EU grants advanced status to Morocco

The European Union has granted Morocco advanced status on deepening ties and cooperation in Rabat yesterday, Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri announced.

Morocco, which has insisted on the inclusion of the Maghreb dimension during the Advanced Status negotiations with the EU, said the Maghreban integration is critical for economic growth and human development.

However, Morocco which has annexed Western Sahara territory since 1976 saw Western Sahara appealing to the EU not to grant Advanced Status to Morocco unless occupied part of Western Sahara is excluded from cooperation agreement.

Minister Fassi Fihri said advanced status of Morocco is expected to be the suitable response to the regional challenges that take place in the Mediterranean shores.

According to national news agency, MAP, Morocco is convinced that the achievement of the Union for the Mediterranean Initiative (UPM) will help build in the Mediterranean a coherent and united geopolitical block, and launch an innovative regional dynamic.

Economist, and former Finance Minister, Fathallah Oualalou said the Advanced Status is a legitimate response to the reforms undertaken by the Kingdom at the political, economic, and social levels, saying the reforms have enabled Morocco to measure up to the international and European norms.

"The Advanced Status represents a starting point towards all the upcoming reforms as well as a new era of cooperation," Mr Oualalou said.

In November Western Sahara issued a petition letter to the EU, saying if the EU would grant Advanced Status to Morocco and its occupation in Western Sahara, it would be a clear indication of its support to Moroccan annexation of the territory.

Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara has been a cause for concern and a feud on its neighbours and the country's main militant group, Polissario which claims to be fighting for its independence from Morocco.

Polisario waged a low-level guerrilla war in Western Sahara from 1975 until 1991, when United Nations brokered a ceasefire. The territory remains divided and many Sahara refugees live in camps in Algeria.

Both Morocco and Polisario are increasingly frustrated about the status quo. Polisario has been promised a referendum over independence since 1991, but Moroccan regime had squashed all hopes of such a solution.

Human Rights Violations in Western Sahara is denounced

The participants to the international conference, held on December 13-14, 2008 in the Spanish city of Malaga, strongly denounced the human rights’ violations committed by the Moroccan State in Western Sahara. The Saharawi population is continuously deprived of most of their basic civil rights, such as the freedom of expression, meeting, association, the freedom of movement and physical integrity, POLISARIO Front’s representative, Bucharaya Beyoun, said in his intervention in the conference. Beyoun, said that these violations are committed in front of the eyes of the international community, which can be considered as a kind of complicity and encouragement to the Moroccan oppressor. The conference of Malaga was organized on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was marked by the participation of many Saharawi human rights activists from the occupied zones. Beyoun highlighted the need to raise awareness amongst the international public opinion of the repression systematically perpetrated by Morocco against the Saharawi people, and said that his people will not give up fighting until the realisation of independence.

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Le Front Polisario estime que la position de Zapatero "éloigne la solution pacifique" du conflit sahraoui

Madrid, Le représentant du Front Polisario en Espagne, Bouchraya Hamoudi Beyoun, a estimé que la position du président du gouvernement espagnol, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, de soutenir le plan marocain dit +d’autonomie+ au Sahara occidental "éloigne la solution pacifique" du conflit.

Dans une déclaration à l’agence espagnole, EFE, le responsable sahraoui a déploré que Zapatero eut apporté un "appui total" à la thèse marocaine contraire au droit à l’autodétermination et à l’indépendance du peuple sahraoui, à l’occasion de la tenue de la 9e réunion de haut niveau hispano-marocaine.

M. Bouchraya a affirmé que la proposition d’autonomie que veut imposer le Maroc "contredit totalement" les résolutions des Nations unies, qui soulignent le droit à l’autodétermination du peuple sahraoui. "Nous n’avons pas lutté pendant 33 ans pour être des Marocains", a-t-il souligné.

.Qualifiant la position de Zapatero d’"alignement claire" en faveur de l’occupation du Sahara occidental, il a affirmé que "ce comportement politique éloigne la solution pacifique (du conflit), nie les aspirations légitimes du peuple sahraoui et mène la région vers un scénario de tension".

Le chef de l’exécutif espagnol, qui s’exprimait, mardi, lors d’une conférence de presse conjointe avec le premier ministre marocain, Abbas El Fassi, au terme des travaux de cette rencontre bilatérale, a appelé les deux parties au conflit, le Front Polisario et le Maroc, à avoir la "capacité de faire des concessions et d’assouplir leur position".

Il la également estimé que le modèle de l’autonomie en Espagne "pourrait être une bonne expérience" pour le Maroc dans son projet de régionalisation, tout en précisant que le conflit du Sahara occidental "exige un accord entre les parties, sous l’égide de l’ONU, où l’Espagne sera toujours un collaborateur actif".