An Analytical Paper To Pressure The Makhzen To Impose A Referendum In Western Sahara

An analytical paper prepared by the studies department of the Sahraoui website “Sumoud” highlighted that Morocco’s attempt to establish the status quo in Western Sahara and block the activation of the Troika and reject the decisions of the African Union will strengthen the Union’s position and push it to assume its responsibility to impose the organization of the referendum, just as South Africa did when it granted Morocco 10 years time limit to review its position, otherwise it will decide to recognize the SADR, which was actually embodied in 2004.

The paper emphasized that the African Union possesses, through its founding charter, which Morocco ratified after joining the African organization, important pressure papers that may contribute to accelerating efforts to solve the Western Sahara issue. The Constitutive Act obliges the African Union to defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of member state and their territorial integrity and independence, and it allows intervention in a member state under dangerous conditions such as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, and it also guarantees the Union’s intervention to establish peace and security.

The paper indicated that all indications indicate that the demand to organize the referendum in Western Sahara remains among the main agendas for the work of the African Union in the coming years, especially after the involvement of Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, and the Southern African Development Community (SADAC) in supporting this approach, and that the African position is supported by effective forces, such as China, Russia and Germany, which have expressed their willingness to mobilize support for any proposals presented by the African Union to push the peace process in Western Sahara forward.

The analytical paper highlighted that the steps were taken by the government of the SADR to transfer sovereign institutions to the liberated Saharan lands in view of the opening of embassies and diplomatic representations for the countries that recognize the SADR, and the possibility of hosting official meetings of the African Union, which will mix up Morocco’s papers and put it in a critical position, either it chooses to continue to stick to its position of rejecting the application of international legitimacy, and thus pushing the African Union to impose the organization of the referendum or to accept the new situation, with its repercussions that may plague its thesis, and put its credibility in front of Moroccan public opinion to the test.

The paper concluded that the African Union has succeeded in regaining the initiative on the Western Sahara issue, through its stance that clings to international legitimacy, and the settlement plan that represents the appropriate solution to complete the course of decolonization from Western Sahara. The strength of the African position was evident in the important and decisive decisions that contributed to re-discussion of the referendum file and pushed Morocco to recognize the SADR and to sit with it side by side within the African Union.