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July 6, 2004 Rep.
Pitts: Don’t abandon Baker plan Former
Secretary of State’s plan would give people of Western Sahara a say in
their own future; Morocco opposed Washington—Congressman Joe
Pitts (R, PA-16), vice-chair of the House International Relations
Subcommittee on International Terrorism, Non-Proliferation, and Human
Rights, said the United States should reaffirm its commitment to the Baker
Plan for a referendum in Western Sahara, a country in West Africa occupied
by the Kingdom of Morocco. His
Majesty King Mohamed VI of Morocco will visit Washington this week. “Former Secretary of State James Baker
worked long and hard on a plan to implement a referendum for the people of
the Western Sahara. His plan was accepted unanimously by the UN Security Council
in Resolution 1541. But the
referendum hasn’t happened. As
we prepare to welcome His Majesty, the King of Morocco to Washington, we
should reaffirm our commitment to an open and transparent referendum on the
future of Western Sahara. And
we would do well to oppose efforts by the Moroccan government and its
powerful friends to delay this long overdue vote,” said Congressman Pitts. Over the last two years, a number of
Members of Congress, including leaders on the House International Relations
Committee, have expressed support for the Sahrawis and for the Baker Plan.
In a letter sent to the President last month, 14 Members said:
We
welcome United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 1541 adopted April
29, 2004, which reaffirmed support for the Peace Plan for Self-Determination
of the People of Western Sahara devised by UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan’s Special Envoy, James Baker. We deeply regret, however, the
departure of Mr. Baker and the circumstances that led to his resignation. In
addition, we welcome the confidence-building measures taken by the Polisario
Front which released a further 643 Moroccan POWs since July 2003; the number
of POWs the Polisario has liberated since 1991 now totals 1,760.
Unfortunately, the Government of King Mohammed VI has not
reciprocated in a commensurate way. The
fact that the Sahrawis have opted for non-violence in the affirmation of
their identity and have respected the terms of the cease-fire signed in 1991
between their representative the Polisario Front and Morocco, is telling in
terms of who is committed to settlement of the conflict. We
strongly believe that the conflict between these two parties, if left
unresolved, has the potential to disrupt the peace and stability in the
Maghreb region, thus threatening the interests of the United States.
We feel that the United States should use its unique influence in
that region to press the Moroccan Government and the Polisario Front to
agree to the Peace Plan and to implement it under the supervision of the
United Nations. Although our
attention is primarily focused, as it should be on Iraq and on the war
against terrorism, we feel that the Western Sahara conflict needs to be
addressed urgently and fairly to the benefit of the peoples of the region
and in the interest of the United States.
If so, it will provide a signal to the Broader Middle East and North
African region that there are successful alternatives to violence in the
pursuit of national aspirations. In another letter, sent in 2003, Members
of Congress said: The
United Nations Security Council upheld the right to self-determination
during its July 2002 meeting to discuss the conflict over Western Sahara.
In this meeting, the Security Council rejected other proposed options
and clearly stated that the only viable resolution to this conflict must be
based on the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.
Sadly, the continued delay of this referendum has brought disunity
among countries in North Africa and could cause instability in this region.
In addition, the delay has caused terrible suffering for the Sahrawi
refugees who have lived in refugee camps since 1975, continuing to hope for
the actualization of the 1991
promise of a referendum for self-determination held by the United Nations. A letter sent to President Bush
preceding King Mohamed IV’s trip to Washington in April 2002, read: As
you may know, the decision of the International Court of Justice, issued on
October 16, 1975 regarding the conflict over Western Sahara, states the
following, “The Court’s conclusion is that the materials and
information presented to it do not establish any tie of territorial
sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of
Morocco or the Mauritanian entity. Thus
the Court has not found legal ties of such a nature as might affect the
application of General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) in the decolonization
of Western Sahara, and in particular, of the principle of the
self-determination through the free and genuine expression of the will of
the peoples of the territory.” Unfortunately, there have been attempts to abandon the
negotiated, signed settlement plans under the Mr.
President, as proposed in the recent past, a nebulous “alternative
solution” to the carefully negotiated referendum agreements is
unacceptable. With your
assistance, we urge the government of Morocco to swiftly and thoroughly
address the issue of the appeals process for voters in the referendum by
ceasing to attempt to register unqualified people to vote in the referendum.
We call on the international community to uphold investment standards
that state that no country, including Morocco, should be signing contracts
for oil and other resource exploration on land that is not theirs, and we
urge Morocco to uphold the signed agreements so as not to bring instability
to North Africa. Our world does
not need further instability caused by terrorism, illegal business
contracts, undermining of carefully-negotiated agreements, or by the death
of innocent civilians as happened on March 20 when Moroccan forces fired
upon civilian Sahrawis. Mr.
President, in this time of international cooperation in fighting the war
against terrorism, it is vital that less visible issues not be forgotten.
The Sahrawi people, just like the people of East Timor, desire to
return to their homes and live in peace.
It would be most unfortunate if the United States directly or
indirectly undermined the fundamental human right of self-determination and
carefully negotiated agreements about the Western Sahara by our actions.
United States taxpayers have invested over $530 million into helping
resolve this conflict. Unfortunately,
our nation has helped undermine the referendum by our inaction on this
issue. We urge you to remedy
that inaction by clearly communicating to the King the necessity of holding
the referendum. In addition, we
respectfully request that you urge King Mohammed VI of Morocco to allow the
referendum over Western Sahara to go forward immediately. # # # |
