Brussels, 02/12/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 1 December in Brussels, the foreign affairs committee of the European Parliament organised a hearing on the Western Sahara. It also organised a separate hearing for Mohamed Salem Ouldsalek, the Polisario Front external relations official (Sahrawi movement) and Fassi-Fihri, the Moroccan minister for foreign affairs and cooperation. These two meetings were programmed following recent incidents in this area. The former consider this as an occupied area, whilst Morocco considers it as its “southern province”. During its most recent plenary session, the European Parliament gave its opinion through a resolution (EUROPE 10265), which was rejected by Morocco. The country's foreign minister described this resolution as “unfair and imbalanced”, which “does not take into account a certain number of facts”.
On Wednesday, the foreign affairs committee referred to the opinion given in the plenary committee and explained that “human rights monitoring is necessary”. José Ignacio Salafranca MEP (EPP, Spain) suggested that the UN mandate over the Sahara should now incorporate monitoring of these rights and Ioannis Kasoulides (EPP, Cyprus) proposed that an independent mission take charge of a “monitoring” initiative of this kind. Pier Antonio Panzeri (S&D, Italy), who is both the president of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the Maghreb and the UMA, proposed sending the European Parliament delegation to Laayoune (Ed: the capital of this territory). He explained: “We want an open dialogue with Morocco because it is an important partner for the EU”.
The Polisario representative declared that “the situation has reached a point of no return”. He explained that this situation required change, if a strategy were to be found to move on from the current status quo and the efforts of the UN, which were stalling. He also described the Western Sahara as “the last colony in Africa”. He affirmed the necessity of a “process for self-determination” by way of a referendum, such as those organised in East Timor and Namibia. Following the debates, he also confirmed that he was concerned about “the waters of the Western Sahara in the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco”, which is due to be renewed in February 2011 and which requires assent from Parliament. He affirmed that “Morocco does not have any legal basis for using these waters”. In this connection, he was also supported by Raül Romeva i Rueda (Greens/ EFA, Spain). The Moroccan minister for foreign affairs, however, explained that in this poor and disputed territory, fishing should be able to “prosper through public and private investment”, channelled through his country.
In his speech, Fassi-Fihri denied affirmations made during the exchange of views (with Ana Gomes MEP, Portuguese Socialist) that “European intelligence reports estimate that between 500 and 600 people died” during the dismantling of the Gdaim Izik camp. He said that the camp had been dismantled in a perfectly peaceful way. He also stated that “a referendum is not a panacea” and “self-determination must be found through political negotiations”. He warned that “Morocco must be part of the solution to this question”. (F.B./transl.fl)