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Western Sahara Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek on Monday called for a UN seat for the disputed territory and accused France and Spain of obstructing a referendum on self-determination.
The statute of Western Sahara, which the United Nations qualifies as a “non-autonomous territory”, has opposed Morocco for decades to the separatist Polisario Front.
“The Saharawi state claims its seat at the UN”, declared Ould Salek, on behalf of the republic declared by the Polisario in 1976.
The republic, as a founding member of the African Union, “claims its rightful place” among the nations of the world, he declared during a press conference in Algiers, an ally of the Polisario.
Ould Salek protested what he called France’s “blind support” for Morocco to block a referendum on land, a vast desert expanse of 266,000 square kilometers (100,000 square miles).
As for Spain, he accused the former colonial power of “treason” and “refusal to assume its (historical) responsibilities” towards the Saharawi people.
Morocco claims the entire territory and controls 80%, with a huge sand embankment and UN peacekeepers separating a Polisario-controlled enclave to the east.
Peacekeepers have a mandate to hold a long-halted referendum on self-determination.
In November, the Polisario announced that it viewed a 1991 ceasefire as null and void, after Morocco sent troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone to reopen a key route.
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