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US Senator James Inhofe addressed, Tuesday, the Western Sahara issue in the upper house of the US Congress, defending the Polisario Front’s positions.
«Last week, while most of the world was focused on our election and the pending results, a very significant action was taking place halfway around the world in Western Sahara», he said. He accused Morocco of having chosen this time on purpose «to threaten to push back on protests by Western Saharans on their own land».
He also said that «allowing this process (that led by the UN to find a political solution for the conflict) to stall has cost them a generation of freedom». He recalled his visits to the Tindouf camps, especially that of last year. «Beyond denying the Sahrawi people their right to freedom and self-determination, the government of Morocco is trying to steal and pillage as much as possible from the land they have unlawfully claimed», he claimed.
«But Morocco has repeatedly attempted to use a road in this region to transport goods in violation of the U.N. ceasefire agreement. It was this illegal use of the territory that the Western Saharans were peacefully protesting», he said, referring to the blockade of the Guerguerate border crossing.
He further accused the kingdom of «escalating this situation again to claim more and more land, resources and rights that they have no lawful claim to». «That’s why the time is now to move this from a frozen conflict and force Morocco to live up to their agreement of nearly 30 years and hold the referendum», he pleaded.
Elements of the Polisario have been blocking the El Guerguerate border crossing for nearly three weeks. Others are demonstrating in front of FAR posts near the Wall of Sand.
