Nearly half-way into the Irish presidency of the European Union, now’s a fitting time for Ireland to hammer a decisive nail into the coffin of Africa’s last colony and strike a note for democracy and human rights in Western Sahara which has endured more than 30 years of illegal occupation and persecution at the hands of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since the end of the Spanish colonial dictatorship in 1975 when Spain withdrew and Morocco moved in. The occupation is a stain on the continent of Africa, but the Irish Presidency of the EU presents a supreme opportunity to end this international disgrace.
It is to the great credit of this country that shortly before the EU presidency, Ireland hosted a visit by the president of the Western Sahara Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with meetings arranged with key public and political figures including President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The visit to Ireland of President Mohamed Abdelaziz enraged Morocco, culprits of the illegal occupation that has long been denounced by the UN and the EU. The visit also was a boost to the Saharawi people, and it would be highly appropriate to follow this up by using the presidency of the EU to help deliver peace and self-determination for the Saharawi people.
President Abdelaziz has led the people of Western Sahara for more than 30 years guiding a peaceful campaign for self-determination, and has been committed to a non-violent struggle. He lives in exile in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Tindouf province of western Algeria.
Ireland has a proud reputation of promoting peace and democracy, and Irish people over the years have consistently stood firm on the issues of human rights and self-determination, notably our President Michael D Higgins.
As an MEP I had the privilege of being president of the all-party Western Sahara Intergroup in the European Parliament which met each month in Strasbourg, when large numbers of Moroccan agents posing as journalists and researchers constantly tried to infiltrate our meetings. I also attended a meeting in Paris in 1985 when it was decided to launch a European network of support for self-determination in Western Sahara.
I have visited the camps of the Saharawi people in the Algerian desert near Tindouf and was there on the occasion of the visit of then UN secretary general Kofi Annan in 1998, and also that of James Baker, his personal envoy on Western Sahara who was appointed in March 1997 and resigned in June 2004. There was optimism following Baker’s visit but alas that has gradually faded, and the international community appears to have been asleep on the job with respect to the plight of the Saharawi people.
I have also visited Morocco, as a member of the Magreb delegation of the European Parliament, when at a meeting in the Moroccan parliament I was jeered by those present for criticising their country’s occupation of Western Sahara. Our delegation was also given a briefing on arrival where EU diplomats advised that we did not raise any criticism of the king, the role of Islam, or policy on Western Sahara during our time in the country. Although this advice was of course ignored, we soon became aware that there appeared to be an official turning of a blind eye with respect to the denial of democracy and human rights in Morocco, a policy that has continued to this day.
The non-violent struggle of the Saharawi people deserves recognition, and the Irish presidency of the EU may well be the last opportunity for the forgotten victims of Africa’s last colony. An Irish initiative in the EU to launch a new international campaign to end the suffering of the people of Western Sahara, and the Saharawi families abandoned in the remote and harsh desert of western Algeria, would strike a blow at the behaviour of Morocco, whose authoritarianism and blemished human rights record have too long been ignored by the international community.
Michael McGowan is a former MEP and president of the development committee of the European Parliament.
