign affairs said joining the protesters.
State news agency MAP said three million people attended the march though those figures could not be confirmed. Some protesters said they were bussed for free to the march and said trains had also been free for the day of the rally.
The long-running dispute over the region in the northwest edge of Africa has dragged on since Morocco took control over most of it in 1975 following the withdrawal of former colonial power Spain.
The Polisario Front which claims the territory belongs to ethnic Sahrawis fought a rebel war against Morocco until a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in 1991 but the two sides have been deadlocked since that agreement.
Ban said earlier this month he would restart U.N. efforts to reach a solution after visiting camps in southern Algeria for the Polasario Front leadership and refugees who fled the conflict and who have spent decades there.
The Moroccan government said Ban used the word “occupation”
to describe Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara in 1975
Polisario backed by Morocco’s regional rival and neighbour Algeria and a number of other African states wants a referendum promised in the ceasefire agreement on the region’s fate. Morocco says it will not offer more than autonomy for the region rich in phosphates and possibly offshore oil and gas.
“We came to tell Ban and the world that the Sahara is a red line for us and we would die for it” a protester named Salah who travelled from Oujda area.
Morocco’s king last year insisted only the autonomy plan was acceptable. Rabat invests heavily in the Western Sahara hoping to calm social unrest and independence claims and in February announced a $1.85 billion investment plan.
(Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Reuters