Boumerdes Summer University for Sahrawi Cadres: A Platform for Strengthening the Struggle and Rejecting Attempts to Impose a De Facto Reality

By: Dr. Hana Saada

BOUMERDES – The launch of the Summer University for Sahrawi Cadres in the city of Boumerdes marked a significant political and intellectual milestone in the trajectory of the Sahrawi cause, reaffirming the Sahrawi people’s steadfast commitment to their inalienable right to self-determination and their rejection of all attempts and proposed solutions designed to circumvent the substance of the conflict and entrench a policy of fait accompli.

The current session comes amid an exceptionally complex regional and international context, once again underscoring the centrality of the dual political and military struggle, as well as the depth of the principled and unwavering support extended by Algeria to liberation movements and to peoples asserting their right to secure their freedom in accordance with the principles of international legitimacy and the United Nations Charter.

The UN Framework and the Referendum: The Sole Mechanism for a Resolution

Interventions and discussions held throughout the Summer University stressed that the Western Sahara issue remains registered with the United Nations as a decolonisation issue, and that any attempt to remove it from this legal framework constitutes a flagrant breach of international resolutions.

Participants reaffirmed a number of fundamental positions:

The exclusive primacy of the referendum option: The participants stressed that a free and fair referendum on self-determination remains the sole legitimate UN mechanism for resolving the conflict, and that all alternative proposals designed to circumvent this framework—such as the so-called “autonomy plan”—amount to nothing more than illegitimate attempts to legitimise occupation and impose a demographic and political reality rejected by the international system.

The legitimacy of representation: Participants reiterated that the Polisario Front is the legitimate and sole representative of the Sahrawi people recognised by the United Nations and the African Union, and that no party has the right to speak or negotiate on behalf of the Sahrawi people against their freely expressed will.

Confronting Manoeuvres and Demographic Engineering

The proceedings shed light on the methods and tactics employed by the Moroccan occupying authorities to erase the defining features of the Sahrawi question, while drawing attention to the dangers posed by ongoing settlement policies in the occupied territories:

Demographic engineering: Human rights and political warnings were issued over insidious strategies involving displacement and the encouragement of settlement in the southern Sahrawi territories, with the aim of altering the demographic composition and attempting to influence any future UN process concerning the territory.

Diplomatic window-dressing and the plunder of resources: The proceedings exposed the true rationale behind the symbolic opening of diplomatic consulates, while denouncing the “economic occupation” embodied in the continued plunder of Sahrawi natural resources, in flagrant conflict with rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union and international courts.

An All-Front Struggle and Exposing Human Rights Violations

Sahrawi representatives and experts stressed that the struggle for freedom encompasses every available front:

Balancing armed resistance with diplomacy: They reaffirmed the Sahrawi people’s right to armed struggle and the continuation of strikes by the Sahrawi army in response to breaches of the ceasefire agreement, alongside an active presence across European and African media and diplomatic forums.

The detainees and human rights file: They renewed calls for support for Sahrawi political prisoners held in the prisons of the occupying power, while directly calling for the establishment of an independent UN mechanism within the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to monitor and protect human rights in the occupied cities and to lift the media and security blockade imposed upon them.

The Boumerdes Summer University has once again demonstrated that it is far more than a routine annual gathering. It has emerged as a strategic platform for amplifying the voice of the Sahrawi people, confronting the international community and compelling it to assume its moral and legal responsibilities.

The continued attempts by the Makhzen and European actors to marginalise the Sahrawi cause will only strengthen the Sahrawi people’s determination to pursue their struggle and harness the capabilities of their younger generations until they achieve complete independence and establish their independent state across the entirety of their liberated territory.