Western Sahara: Ghali Exposes Morocco’s Colonial Crimes, Reaffirms the UN-AU Settlement Plan as the Sole Path to Decolonization

Western Sahara: Ghali Exposes Morocco’s Colonial Crimes, Reaffirms the UN-AU Settlement Plan as the Sole Path to Decolonization

✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada

Algiers, Algeria | Brahim Ghali, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, has once again placed the Western Sahara issue at the heart of the international conscience, laying bare Morocco’s persistent colonial crimes and reaffirming that the joint United Nations–African Union (UN-AU) Settlement Plan remains the only mutually agreed framework to achieve the decolonization of Africa’s last colony.

In a forceful message addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Ghali underscored the international and legal character of the Western Sahara question, stressing that it remains firmly inscribed on the UN’s decolonization agenda. He denounced Morocco’s invasion of Western Sahara, which began on October 31, 1975, as a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and a crime against the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence.

Systematic violations and crimes against humanity

Ghali decried the “systematic and flagrant violations” of the Sahrawi people’s political, social, economic, and cultural rights under Moroccan military occupation. From arbitrary arrests to racial discrimination, from the dispossession of Sahrawi lands to the plundering of natural resources in collusion with foreign entities, the Moroccan regime has entrenched an apartheid-like system designed to uproot and impoverish the Sahrawi nation.

Particularly alarming is the fate of Sahrawi political prisoners, including the Gdeim Izik group, who remain subjected to degrading treatment, denial of medical care, and punitive isolation in Moroccan prisons. Ghali demanded their “immediate and unconditional release,” denouncing Rabat’s policy of silencing dissent through cruelty and repression.

EU rulings expose Morocco’s illegality

The Sahrawi leader also recalled the landmark rulings of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on October 4, 2024, which reaffirmed the “separate and distinct status” of Western Sahara and invalidated EU-Morocco agreements that unlawfully included the occupied territory. These rulings dismantled Morocco’s false claims of sovereignty and exposed the complicity of external actors in looting Sahrawi resources in defiance of international law.

Crimes of war and a blackout of truth

Since Morocco’s breach of the 1991 ceasefire on November 13, 2020, Ghali accused Rabat of waging war against Sahrawi civilians through indiscriminate attacks, including the use of drones, acts that amount to war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Coupled with a military siege and a total media blackout, Morocco seeks to bury its atrocities under silence—blocking UN rapporteurs, international NGOs, and independent media from accessing the occupied territory.

Polisario’s unwavering commitment to peace

Despite the Moroccan regime’s intransigence, Ghali reiterated the Polisario Front’s readiness to engage in “direct, serious, credible, and good-faith negotiations without preconditions” to achieve a peaceful, just, and durable solution that ends Morocco’s colonial occupation. He stressed that the UN-AU Settlement Plan of 1988, unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council, is the only viable framework for decolonization and self-determination in Western Sahara.

With Morocco persisting in its crimes of colonization, apartheid, and resource plunder, Ghali’s call is both a reminder and a warning: the Sahrawi people will not surrender their right to freedom, and the international community must confront the reality that Morocco’s continued occupation is a crime against international law and against humanity itself.

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