“THIS DAY, 9 DECEMBER 2015, AS WE JOIN THE WORLD IN COMMEMORATING THE INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION DAY, THE YOUTHS OF THE AMILCAR CABRAL IDEOLOGICAL SCHOOL (ACIS) CALL ON THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION TO DESIST FROM ITS HYPOCRITICAL STANCE AND CHARGE THE OPPRESSIVE MOROCCAN GOVERNMENT TO, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY, STOP ITS CONTINUOUS OCCUPATION OF THE WESTERN SAHARA BY RESPECTING THE INALIENABLE RIGHT OF THE WESTERN SAHARAWIS TO SELF-DETERMINATION!!!” ~ ACIS’ Youths Coordinator
The notion of self-determination connotes a defense of the fundamental right of a people to self-government; the right to choose either separation or unity with neither force nor coercion by anyone. This inalienable right is however protected under Article 1. (2) of the United Nations’ Charter, which states that, it is one of the purposes of the United Nations to:
‘. . . develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace’’.
Furthermore, the UN Charter implicitly refers to the principle of self-determination in the part concerning colonies and other dependent territories. Article 73. of the United Nations’ Charter affirms that: [m]embers of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the administration of territories whose peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self- government recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories are paramount, and accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote to the utmost, within the system of international peace and security established by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories. But however, insofar as the oppressed peoples of the Western Sahara and the youths across the world are concern, Morocco has not only defaulted on the well-being of the Saharawis, but has also forged before them a blighted future.
Thus, as youths of the Amilcar Cabral Ideological School, nurtured in the spirits of internationalism and dedicated to the cause of total liberation of the oppressed people across the world, we must remind the youths’ organizations across the world, in particular, and humanity, in general, that since 1975, as against the above provision of the United Nations’ Charter, the Moroccan government has continue to forcefully occupy the territories of the peoples of Western Sahara. All attempts by our resilient brothers and sisters in that region to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination have been, and still being clashed with hostility.
We recall how the oppressive forces of Morocco ruthlessly attacked and razed to the ground the Gdim Izik protest camp on November 8, 2010, killing innocent Sahrawis – a camp where the oppressed Western Sahrawis sought refuge from the brutalisation of Morocco. The camp, which was setup outside the city of El Aayiún in the Western Sahara, was purposed to cater for series of social demands as houses, jobs, etc. etc., and most pertinently to voice out for their right to self-determination, and demanding the use of the Western Sahara resources by the Western Sahrawi. Up to 20,000 people lived in the camp when it was destroyed by Moroccan forces. So far, human rights’ activists, youths, students, workers, children and women fighting for the liberation of Western Sahara have been subjected to torture, brutality, kidnappings and incarceration in the hands of the Moroccan forces, while many have been miserably butchered.
For us in ACIS’ Youths, we will never forget the tyrannical arrest and placing before a military tribunal of seven human rights activists whose prime offence was simply the demand for the right to the self-determination of the Western Sahrawi. Nor will we forget our valiant Aminatou Haidar – that inspiring Sahrawian lioness who was clampdown for participating in a protest, roped for incitement and belonging to an unauthorized association, and then casted into El Aaiún’s Black Prison. That resilient warrior who went on hunger strike from 8 August to 29 September to demand an investigation into torture allegations by fellow Saharawi detainees, Houssein Lidri and Brahim Noumria!
INTERVENTIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS, SO FAR
We are well informed on the United Nations’ restrained exertions to adverse the violations of the Western Sahrawi and the exploration and exploitation of their natural resources by Morocco. We recall that in 1960, the UN General Assembly [GA] passed Resolution 1514 (XV) – the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. According to that resolution:
“Immediate steps shall be taken, in trust and Non-Self- Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire…in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.”
Also, in that same year – 1960 – the UN GA passed Resolution 1541 (XV) – where colonizing powers were instructed to allow for self-government in their colonies either through the creation of an independent state, autonomy under an existing independent state, or full integration with another state, according to the will of the colonized population. Meanwhile, three years after the adoptions of Resolution 1514 (XV) and Resolution 1541 (XV), the UN Special Committee on Decolonization declared the Western Sahara to be a non-self-governing territory. This declaration, in our view, therefore dialectically, causes the provisions of Resolutions 1514 (XV) and 1541 (XV) applicable to the decolonization of the Western Sahara. Hence, it is despicably regrettable to the Youths and to the world in general, that as we speak, Morocco, with the confidence of an elephant amidst rats, continues to blatantly contempt these resolutions.
Besides the adoptions of Resolution 1514 (XV) and Resolution 1541 (XV), we must also remind the Youths’ organizations throughout the world that in October 1975, the case of the Western Sahara was placed before the International Court of Justice [ICJ] for an advisory opinion on its status and Moroccan claims of sovereignty over the territory. The Court however held that:
“the materials and information presented to it do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity. Thus the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the application of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization of Western Sahara and, in particular, of the principle of self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of the peoples of the Territory.”
Despite this clear conclusion, the Moroccans and Mauritanians continued to claim sovereignty over the Western Sahara. In November 1975, a month after the pronouncement of the ICJ, the Maximum tyrant, Hassan II of Morocco decreed a “Green March” of over 300,000 Moroccans into the territory. Spain backed down and negotiated a settlement named Madrid Agreement with Morocco and Mauritania. And in August 1978, a month after a coup, a new Mauritanian government signed a peace deal with the Polisario Front and honourably renounced all territorial claims. On the contrary, Morocco forsook the path of honour, scorned renouncement, bowed to the dictate of its imperialist lords, stretching its occupation into the areas renounced by Mauritania – a tyranny that, for the first time, led Polisario into a guerrilla war against Moroccan forces until 1991.
IMPERIALISM, THE SUSTAINER OF MOROCCAN ONSLAUGHTS AGAINST THE WESTERN SAHARAWIS
The question that perhaps would have been pounding within some hearts is: how has Morocco, for over three decades, continued to sustain its gross contempt against the world?
The continuous illegal occupation of the Western Sahara and plundering of its resources, the ongoing brutalisation of the Western Sahrawi, the persistent contempt of Article 1 (2) of the United Nations’ Charter, and Resolution 1514 (XV) and Resolution 1541 (XV) by the Moroccans is indebted to the ardent backings of the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union with one and only one purpose: to explore and exploit the natural resources of the Western Sahrawi!
The Western Sahara is home to the world’s second largest phosphate deposits. As a critical component in mass-produced fertilizer, phosphate is becoming increasingly important as global food shortages persist. Unfortunately, Morocco continues to exploit and export Western Sahrawian phosphate, while the United States is the largest importer of the stolen phosphate. The Western Sahara’s second most profitable natural resource is its coastal fishing waters – some of the richest on the African continent. Meanwhile, on December 10, 2013, the EUROPEAN UNION approved a deal with Morocco that permitted EU fishermen to enter the waters of Western Sahara. Just days before, in the northern city of Laayoune in Western Sahara, while the Polisario Front tried to halt the fisheries agreements being signed, a heavily armed Moroccan police violently clamped down on peaceful protesters demonstrating against the EU trade deal. An Irish/UK company named San Leon Energy plans to drill for oil in Western Sahara. The company announced a few weeks ago that it plans to drill for oil in “Morocco” this August. But on the contrary, the drill site is located outside of Morocco’s borders, around 14 kilometers north of El Aaiun, in the territory of Western Sahara that Morocco has illegally occupied since 1975.
We therefore ask: is it not a contradiction that the European countries and the United States who are members of an organization (United Nations) that doesn’t recognize Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara, continues to conspire with Morocco to exploit the resources of Western Sahara? Nor an hypocrisy that Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of a State (US) that perpetually conspire with Morocco to exploit Western Sahrawian phosphate, sought to break the impasse during a visit to North Africa in September 2008?
THE ROLE OF THE YOUTH IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SELF-DETERMINATION OF A PEOPLE
In the light of the aforesaid, it is clear enough that the unrepentant Morocco is getting away with murders and crimes against humanity simply because it has the backings of the United States and the European Union. At this historic epoch, when the freedom of the world is threatened by a few, the youths cannot afford to embrace muteness. Our silence is suicidal. As ACIS’ Youths, we therefore condemn in strong term the EU – Morocco Fisheries Agreement. And in same measure, we place reprobation on the exploitation of the Western Saharawis’ phosphate by the United States.
We implore all youths’ organizations to stand in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Western Sahara, while we also charge all youths’ organizations to join us as we are calling on the European Union, and the United Kingdom, the United States and every other UN Member States and their companies to adhere to their international obligations and refrain from investing or exploring or exploiting Western Sahara’s resources through deals with Morocco. As youths, we must prioritize and intensify campaigns geared toward the liberation of the Western Saharawis from these unceasing onslaughts of the unconscionable Moroccan regime.
The youth is to the world what an axe is to the shackle. As the travails of the peoples of Western Sahara continue, we owe an inviolable duty to unite the working people, students’ activists, social movements, and all African and international civil societies to chart a more radical approach in our solidarity with the Western Saharawis by waging massive struggles, demanding economic and political penalization against Morocco, shutting down its diplomatic missions across African until a referendum towards the self-determination and independence of our brothers and sisters in the Western Sahara region is reached.
In this struggle for a free and humane world, the students cannot be ostracized. History stares us all in the face. It is dangerous to sit in lecture theaters while a people are turned into a scourge against humanity. We must consider calling for a worldwide campaign and boycotts of lectures. We must be prepared to die on the barricades for our brothers and sisters than to cower before canisters, teargases and riffles. If the world will sit idle and watch our brothers and sisters languish in the prisons of Morocco, we will stand up to tell the world that there are over five billion youths across the world that are prepared to languish with the Saharawis in detentions. We must take the freedom struggle into every corner of the world without exception. To every nook and cranny, we must spread the struggle.
Our ultimate end must be the liberation of all oppressed people across the world, while our sacred responsibility is the everlasting struggle against imperialism anytime and anywhere. The freedom of a people to forbid another people of their freedom is a threat to all freed peoples’ freedom!
At this juncture, we would like to end by reiterating that the European Union, and the United Kingdom, the United States and every other UN Member States and their companies should adhere to their international obligations and refrain from investing or exploring or exploiting Western Sahara’s resources through deals with Morocco. And we call on the UN Security Council and the AU Peace and Security Council to, as a matter of exigency, fulfill their responsibilities and throng pressures on Morocco to ensure the immediate cessation of the illegal exploration and exploitation of Western Sahara natural resources and that a referendum be unconditionally organized to protect the inalienable right of the peoples of the Western Sahara to self-determination, as provided in Article one (2) of the United Nations’ Charter. We are not free until all humans are free!
Comrade Patrick Oseriemen, Sankara
(ACIS’ YOUTHS COORDINATOR), Nigeria
Share this
