At the parliament’s fifth ordinary session, currently underway here, a fact finding mission reported back on their experience…
Morocco occupied the Western Sahara in 1976 when the Spanish colonizers left. In 1991 a plan was adopted at the United Nations calling for a referendum in which the people should decide on self-determination. But to date that has not happened.
The fact-finding mission says by and large the plight of the Sahrawi people has fallen from the international agenda… But the African Parliament representative for the Sahrawi republic told Press TV his government is supported in Africa, Latin America and Asia…
AS part of its recommendations, the report calls for the matter to be escalated to the African Union summit so that it remains on the agenda until a referendum takes place.
The fact-finding mission also wants the United Nations to take decisive steps against Morocco, but a previous attempt to have a resolution passed was threatened with a veto from France and the United States.
Pan-African Parliament MP’s say recent developments in Libya, and the referendum in south Sudan shows that with the political will from the international community resolutions can be implemented. But France sees Morocco as an ally and so has hampered efforts to grant the Sahrawi people their rights.