Brussels: Sahrawi Female Activists Expose Separatists’ Baseless Allegations

Several Sahrawi female activists exposed, on Monday at the European Parliament in Brussels, the baseless allegations of the separatists on the southern provinces of the Kingdom, highlighting the development of the Moroccan Sahara at the economic, social, cultural and human rights levels. Invited by MEPs, Moroccan civil society activists informed the European Parliament on the real situation of human rights in the southern provinces and the plural economic development that is taking place in this region, through strategic projects that benefit the whole population. Using figures and supporting evidence, they have laid bare the allegations of separatists instrumentalized by Algeria and the enemies of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom. “We are at the European Parliament to present the real reality on the ground in the southern provinces, whose daily life is marked by sustained economic development and large-scale projects,” said Hanane Essalek, member of the regional office in Laayoune of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), adding that ”all the local population – women and young people in particular – benefits from this development dynamic in an atmosphere of stability and security”. Addressing MEPs, the human rights activist denounced the maneuvers aimed at distorting the reality of human rights in the Moroccan Sahara. “We live in this region, we belong to it and we know the human rights situation better than anyone,” she said, noting that the entire population enjoys all their rights, without exception. Regarding the socio-economic development experienced by the region, thanks in particular to mega infrastructure and renewable energy projects, Ms. Hanane Essalek invited MEPs to visit the southern provinces of the Kingdom to see the reality. For her part, Maghlaha Dlimi, director of the Sahrawi Hassani culture museum in Dakhla, stressed that ”Morocco has made impressive achievements in terms of women’s rights, which are present today in different fields and within economic, social and cultural institutions.” ”While in the Tindouf camps, the populations are deprived of their most basic rights, the southern provinces of the Kingdom live at the pace of continuous development, where large-scale projects have been launched and where the population enjoys all their rights,” she noted. “Because I was in Tindouf, before returning to my homeland, Morocco, I know that rights are violated in the camps”, said the Sahrawi activist, calling on MEPs to ”hear the voice of population of the southern provinces”. “The Polisario does not represent us. Sahrawis value their Moroccanness, because we are historically and geographically Moroccans,” she added, noting that Sahrawis only believe in the solution of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.