AFRICAN UNION, MOROCCO AND THE WESTERN SAHARA’S QUEST FOR INDEPENDENCE (II)

By Abdullahi Umar

The opinion takes into consideration several antecedents in the practice of States:

The exploitation of uranium and other natural resources in Namibia by South Africa and a number of Western multinational corporations was considered illegal under Decree No. 1 for the protection of the Natural Resources of Namibia, enacted in 1974 by the United Nations Council of Namibia, and was condemned by the general Assembly. The case of Namibia, however, must be seen in the light of Security Council resolution of 30 January 1970, which declared that the continued presence of South Africa in Namibia was illegal and that consequently all acts taken by the Government of South Africa were illegal and invalid.

The case of East Timor under the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The Timor Gap Treaty on the exploitation of oil and natural gas deposits in the continental shelf was fully operational and concessions had been granted in the Zone of Cooperation by Indonesia and Australia, respectively. UNTAET negotiated with Australia a draft “Timor Sea Arrangement” which will replace the Timor Gap Treaty upon the independence of East Timor. For obvious reasons, during this process UNTAET consulted fully with representatives of the East Timorese people, who participated activity in the negotiations.

When applying analogy analysis of these cases to the Western Sahara, the issue was whether mineral resources activities in a Non Self-governing Territory by an administering power is illegal, as such, or only if conducted in disregard of the of the needed and interests of the people of the territory. The General Assembly resolutions, the case law of the International Court of Justices and the practice of states made Mr. Hans Corell conclude that such activities would be illegal only in the latter case, that is, if practiced ignoring the needs and interests of the people of the territory.

Therefore Mr. Corell’s conclusion reads as fallow: In the case that the resource exploitation activities are concluded in Non-Self-Governing Territories for the benefit of the peoples of these territories, on their behalf, or in consultation with their representatives, they are considered Compatible with the Charter obligations of the administering Power, and in conformity with the general Assembly resolutions and the principle of “ permanent sovereignty over natural resources” enshrined therein.
But also, as it was mentioned before, Morocco is not even an administering Power of the Western Sahara.
Given this context the opinion leaves extremely clear that Morocco has no authority to engage in the exploration or exploitation of mineral resources in Western Sahara as long as this is done without taking into account the interests and wishes of the people of western Sahara in violation of the international legal principles applied to activates related to mineral resources in Non-Self-Governing Territories.    

However, as of 2017, no other member state of the United Nations has ever recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. However, a number of countries have expressed their support for a future recognition of the Moroccan annexation of the territory as an autonomous part of the Kingdom. Overall, the annexation has not garnered as much attention in the international community as many other disputed annexations
Since a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire agreement in 1991, two thirds of the territory (including most of the Atlantic coastline) has been under de facto control by Morocco, strongly backed by France and the USA, and the remainder by the SADR, strongly backed by Algeria. Internationally, countries such as Russia have taken a generally ambiguous and neutral position on each side’s claims, and have pressed both parties to agree on a peaceful resolution. Both Morocco and Polisario have sought to boost their claims by accumulating formal recognition, essentially from African, Asian, and Latin American states in the developing world. The Polisario Front has won formal recognition for SADR from 37 states, and was extended membership in the African Union. Morocco has won recognition or support for its position from several African governments and from most of the Arab League. In both instances, recognitions have, over the past two decades, been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends.
In another development, on Sunday, 26^th of February 2017, Morocco announced to withdraw its unilateral armed forces from the UN Buffer zone in the disputed Western Sahara in compliance with the UN recommendations.
There had been in a standoff with troops from the Polisario independence movement for months.
This come days after king Mohammed v1 had spoken with U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, denouncing the Polisario Front, which for decades has sought self-determination for the desert region.
King Mohammed pointed to the repeated incursion of armed Polisario elements and their acts of provocation in the region which is disputed in Western Sahara near Mauritania.
Polisario declared an independent republic in the disputed desert land in the 1970s and fought a guerrilla war with Morocco until a 1991 ceasefire.
The group accuses Rabat of breaking the terms of the ceasefire last year by trying to build a road in the U.N. buffer zone.
The spokesman for the U.N. Secretary General had released a statement on Saturday calling on all parties to “unconditionally withdraw all armed elements from the Buffer Strip as soon as possible”
U.N. peacekeepers had been stationed between Moroccan forces and a brigade of Polisario troops just 200 meters apart in an area between Moroccan-built earth wall and the Mauritania frontier.
It is hopeful that with the recent development in the Continent it will paved the way for the independence of Western Sahara, being the last Colony in Africa.
Abdullahi Umar