Senior Polisario Police Official Calls Moroccan Autonomy Best Solution for Sahrawis to End Decades-old Sahara Dispute

Declares support after seeing Morocco regionalization reforms, thriving economy in W. Sahara

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a surprise announcement while visiting his family in southern Morocco for the first time in three decades, the Polisario's top police official in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, Police Inspector-General Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, said Morocco's compromise plan to grant broad autonomy to Western Sahara was the best possible solution to reunite Sahrawis and end the long-running conflict over the territory.

"After 31 years of separation, I was able to meet with my father and my relatives.  I took the opportunity to tour Morocco. I was impressed by Morocco's major progress in different sectors, and the major development boom in the Sahrawi territories, which made me change my position," he said at a press conference in Smara, Morocco earlier this week.

The Polisario leader said Morocco's autonomy plan was the best option for Sahrawis to "achieve our main objective"—preserving their culture and identity—particularly in light of Morocco's regionalization initiative to decentralize governance and empower local communities, which HM King Mohammed VI highlighted in his July 30th address, noting "Moroccan Sahara will be the top beneficiary."

Ould Sidi Mouloud, son of Sheikh Salma Mouloud, leader of the Rguibat tribe (largest in Western Sahara), said he plans to promote his new position on returning to Tindouf, and he urged Sahrawis on both sides to set aside differences and engage in dialogue to resolve the conflict.

"Seeing is believing," said Robert M. Holley, Executive Director, Moroccan American Center for Policy.  "Morocco and Western Sahara have come a long way in the last decade, with far-reaching reforms and progress that make it a model for the region.  I want to salute Mr. Ould Sidi Mouloud for recognizing this new reality when he saw it and having the courage and intellectual integrity to speak his mind.

"We can only hope he'll be allowed to speak his mind when he returns to Tindouf.  If he is, it could be an opportunity to break the Sahara stalemate and let thousands of refugees trapped in the camps resume their lives. Many more should get a chance to leave the camps and see for themselves," said Holley.

Ould Sidi Mouloud traveled to Smara under the UN Family Visit program, which seeks to reunite Sahrawis in the camps with relatives in Moroccan Western Sahara.  Unfortunately, more than 17,000 refugees are wait-listed for the program.  Most have to wait years to see their families.

On April 6, UN Sec. General Ban Ki-moon reported the parties to the conflict had agreed as a confidence-building measure to build a road from Tindouf to Morocco to let many more refugees visit their families.  

Meanwhile, 1,800 refugees have fled the Tindouf camps so far this year and more are likely to follow, with too many forced to make the dangerous trek across open desert to reach Moroccan Western Sahara.

The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.  For more, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org

This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

SOURCE Moroccan American Center for Policy