UN: Ambassador Denounces South Africa’s Ideological Connection and Political Blindness to Moroccan Sahara

The Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Ambassador Omar Hilale, denounced, at the Security Council, the ideological connection and the political blindness of South Africa to the Moroccan Sahara. “South Africa’s ideological connection with the separatism of the “Polisario” cannot excuse the political blindness of this country to the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara. Likewise, its unconditional support for this armed group cannot justify its complicit silence on the crimes perpetrated against the populations in captivity in the Tindouf camps, including by the “leader” of this militia, the man named Brahim Ghali, sued in Spain for war crimes and crimes against humanity, terrorist acts and rape”, denounced Hilale, in a letter addressed on Monday to the President of the Security Council and to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in reaction to the sending by the Permanent Representative of South Africa of a letter from the “Polisario” to the Council. Ambassador Hilale expressed the deep regrets of the Kingdom of Morocco that “South Africa persists in its role as the messenger of an impostor claiming to have the accreditation of a so-called +ambassador representing the Polisario at the UN, a fact that the Organization has never recognized”. In this context, the Moroccan diplomat called on South Africa “to comply with the official position of the United Nations, as expressed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in his successive reports to the Security Council, which describe this forger as a simple “representative of the Polisario in New York” and not at the UN. South Africa may be confusing NY with the UN”. “With all due respect to South Africa, it will not find in the official UN website, nor in the diplomatic directory, the “blue book”, and even less in any United Nations document, the slightest reference to a so-called representation of this armed group to the UN,” said Hilale, indicating that “South Africa’s insistence on validating this usurpation of status should not mislead the Security Council, nor confer the slightest legitimacy on a so-called representation that only exists in the camps of Tindouf, in Algeria”. The Moroccan diplomat also invited the South African Permanent Representative to “ask why Algeria, which created the “polisario”, finances it, arms it and mobilizes its entire diplomatic apparatus for it, does not task its Permanent Mission to the UN with transmitting the false letter from this impostor to the Security Council? And why Algeria, the main party to this regional dispute, regularly delegates this illegal task to South Africa?”. In addition, Hilale expressed the condemnation by Morocco of the “support by South Africa to a fallacious terminology of the nature of the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, as well as the false allegations on the situation of human rights in its Saharan Provinces”. The Moroccan ambassador further accused South Africa of pretending to ignore that the Security Council, in its successive resolutions, including 2548 of October 30, 2020, “welcomes in this regard the measures and initiatives taken by Morocco, the role played by the Commissions of the National Human Rights Council in Dakhla and Laâyoune and the interaction between Morocco and the mechanisms under the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council”. He added that “South Africa is not fit to establish itself as a human rights lawyer. Indeed, international human rights organizations regularly denounce serious violations of human rights in South Africa, in particular, the rights of minorities and indigenous populations, as well as extrajudicial and summary executions, etc.”. Moreover, Hilale exposed the “racist and xenophobic violence and crimes and hate campaigns” of which “migrants, refugees and asylum seekers from sisterly African countries settled in South Africa are victims”, a situation all the more regrettable “as the international community prepares to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”. The Moroccan ambassador concluded by noting that “South Africa’s denial of the Security Council’s stance on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara indelibly tarnishes its credibility as a country that aspires to play a role for peacekeeping and security on behalf of the African continent”, considering that such a responsibility could only be entrusted to the countries which work for peace and the unity of the Continent, far from any partisan or ideological position. This letter, distributed to the 15 members of the Security Council, will be published as an official document of the Council, recorded in its annals, and then distributed to all UN member states, in the six official languages of the Organization.