Western Sahara: Sidati calls on EU to ensure respect for international law, implement CJEU decision

BRUSSELS-Sahrawi Deputy Minister for Europe Mohamed Sidati called on Wednesday in Brussels the European Union (EU) to "ensure" respect for international law and "implement" the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which concluded that he agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco, signed in 2012, on the mutual liberalization of the trade of agricultural and fishing products can’t apply to the territory of Western Sahara.

"We must ascertain that the EU will follow and implement the decision of the CJEU and respect the international law," Sidati told APS, expressing "the hope that" the member states of the EU "will henceforth ensure that international law in Western Sahara will not be infringed by minority entities within the EU."

Referring to "various proofs" of the presence of EU companies in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, Sidali called on the EU "to draw conclusions" and take the necessary measures so that these companies comply with the international legality.

He stressed that the EU-Morocco fishing agreement, which has already been submitted to the European Court, "must be combated," highlighting the determination of the Sahrawi people to struggle "until justice is served."

The Sahrawi minister, who dubbed the CJEU decision "a political one", said that the decision "is a call to order" to exclude the Sahrawi territories from any negotiation or agreement with Morocco.