by Jean-Jacques Cornish
Morocco and its supporters face a particularly torrid time when the United Nations General Assembly to his week turns to the 17 colonies before the world organisation waiting to shake off occupiers and gain self-rule.
The absolute monarchy in Rabat goes into the fourth committee of UNGA, which deals with decolonization issues, days after the highest European court ruled that it has for years been selling stolen goods from the Western Sahara it has been illegally occupying for 49 years.
The European Court of Justice, Europe’s apex judicial body, has ruled that:
§ Morocco and Western Sahara are two separate and distinct countries;
§ Morocco has no legal claim to Western Sahara, the Spanish colony abandoned by Spain after the death of dictator Francisco Franco;
§ Polisario Front, the Saharawi liberation movement, is the authentic representative of the Saharawi people; and
§All agreements Morocco has entered into with other clients buying Western Sahara property and the products from its land and sea resources are null and void.
The ECJ ruling is the climax of eight years of litigation and cannot be appealed.
Morocco has taken the place of its erstwhile ally apartheid South Africa as the bad guy at the UN, by using the undercover backing it has from a permanent member of the Security Council to flagrantly disregard the rulings of the world organisation ordering it to stop exploiting the resources and end its cruel occupation of Western Sahara.
It is not expected to change tack.
However the European members that have of late shown overt support for Morocco’s attempt to legitimize its illegal occupation will not be able to ignore the ruling of the ECJ.
These are France, Spain and Denmark that are all on the record at the UN as condemning Morocco’s illegal occupation.
Morocco cannot avoid the economic implications of the ECJ ruling.
It’s attempt to sell prime beachfront properties along the 1400 kms of Western Sahara coast, phosphates and agricultural property from the Saharawi land it illegally occupies and lucrative fishing rights to Saharawi waters have now been finally and indubitably declared illegal.
Morocco might rail against this at the UNGA decolonisation committee hearings that run this week.
An unprecedented 250 petitioners have been approved for these hearings, 150 of these to speak on Western Sahara
However the ruling of the European apex court is final.
The road to a settlement in Western Sahara once again runs along plans for a referendum of the country’s people on self determination.
Morocco agreed to such a plebiscite in 1991 when it sought to end the exhausting 11-year war with Polisario following the occupation.
Once the treaty was signed, it quickly reneged on this undertaking.
Its proposal to maintain overall autonomy of the country with certain rights being granted to the Saharawi people has also been buried in the desert sand by the ECJ ruling that its actions are “breaching the right of the people of Western Sahara to self determination.”
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