Omar Hilale attributes the political authorship of this proposal to share the Sahara to Algeria. “Neither the former personal envoy, James Baker, nor the current one, Staffan de Mistura, were the originators of this idea of partition. They were only messengers from Algeria,” declared the Moroccan diplomat during a press briefing held following the adoption by the Security Council of the resolution on the Sahara.
Morocco’s representative to the UN recalled that this proposal was first presented by former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on November 2, 2001, during his meeting with James Baker in Houston. It was then mentioned by the former Algerian permanent representative in New York, Abdellah Baali, in his letter to the President of the Security Council of July 22, 2002, before being put back on the table, during De Mistura’s visit to Algiers at the beginning of the year, continued Omar Hilale.
Read: Sahara: Omar Hilale denounces the obsession with Algeria
Algeria uses the partition of the Sahara as “a usual outlet for its diplomatic setbacks”, insisted the Moroccan ambassador, referring to the pressures Algeria is under from the Security Council to return to the round table, as well as the recognition of the Moroccan character of the Sahara by the United States and France, and the support of EU member countries for the Moroccan autonomy plan, without forgetting the opening of around thirty consulates in Laâyoune and Dakhla , in the Moroccan Sahara.
Omar Hilale reiterated Morocco’s clear and firm position in relation to this Algerian proposal, affirmed by Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and its territorial integrity have never been on the negotiating table “. The Algerian diplomat recalled that the oath of loyalty made by Moroccans at the Green March before King Hassan II is proof of the allegiance of the Sahrawi tribes to the Moroccan sovereigns. The blood of the Royal Armed Forces shed for the defense and preservation of the Sahara will not be in vain, he concluded, rejecting the idea of a partition of the Sahara.
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