Ban Ki-moon: “Sahrawi People Feels That World Forgot Them”

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he wanted to be a witness to one of the largest humanitarian tragedies in this century and that have become forgotten.

“The situation is no longer acceptable. We have concerns over the increase in criminal activity and drugs, and the access of terrorists and extremists. Resolving the issue of the Sahara must lead to self-determination.”

Ban Ki-moon draws a “miserable” situation about the Saharawi people’s living conditions, both in the human or political sides, which is reflected in the chants against him and the UN, during his arrival to the Samara refugee camp, on Saturday, as Sahrawi people were lifting banners which read; “Shame on you … shame on the United Nations….No alternative to self-determination”, and other images of the victims of the Moroccan criminality.

Ban Ki-meen was expected to visit an elementary school, and meet a number of Sahrawi youth, but he was forced to cancel two activities, as a result of the large number of Sahrawi youths who surrounded his car , and it was decided to leave the place to Rabouni camp, amid large crowds of Sahrawi citizens.

Polisario leadership described this reaction as specific due to the delay of the political process, freezing the negotiations, not setting a date for the referendum, the continuing plunder of wealth, and the lack of human rights monitoring mechanism for the MINURSO, which was done by the coordinator of the Polisario with the United Nations, Mohammed Khadad.

For his part, Ban Ki-moon said, in a press conference, at the headquarters of the Sahrawi presidency, about the incident; “It made me sad to see the anger of many people. They spent 40 years in harsh conditions, and felt that the world has forgotten them and forgot about their cause, and this is very understandable.”

First man in the United Nations presented as a general diagnosis of the situation, in two sides, the first addressed the issues in their political character, and the second in the human part, he said; “Conflicting parties have not achieved any progress to achieve a permanent, fair and acceptable solution to both sides”, and the two sides are the Polisario Front and Morocco, although the latter is trying to involve Algeria and considered it a party to the conflict, which was confined by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the two parties only.

Ban Ki-moon gave clear signs that the solution to the crisis of the Western Sahara, is self-determination, which is opposed by Morocco which tries to impose its agenda which is autonomy.

“The solution should lead to self-determination, and that is the solution of the Security Council since 2004.” 

Third conviction in the words of Ban Ki-moon against Morocco, is his warning of the increasing phenomenon of drug trafficking, and it is clear that the United Nations’ reports and all the international reports confirm that the Kingdom of Morocco is the first source of Cannabis in the world.

When referring to the humanitarian side, Ban Ki-moon said; “I will be a witness to the humanitarian tragedies. I see families which ties were cut. I would like to draw the world’s attention to this tragedy, and this situation is unacceptable”.

In another subject he asserted; “Humanitarian situation is not separated from the political process”, and he called upon the international community to provide support to the Saharawi people, which was described as the forgotten people.