Western Sahara: Morocco‘s absence from AU Peace, Security Council, a “failure for first test”

ALGIERS- The ambassador of the Sahrawi Democratic Republic (SADR) to Algeria, Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoune called on the African Union (AU) to invest more in the resolution of the Sahrawi cause, considering that Morocco’s absence from the meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council is “a failure for a first test” following its accession to the African Union.

“The United Nations has still not been able to find a just solution to the Sahrawi conflict, which has been going on for 40 years,” said Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoune in a press conference organized by the Sahrawi Commission on Human rights.

“The Sahrawi authorities are ready to negotiate again with the Moroccan occupier to get the Sahrawi conflict out of the impasse,” he added. A situation which led the Sahrawi leaders to demand an acceleration of Western Sahara’s decolonization process, said the ambassador.

Bayoune said that the UN Security Council is responsible for the Human Rights violations in Western Sahara and the despoilment of its natural resources because of France’s right of veto that prevents any resolution of the conflict in order to protect its own interests and those of Morocco.

According to the ambassador, the Sahrawi authorities consider that the Sahrawi cause is now an “African” rather than a UN one, which requires an increased involvement of the African Union in the resolution of the conflict.

Considering Morocco’s absence from the AU Peace and Security Council, Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoune said that it is a “failure” for its first test following its accession to the Pan-African organization, and that is shows its unavailability to cooperate for the resolution of the conflict out of fear of the pressures that the AU could apply.