Boden: Sahara is issue of existence

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI reiterated his country’s firm stance on the need to exert full sovereignty over the Sahara, stressing that there was no solution to this issue outside Morocco’s control over the area.

President of the Atlas Center for the Analysis of Political and Institutional Indicators, Mohammed Boden said that the royal discourse put new facts and new realities before the parties involved in resolving the Sahara issue to conclude from the King's speech that the Sahara issue for Morocco is the issue of existence and presence.

He said that the King’s speech came to emphasize that there is No settlement of the Sahara affair is possible outside the framework of the full sovereignty of Morocco over its Sahara and the Autonomy Initiative, which has been declared serious and credible by the international community.

He underlined that Morocco “remains committed to the current dynamism of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres”, in cooperation with his personal envoy, adding that this commitment comes within the framework of respect for the principles on which the Moroccan stance is based.

The Moroccan expert added that the projects launched in the Sahara and those that would follow would make the region an integrated economic pole that would enable it to play its role as a link between Morocco and Africa and as a center for relations between the countries of the region.

He praised the King’s messages to the international community, saying that the main goal of this speech is to emphasized the need to strictly abide by the references adopted by the Security Council to deal with this regional issue, as the only international body charged with fostering the settlement process.

The Moroccan king said in his speech, during commemoration of the 42nd Anniversary of the Green March, that his country will not sit by and wait for the desired solution to be found.

He stressed, “Instead, we will move ahead with our endeavors to promote development in our southern regions and offer our populations there freedom and dignity. In this regard, we shall continue to apply the development model specifically designed for these regions and seek, in parallel, to implement the advanced regionalization plan, which will enable the inhabitants of the region to run their own affairs democratically and to contribute to its development.”