Moroccans protest UN chief's W. Sahara remarks
Date
3/14/2016 12:24:20 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) >Hundreds of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in capital Rabat on Sunday to protest recent remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon regarding the disputed Western Sahara region.
Rabat views the region as part of Morocco. Many Moroccans therefore were offended by Ban’s use of the word "occupation" while visiting refugee camps for native Sahrawis in southern Algeria earlier this month.
Protesters chanted slogans demanding UN neutrality on the Western Sahara issue; others shouted "The Sahara is Moroccan and will always be so".
Some demonstrators raised banners reading "No to biased mediation; No to interfering in the region" and "We will not concede one grain of sand from the Sahara".
Numerous public figures -- including government ministers and heads of political parties along with trade union representatives and civil society members -- participated in the protest.
Demonstrators set out from the Chellah one of the city of Rabat’s main entrances and marched towards parliament headquarters.
Abdul Salam Siddiqi minister of employment and social affairs told Anadolu Agency that Sunday’s protest reflected Moroccans’ rejection of "any attempt to violate the country’s territorial integrity".
Morocco he said "is prepared to organize more such demonstrations because the issue of the [Western] Sahara enjoys a national consensus."
Mohamed Larbi Belqaid mayor of the city of Marrakech for his part told Anadolu Agency that Sunday’s protest was "an expression of Moroccans’ refusal of Ban’s provocative remarks".
According to Belqaid an MP for the ruling Justice and Development Party "more than a million Moroccans from across the political spectrum" took part in the demonstration.
On March 5 Ban visited Sahrawi refugee camps in southern Algeria where he vowed to "spare no effort" towards resolving the longstanding territorial dispute.
Estefan Dogrec Ban’s official spokesman said last Monday that the UN chief had been affected by what he saw at the camps and had felt regret for not having acted on the issue before.
According to Dogrec Ban had also expressed concern about the security situation in the disputed region and increasing criminal activity reportedly taking place there.
By Khalid Majdoub
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