The member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, in charge of Europe and the European Union, Abi Bouchraya, accompanied by Omaima Abdel Salam, the front’s representative to the United Nations and other organizations in Switzerland, were received by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer. The meeting focused on the new situation in Western Sahara, particularly the region under Moroccan military occupation.
Abi Bouchraya Al-Bachir expounded, during this important meeting that took place at the headquarters of the Committee in Geneva, the latest developments in the national issue and the stalemate arising from Morocco’s refusal to hold a self-determination referendum, its violation of the ceasefire and the consequent outbreak of war in occupied Western Sahara.
Abi Bouchraya also reiterated, in this regard, the responsibility of the International Red Cross Organization and the necessity to accomplish its mission in Western Sahara, which is extremely important due to the reality of the occupation on the one hand and the repercussions of the war and the Kingdom of Morocco’s intensification of its violation of the rights of Sahrawi civilians under occupation on the other hand.
With regard to the Sahrawi civilians held in Moroccan jails, the Sahrawi official stressed the aggravation of the conditions of their detention, especially the Gdeim Izik group and their families in the wake of Covid 19 crisis and Morocco’s continued punitive policies against them inside prisons and against their families, underlining that the seriousness of the situation requires the intervention of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit them and their families and assisting them as stipulated by the mission of the organization, as well as assisting the victims of repression in the occupied cities, and participating in the search for hundreds of Sahrawis (civilians and military personnel) who have gone missing since the start of the conflict in 1975.
Abi Bouchraya Al-Bachir, affirmed to the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, that the Sahrawi people are looking forward to the organization’s role in Western Sahara and not to yield to Moroccan dictates that are trying to implicate everyone and exploit all opportunities to legitimize its illegal occupation of Western Sahara.
For his part, the president of the organization, Mr. Peter Maurer, expressed the organization’s understanding of the frustration of Sahrawi people and its monitoring of the recent developments with great interest, expressing in the same context the organization’s willingness to develop its presence and its contribution with the Sahrawi party to implement as much as possible its mandate and responsibility towards Sahrawi people.
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