Bir Lehlou, 30 March 2015

Mr. Ban Ki Moon

Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York,

Mr. Secretary General,

As you prepare your report about Western Sahara, to be submitted to the UN Security
Council meeting next April, and following the visits of your Personal Envoy for
Western Sahara Christopher Ross this year to the region, we would like to urgently draw
your attention to the following:
In your last report to the Security Council, dated April 2014, you presented the parties to
the conflict and the rest of the world with a comprehensive overview of the legal and
political status of the Western Sahara, and the progress of the United Nations efforts
with a commitment to make the April 2015 a deadline to review and reevaluate the
situation in order to determine a new approach to overcome the current impasse.
However, instead of achieving the necessary advancement towards ending this
prolonged conflict, in a way that would preserve the United Nations prestige and
credibility, the Kingdom of Morocco chose to persist in its intransigence and disruptive
policies. It insisted on refusing to meet your Personal Envoy and prevented your Special
Representative from assuming her duties thus putting United Nations efforts at a
standstill for nearly 10 months, compounding the almost 24 years of suffering of the
Saharawi people who have been waiting for the United Nations to fulfill its commitment
of organizing a referendum on self-determination
In this context, the Moroccan kings speech on 6 November 2014 on the 39 th
anniversary of his countrys occupation of Western Sahara was a message to the United
Nations and international community. Using the language of rejection, intransigence,
threats, intimidation and disdain, it declared a new wave of violations of International
law and International Humanitarian Law by the Moroccan State in Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front reiterates its strong condemnation of the delay caused by this
Moroccan position of continuous procrastinating in reaching a solution to the conflict,
and re-affirms the responsibility of the United Nations to address this deliberate
obstruction and defiance.
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We urge you take practical tangible measures against Morocco that needs to be held
accountable. It would be an incomprehensible and unjustified irony if instead of the
necessary punishment against this party that has stalled any agreement, they are
rewarded for their intransigence through abandoning the fundamental elements for
ending the conflict, in particular, decolonization, the right to self-determination, the
protection of human rights and ending the plundering of natural resources in a non-selfgoverning territory, in accordance with article 73 Chapter XI of the UN charter.
In this regard, we express our grave concern over the strange interpretation by Morocco
to your telephone call with the King of Morocco, which gives the impression that in
preparing your report, you will not confront any issue that could even remotely
provoke the Moroccan occupying power, even if such a situation would flagrantly
contradict the nature of the conflict and the Charter of the United Nations.
The Polisario Front would like to affirm that any such move would threaten to destroy
the whole process, and the Polisario will not accept it since it would only solidify the
impasse with all its risks. It would also reward and encourage the intransigent party who
has hampered and continues to hamper all efforts aimed at the implementation of
international resolutions on Western Sahara, in spite of arduous international efforts and
thirteen rounds of negotiations.
The Polisario Front also stresses that the current situation, which has dangerous
repercussions, along with the worrisome developments in the region and in the world,
requires that the United Nations assume its full responsibility and take urgent measures
to save the process by clearly emphasizing the nature of the conflict and its legal
framework. It also needs to compel the intransigent party to comply with the
international resolutions and to contribute seriously to reaching a just and definitive
solution that guarantees the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.
We call on you to stop the gross violations of the rights of the Sahrawi people,
committed by the Moroccan occupying power. In this regard, we also call on you to
ensure the release of Saharawi political prisoners, primarily the detainees of Gdim Izik
who were victims of a military trial; to remove the occupation wall; to end the
plundering of Sahrawi natural resources; and to establish a UN mechanism capable of
protecting, monitoring and reporting on human rights in Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front highlights that the Organization of African Unity / African Union is
the United Nations partner in the OAU/UN Settlement Plan. Accordingly, it is not
logical to ignore this organizations position on the last decolonization issues in the
continent, especially since the African Union is the main partner of the United Nations
in all the conflicts facing the continent today.
The Polisario Front, who has always been and who will continue to be ready to
cooperate seriously and constructively with the United Nations for the decolonization of
Western Sahara cannot in any way, now or in the future, be a party to any solution that
fails to respect the core legal premise that frames the conflict. The Polisario Front
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emphasizes that the mandate of MINURSO is unequivocally specified in its name and
its role cannot be limited to monitoring the cease-fire, as that is only one step in a
process that should end with the implementation of MINURSOs main mandate,
namely, organizing a referendum for the Saharawi people to exercise their right to selfdetermination.
I kindly request you to convey the content of our message to the distinguished members
of the Security Council.
Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration and
appreciation.

Mohamed Abdelaziz
Secretary General of the Polisario Front