Faridah N Kulumba
Africa-Press – Uganda. Last week, the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), Secretary General of the Polisario Front, His Excellency Mr Brahim Ghali arrived in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on a two ate visit at the invitation of the President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Upon his arrival in the honorary hall of the airport, he held talks with Ugandan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (International Affairs) Henry Okello Oryem who restated the firm support of Uganda for the Sahrawi people and its just cause.
The Sahrawi Republic’s President traveled with an important delegation including Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Sidati, Advisor to the Presidency of the Republic in charge of information and the Arab World, Ms. Nana Laban Rasheed, Ambassador and Director of President Protocol, Mr. Salha Al-Abed, Military Advisor to the President of the Republic, Mr. Sherif Boussif, and Ambassador to Uganda, Mr. Salek Saghir.
Discussions
The visit allowed discussion of bilateral relations between the two countries, and the latest developments in Sahrawi issues and issues of common concern.
President Ghali’s visit to the Republic of Uganda fell within the framework of strengthening the rooted brotherhood relations between the two countries and the two brotherly peoples, as well as an opportunity to expand the areas of cooperation. The appeal to UNSC
The Sahrawi Republic and Uganda called on the United Nations Security Council to fulfill its promises to hold a referendum on the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
The joint statement that culminated in the state visit of the President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front to Uganda, called on the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) fulfills its core mandate, which was established primarily to facilitate the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara to enable its people to realize its right to self-determination.
The statement indicated that the MINURSO should be given a mandate to monitor, protect and report on human rights, and protect natural resources from illegal exploitation.
Both the Presidents of the Sahrawi Republic and Uganda expressed their hope that Mr. Staffan de Mistura, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Western Sahara, would give priority to the resumption of the political process, in order to hold a free and fair referendum for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
The state of the Sahrawi Republic
The legal status of Western Sahara is defined in Article 73 of the Charter of the United Nations which means that it is a non-self-governing territory going through the process of decolonization, whose administrative powers are still the Kingdom of Spain.
This means that it is not a subject of international law. Thus, one cannot but agree with the statement of Advocate-General Melchior Wathelet who concluded that Western Sahara is not a territory whose international status is not defined nowadays: what is not determined presently is not its status, but its future.
The Sahrawi people have been struggling for self-determination in Moroccan-occupied western Sahara since 1975. Despite years of nonviolent resistance, there has been no significant change in the stalled process of decolonization until now.
The sudden end of the long-running ceasefire and the then President of the United States Donald Trump’s tweet he tweeted recognizing Moroccan control over Western Sahara and Morocco’s normalization of relations with Israel suddenly altered the political dynamics.
The end of 2018 witnessed potentially promising peace talks in Geneva between the Polisario Front liberation movement of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco in an effort to kickstart the stalled peace process for over 45-year conflict over this North African territory.
Nevertheless, the forces protecting the status quo, and thus Morocco’s ongoing colonization of Western Sahara, remains durable.
Uganda and Sahrawi Republic’s relations
The diplomatic relations between the Republic of Uganda and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) were established on 6th September 1979. Uganda then agreed to raise the two nations’ relations to the level of ambassadors. Uganda and SADR have strong and distinguished relations.
As of September 2022, the SADR has been recognized by 84 United Nations member states including Uganda. Of these, 38 countries “frozen” or “withdrawn” recognize the Sahrawi Republic nonetheless recognize the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the population of Western Sahara, but not as the government-in-exile for a sovereign state.
During the President of the Sahrawi’s visit to Uganda, the two nations signed a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic and political consultations.
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