When Mansour Omar was born in Villa Cisneros (now Dajla) in 1953, he was a native of Spain’s 53rd province. Twenty-two years later, Morocco conquered part of the territory during the Green March led by Hassan II. Since then, the Sahrawis have opposed their neighbor with the organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio d’Oro, better known as Polisario, and with it Mansour: he was part of the first government, in 1976, and since then he alternated between the role of diplomat and that of governor or minister. A few days ago he was in Lisbon, at the José Afonso Association, where he oversaw the Assembly of the Republic, to discuss the responsibility of the UN and the international community towards Africa’s last colony.

At what point do you think the battle is taking place? Saharawi?

The Sahrawis are fighting against the Moroccan blockade of more than thirty years of the peace plan adopted by the United Nations in 1991. As you know, the proposal was to organize a referendum, and Morocco accepted it. The international community supported this proposal, and it continued as the basis for a solution to the problem of decolonization in Western Sahara. After the identification of voters from the Moroccan community that they brought with them from the invasion of Western Sahara, they began to withdraw because they did not have the certainty of winning these elections, despite having an advantage in the electoral body. And from then on they tried to block it as a strategy. They put forward a proposal to provide autonomy in 2007 and hoped that this autonomy, with French support, could be accepted by the Security Council to replace the original referendum plan. However, this autonomy did not receive sufficient support because it emerged from a basis in which Morocco presented it as an initiative and not as the result of a consensus, such as the referendum resolution. During this entire period, he played with the international community and especially with France to continue to block the solution, while doing everything he could to tire the Polisario into resigning or accepting Morocco’s proposal. That didn’t work, the Polisario didn’t resign. On the contrary, instead of being weakened, it was strengthened. And he pursued an internal policy of democratization and strengthening Sahrawi institutions. He mobilized Sahrawi youth in the occupied territory to carry out a very intense intifada within the occupied territory. During this period, in Morocco we also received support from some political forces, although they are not very numerous, but they have many intellectuals, and from Moroccan intellectuals also abroad, who have contributed to making the Sahrawi cause better known .

In recent years, however, Morocco seems to have gained more support for its proposals.

No, they really didn’t get the support they wanted for the autonomy initiative. They had to make a sale of principles, a suicide, because in Morocco the king is the head of the faithful, and he is the chairman of the Al-Quds Committee in Palestine, the Jerusalem Committee. So when they saw that the autonomy proposal showed no signs of being accepted by the international community, they wanted to get involved [Donald] Trump through his son-in-law [Jared Kushner] who is of Jewish descent, to effect an exchange: Morocco would recognize the State of Israel and open an Israeli embassy on Moroccan territory and in return Trump would recognize the autonomy initiative for the territory of Western Sahara. However, this happened when Trump had already left the White House and Trump did not make a clear statement of recognition from the United States. He made a tweet, and a tweet from someone leaving the White House was more publicity than an actual position. Therefore, this tweet was not followed by either the US Congress or the government. And in the tweet he also promised to open a consulate in occupied Sahrawi territory, which did not happen. And the Biden administration has since the beginning taken a new approach to the plan presented by the United Nations, reiterating on several occasions its position of support for the plan at the United Nations and the proposal already made by the Security Council. The initiative that Morocco took in this direction failed, because it was thought that with one tweet from Trump, the entire international community and Europe would follow him. But no, Europe took a different stance and reaffirmed its position of support for self-determination and support for the United Nations plan.

However, Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, acted differently.

After hacking his mobile phone, that of the Minister of Defence, that of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and that of the Minister of the Interior. Morocco found some reason for pressure and Sánchez said he recognizes the autonomy initiative as a good solution to the Sahrawi problem. But it had no consequences because Spanish public opinion was against it and all political parties showed opposition in parliament. For Spain, the problem of Western Sahara is the same as the problem of East Timor in Portugal. Imagine a party that says it is not in favor of Timor. After Trump, Sánchez’s initiative also came to nothing. Morocco went too far and wanted to blackmail the international community with a statement from the king. The autonomy initiative failed and since November 2020 and after several ceasefire violations by Morocco, we have again started a war of attrition against the positions of the Moroccan army in Sahrawi territory.

There has been news recently.

In September, the North American government, through Assistant Secretary of State for North Africa Joshua Harris, met with the Secretary General of the Polisario Front and the Polisario leadership to find a formula to revitalize the process. Morocco was against visiting the occupied territory, but eventually allowed UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to go to the area to speak with human rights activists and personalities from the area. Together with a series of small signs in recent months, this points to a trend towards reviving the peace process through new negotiations in the light of a new Security Council resolution. This resolution is expected at the end of the month at the annual meeting, which will discuss the Secretary-General’s report and the Special Envoy’s proposals.

Is there any openness within the Polisário to an alternative?

The only way to resume the process is to return to the 1991 peace plan, with the ceasefire and the holding of a referendum with two options: independence or integration into Morocco. Morocco is going through a difficult period, from the health of the king to the economy and relations with France, which are not the best, while nightly bombardments take place every day along the 2,700 kilometers of the defense line. The void does not exist. Either there is peace or there is war. From 1975 to 1991, they understood that they could not win a war against the Polisario. In the meantime we have grown and received support. We have 86 countries that recognize the Sahrawi Republic. We do not believe that Morocco can maintain this position. If you are sure that the Sahrawis want to be Moroccans, the best method is to do so through democracy and give the Sahrawis the opportunity to express themselves. For us, the Moroccans did not go to Western Sahara out of love for the Sahrawis. Western Sahara is rich in resources: phosphates, fisheries, iron, gold.

In the field of fisheries, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in favor of the Polisario Front and annulled Brussels’ agreement with Rabat. Months ago he accused some European countries of complicity with Morocco. Were you just talking about fishing?

The 2018 and 2021 judgments reaffirm that Moroccan territory and Sahrawi territory are different and that the issue of Western Sahara is a matter of decolonization, meaning that Morocco cannot make agreements over territorial waters. The agreements expired in July.

Is there any European country currently committing this illegality?

No. What is happening is that the European Commission, together with Morocco and probably Spain, has appealed against the Court’s decision. The court will decide on the appeal in December and a new chapter will open.

A few months ago, Brussels expressed concern about the possible use of Iranian drones by the Polisario Front. What is your comment?

Morocco always tries to accuse that they think this will get them more support. Sometimes they say that the Sahrawis are friends of Iran, sometimes that we are friends with Cuba; every country that has problems with the US labels it as having Polisario relations. Right now we don’t have any type of weapons from Iran, let alone drones. But we are at war, and according to Article 73 of the Charter of the United Nations, the people fighting for their defense and in the struggle for self-determination and independence may resort to any type of weapon in self-defense. Nowadays you don’t have to look far to get guns, you can buy them online and ship them from any source. If there is no other option, we will use all possible and legitimate means to defend ourselves and free ourselves from Morocco.

Opposing positions defended at the UN

Before the annual report of the UN Mission in Western Sahara was presented to the Security Council, the General Assembly today, in the context of the Fourth Committee on Special Policies and Decolonization, was the scene of contrasting views on the way forward in that context . northern area.-African. Sahrawi delegates in Rabat on the one hand criticized the junta and defended the autonomy the kingdom proposed, while an American from an NGO accused the Polisario of providing military training to children in the Tindouf camps; and on the other hand, European activists who called the Moroccan occupation apartheid, denounced the educational conditions to which the Sahrawis in the occupied territories are subjected, and criticized the obstacles created by the Moroccans to postpone the visit of the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura for two months. years.

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