C-24: Dakhla-Oued Eddahab Vice-President Displays Growing Support to Morocco’s Autonomy Plan in Sahara

The vice-president of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, Ghalla Bahiya, underlined, Thursday before the members of the UN Committee of 24 (C24), the growing international support to the legitimacy of Morocco’s rights over its southern provinces and to the autonomy plan as the only solution to the regional dispute over the Moroccan Sahara. Bahiya intervened as the democratically elected representative of the populations of the Moroccan Sahara, at the C24 Pacific region seminar being held in Bali, Indonesia, May 24-26. The elected representative of the Moroccan Sahara, participating in this meeting at the invitation of the C24 President, noted that the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative enjoys growing support from the international community, including 19 UN Security Council resolutions. While more than 58 countries have withdrawn or frozen their recognition of the self-proclaimed fictitious entity, the autonomy plan enjoys the support of more than 100 UN member states, he said, recalling the inauguration of 28 consulates general in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla. She also indicated that the pre-eminence of the Autonomy Initiative as the only realistic, practical and sustainable solution to this regional dispute is a reality, noting that this solution will not only bring stability to the region, but will also have a significant impact on the socio-economic development of the people of the Moroccan Sahara. Under the impetus of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Morocco has been engaged, since 2007, in a positive and constructive dynamic, to resolve this regional dispute through the autonomy initiative, and this within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom and its national unity, Bahiya said. On the other hand, she pointed out that, since June 2022, the Moroccan Sahara has hosted international investment forums with Spain, the United States and Poland, as well as twinning signing ceremonies with Italian and American cities, in addition to the opening of the Moroccan-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. In the same vein, she recalled the holding, in this part of the Kingdom, of joint commissions, in particular with the Union of the Comoros and Sierra Leone, adding that these commissions contribute to the strengthening of cooperation and the promotion of sustainable development in various sectors in Africa and underline the international recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara. These large-scale meetings also confirm that the Moroccan Sahara has become a continental pole of socio-economic development in Africa, she said. Regarding the dynamics of comprehensive development in the southern provinces, Bahiya highlighted the progress made in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In line with the instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan Sahara is living at the pace of remarkable development that has enabled its people to live in peace, freedom, prosperity and the achievement of the SDGs, she noted, welcoming the Kingdom’s strategy in its southern provinces and its accelerated convergence towards the Sustainable Development Goals. This strategy has also played a crucial role, she said, in the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, as it is a model of solidarity and a driver of local, regional and continental development, as evidenced by numerous reports of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council and the General Assembly, she added.