UN chief, Sahrawi president hold one-to one talks in New York

NEW YORK- United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has received, Friday in New York, Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali, said the Sahrawi Ministry of Information in a statement.

The one-to-one talks, which were broadened to the delegations of the two sides, focused on the UN efforts for the resolution of the conflict between Western Sahara and Morocco, and means to speed up the implementation of the UN-Africa plan for the holding of a referendum on the self-determination of Sahrawi people, said the statement.

Sahrawi president seized this opportunity to reiterate "the commitment of Sahrawi people, under the leadership of their sole legitimate representative, Polisario Front, to recovering their just and legitimate right to freedom and independence."

He also expressed readiness of the Sahrawi side to cooperate with the UN secretary general and his special envoy.

President Ghali called on the UN to "assume its responsibilities in ensuring the respect for international legality and the immediate halt to Morocco's violations of international law and international humanitarian law."

The Sahrawi president also called for the release of all Sahrawi prisoners and put an end to the unfair trials of Gdeim Izik group of prisoners.

"The meeting was constructive and allowed discussing the current situation and future joint action for the achievement of the decolonization process of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa," said Polisario Front's representative to the UN Ahmed Boukhari.

The discussions were attended by M'hamed Khedad, member of Polisario Front National Secretariat and Sahrawi Coordinator with the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Mouloud Saeed, member of the National Secretariat and Polisario Front's representative in Washington and Abdati Abrika, adviser to the Sahrawi Presidency, in addition to Jeffrey Feltman, UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and Maria Luiza Viotti, Chef de cabinet to the UN chief.