Ana Palacio: “Marruecos no ocupa el Sáhara según el Derecho Internacional”

The former Spanish Foreign Minister, Ana Palacio, called the return to violence in the Sahara region a damage to the Sahrawis first, moreover the Polisario Front's attempts to exert economic pressure on Rabat by filing a lawsuit in European courts would be meaningless, as they would cause harm to the Sahrawis. Palacio appeals to the European Union to play a greater role in this issue, following his conviction that the current US president will not review Washington's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara.
In an article written in English entitled: Western Sahara, time bomb", the former foreign minister during the time of the right-wing government led by José María Aznar, made a reading of the latest developments regarding the Sahara issue, stressing that the conflict remains subject to "contradictory general approaches", since the Polisario Front has worked to form public opinion in its favor, while Morocco "has remained silent, this does not mean that the Alawite kingdom is less committed to the issue, but that its leaders have nothing to discuss, since the Sahara is part of its territory and history is over.

After the signing of Donald Trump's presidential decree, in which he recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara and the opening by many countries of their consulates in this territory, Ana Palacio described the Moroccan policy as "determined, and calm", on the other hand, the Polisario has resorted to European courts and legal mechanisms to file an appeal on the legality of agricultural and fisheries agreements signed with the EU, which include the Sahara provinces, considering these steps as "unnecessary".
The Spanish diplomat, who knows Morocco well since she was Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Persian conflict in July 2002, stresses that attempts to put economic pressure on Morocco "would do great harm to the Sahrawis, whom the Polisario claims to protect", adding: "in reality, the Front has taken the Sahrawis hostage to say that Morocco is a colonizing country".
Ana Palacio does not repeat the allegation that "Morocco occupies the Sahara", and stresses that this qualification is not envisaged in international law, nor included in the UN resolutions on the Sahara, which have been adopted since 1975, 47 resolutions, except in two cases, one in 1979 and the other in 1980, and both are controversial. In the 69 resolutions of the Security Council, there is practically no mention of it. As for the Polisario's decision to break the ceasefire agreement signed with the United Nations in 1991, Palacio said that "a return to war will lead to political instability in the entire region.
Ana Palacio was optimistic about the position of the current U.S. President, Joe Biden, to launch negotiations between Morocco and Polisario. The Spanish politician, who spent eight years as a European parliamentarian, said that "it is impossible for Biden to take a step backwards and not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara as Europe wants", calling on the EU to "play a leading role in this initiative", starting "from the links with the Sahara and its essential values".