Ould Salek calls UN to set date for self-determination referendum

CHAHID EL HAFED (Sahrawi refugee camps)- Sahrawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Salem Ould Salek called on the United Nations to set a date for the referendum on the self-determination of Sahrawi people in order to definitively end the Moroccan colonization.

"The Sahrawi government will ask the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, to set a date for the referendum on Sahrawi people's self-determination with a view to ending the 40-year Moroccan colonization," said Ould Salek in a statement to APS.

The Sahrawi Foreign minister said that this request will be made at the African Union Summit, which will take place in South Africa in June, adding that the Sahrawi authorities "are ready to hold this referendum at any time."

"Morocco has continuously hindered the holding of the UN referendum," said Ould Salek, adding that "it tries to gain time and give some legitimacy to its colonization."

he also denounced "the double standard policy of France, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council: it intervenes in some regions to impose the respect of human rights, while in Western Sahara, it supports the Moroccan occupier which is violating these rights.

The Sahrawi Foreign minister also called to extend the mandate of the UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to include human rights monitoring in the occupied Sahrawi territories.

Ould Salek underlined that the Sahrawi people after 40 years of struggle "remain determined to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination and to regain their independency, in accordance with the UN resolutions," adding that Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, is recognized by 84 countries in the world.