Concern over Polisario propaganda

According to Moroccan government spokesman, Nabil Benabdallah, Morocco will face "Polisario propaganda that distorts the facts."

Speaking at a press briefing following the weekly cabinet meeting, Benabdallah said "there is an attempt to organize a folkloric event in the buffer zone, in a bid to give credence to this illusion (of separatists)," underlining that the separatists "mobilized important means, notably the embezzlement of aids that were destined to Moroccan citizens sequestered in Tindouf."

In mid-seventies, the Algeria-backed "Polisario" misled thousands of Sahrawis through propaganda into leaving their homes to Tindouf camps, at the same time waging war on Morocco claiming the separation of the Moroccan southern provinces, known as the Sahara, retrieved by the motherland from Spanish rule in 1975, under the Madrid accords.

Morocco deplores that the buffer zone could be used to give credence to the thesis that a freed or retrieved territory exists, while it is an inhabited buffer zone, Benabdellah noted.

He recalled that in a letter to the UN Secretary General, Morocco had drawn UN attention to buffer zone violation, underlining that "this zone is considered buffer by virtue of the ceasefire agreement and none can use it organize any event."

Earlier this month, Morocco had sent a letter to Kofi Annan, wherein Morocco draws UN attention to the seriousness of the actions, at the buffer strip, of the other parties to the Sahara issue, who "in disregard of international law, are laying ever-greater obstacles in the path of the international community's efforts to reach a negotiated political solution on the Sahara dispute."

The spokesman noted that the tragic situation in Tindouf camps following the latest floods, is “due to the stubbornness of our neighbors and the separatists and to the embezzlement of aids destined to the camps.”

Benabdallah reaffirmed that this situation is due to the stubbornness of the separatists that persist in rejecting the genuine solution to this issue, which offers security and stability to the populations on the Moroccan territory and in the frame of Moroccan sovereignty.

He also voiced compassion to the citizens sequestered in Tindouf camps, underlined that efforts will be carried on to ensure their return to their motherland as soon as possible and to allow the UN HCR to have access to the camps and carry out a census to put an end to any illusion.

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news