US politician urges the Congressional Black Caucus to work on the Western Sahara question

In the United States, Democrats will assume leadership positions at the House of Representatives starting from January the 1st. According to American columnist and long-time activist Bill Fletcher Jr., the Congressional Black Caucus, a caucus made up of most African American members of the United States Congress, must benefit from the situation by bringing forward «important issues such the Western Sahara one».

In a column written by Fletcher Jr. and published on December the 5th by the Skanner, the African-American politician stressed that the «question of the Western Sahara (…) is one such conflict site that the CBC has spent precious little time addressing».

Fletcher Jr. argued what «has been missing is the passion and engagement that should be associated with resolving Africa's last remaining colonial question», urging the Congressional body to «take an active role» in the conflict.

Making of the Western Sahara conflict a public issue

To Bill Fletcher Jr., CBC must «put pressure on the USA to pull back from its nearly unqualified support for the Moroccan monarchy and its illegal occupation of the Western Sahara».

Furthermore, Fletcher Jr. believes that the Congressional Black Caucus is able to make of the Western Sahara conflict a «public issue», by exposing the way in which the «Moroccan government is permitting the people of the Western Sahara to be robbed by foreign corporations in search of cheap natural resources».

For the record, the Congressional Black Caucus was co-founded by retired American congressman John Conyers in 1969. The latter was a big supporter of the Polisario. Conyers, however, resigned from the Congress in December 2017 after he was accused of sexually harassing former female staffers who worked in his office. 

However, Morocco can still count on US Representative Alcee Lamar and Maricia Fudge, an influential political woman. The representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district led a delegation that visited Morocco in December 2013. King Mohammed VI received the delegation in January the 3rd, 2014, in Marrakech.