The presidents of the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab regions, Sidi Hamdi Oued Errachid and Yenja El Khattat, denounced the propaganda by Algeria and the “Polisario” to try to deprive the populations of the two regions of the benefits of development, stressing that Algeria must be questioned about its policy of diversion and disinformation aiming to divert attention from the tragedy of the people in captivity in Tindouf.
In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria, the presidents of the two regions categorically rejected the allegations and lies by Algeria and the “Polisario” on the situation of human rights in the Moroccan Sahara, “where we live and manage the affairs of its inhabitants on a daily basis”.
They stressed that their decision to write this letter stems from their perfect knowledge of the situation prevailing in their electoral districts, given their responsibilities and in view of the democratic legitimacy and real representativeness, and given their belonging to the Sahara as well as their knowledge of reality on the ground in its human, cultural and historical dimensions.
You are well aware, they went on in their letter, that the Moroccan Sahara is the subject of a conflict that has been running for almost 50 years, that Algeria is trying to make it last longer as a main stakeholder that manipulates the “Polisario” to distract and mislead the international public opinion through the shameful exploitation of the theme of human rights for purely political ends.
Ouled Errachid and El Khattat noted that their representative status and their Sahrawi origin, in addition to the long years spent in the camps of shame in Tindouf where they held several positions in the “Polisario” before returning to Morocco like thousands of other individuals, including the founders of the separatist movement (the case of the president of the region of Dakhla Oued-Eddahab), give them the legitimacy to draw attention, with full knowledge of the facts, to the schemes of this immoral exploitation of human rights and the UN bodies in charge of this issue, by Algeria and the “Polisario” who has a long history in the field of human rights violations and the repression of freedoms.
As part of this disinformation strategy which targets the Kingdom of Morocco, they noted, these two parties manipulate certain young people who have no support among the local Sahrawi population to deliberately create tensions while trying to give a disproportionate dimension through the media of separatist propaganda and make people believe in imaginary human rights violations and events in order to mislead the opinion of the international community.
The presidents of the two regions denounced these allegations and insist on the normal nature of the human rights situation in the Moroccan Sahara, specifying that the local population benefits from real protection through constitutional guarantees and a national legal and institutional framework in line with Morocco’s international commitments.