Algerian National Assembly president criticizes Morocco

A new edition of the Boumerdès summer university for Polisario cadres opened on Sunday, July 14, in Algeria. In the absence of Brahim Ghali, the president of the Polisario Front's parliament, Hamma Salama, presided over the opening ceremony.

Unlike last year, Algeria sent Mohamed Reda Ousahla, the Vice-Chairman of the Lower House in charge of foreign relations, to read a speech by the Chairman, Salah Goudjil. Goudjil, officially Algeria's No. 2 figure, denounced «Morocco's colonial arrogance» and «the maneuvers of its colonial policy based on lies, falsification of facts, and deception», according to Algerian daily El Moudjahid.

He also reaffirmed «Algeria's unwavering support for the Saharawi people's struggle for their rights, as guaranteed by the UN and AU Charters on Human and Peoples' Rights».

For context, Salah Goudjil had previously stressed in a speech read on his behalf at a meeting of African parliamentary leaders in South Africa in September 2022 that «Africa cannot claim a promising future without definitively eliminating the abhorrent phenomenon of colonialism, accelerating the pace of decolonization of the continent, and allowing the Saharawi people the right to self-determination and to freely and sovereignly determine their destiny».

Launched in 2009 by the Algerian Committee for Solidarity with the Sahrawi People, the Boumerdès summer university for Polisario cadres will run until July 23 this year.