The peaceful demonstrators, come to the Hague from other Dutch towns, France, Belgium, Italy and Germany, upheld Moroccan flags and portrait of King Mohammed VI and chanted slogans reiterating attachment to the Moroccan Sahara.
The Algeria-backed "Polisario", claiming the separation of the Moroccan southern provinces, known as the Sahara, retrieved from Spanish rule in 1975, had lured thousands of Sahrawis into the Tindouf camps and has been preventing them since then from returning to Morocco.
Organizers of the Hague protest said they wanted to alert the international public opinion on the dangers of the escalation of tension lately in the buffer strip of the Sahara because of the so-called celebration of the anniversary of the fake Sahrawi Republic. They pointed out the celebration was a new provocation to the Moroccan people and blatant of international law.
At the end of the demonstration, a delegation of the protestors handed to the Algerian embassy letters calling on Algeria to put an end to its interference in the Sahara and allow the Moroccan sequestrated in Tindouf camps go home.
On the Sahara issue, Paulo Mindo, former Portuguese Health Minister, said the Moroccan territory was never a Terra Nullius and has always been under Moroccan sovereignty.
In a research titled « Morocco and the ‘Polisario Front’, ran by the daily "Primeiro de Janeiro", on Thursday and Friday, the expert on Moroccan-Portuguese relations, said the Moroccan stance never recognized any other sovereignty over the Sahara, giving evidence to this end of numerous Moroccan actions after the Berlin Conference decision, notably the upheaval of Cheikh Maa El Ainin in the southern provinces.
The Berlin decision gave the Moroccan southern provinces to Spain, which administered the territory since the conference till the retrieval of the Sahara by Morocco in 1975.
The division of the Moroccan territory goes back to 1885, when European colonial powers convened in the German capital city deciding the division of African territories they said at the time were Terra Nullius, the expert said adding from that division were born the present borders.
The arbitrary act has created big sovereignty problems devastating Africa, he said adding the late King Mohammed V, after the independence of Morocco, had vowed to take back all Moroccan territories thus divided. The action was pursued by the late King Hassan II.
The Sovereigns actions helped retrieve the Moroccan territories under Spanish rule in the north of the countries as of 1956, and those of Tarfaya and Sidi Ifni in the south later on and lastly the southern provinces in 1975.
The Sahara issue was discussed at a meeting held in Santiago on Saturday between Moroccan Premier, Driss Jettou, and Colombian vice-president, Francisco Santos, who affirmed his country has always respected the sovereignty of countries, multilateral institutions and international law.
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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