El Fórum Canario Saharaui lamenta la difusión del “falso relato” del Frente Polisario

The Fórum Canario Saharawi issued an official statement in which it deplored the holding of the Parliamentary Intergroup Conference 'Peace and Freedom for the Saharawi people' held in the Spanish city of Logroño as it was based on the "false narrative installed by the Polisario Front for decades in Spain at all levels" regarding the question of Western Sahara. 

The official statement of the Fórum Canario Saharawi is reproduced below in full:

Statement of the Fórum Canario Saharawi on the conference "peace and freedom for the Saharawi people" organised in the parliament of La Rioja on 7 and 8 May last.

In view of the celebration of the Parliamentary Intergroup Conference 'Peace and Freedom for the Saharawi people', held last Friday and Saturday in Logroño, and its subsequent institutional declaration, this Fórum Canario Saharawi declares the following:

From this association, we regret the celebration of this type of anachronistic events based on the false story installed by the Polisario for decades in Spain at all levels (in this case at the political level), and in which the recipients of this story live disoriented, oblivious to reality, based on it. All this at the expense of the suffering of the Sahrawi population living in the Tindouf camps, a population that witnesses time and again with resignation the 'bunkerisation' of a gerontocratic leadership (that of the Polisario), increasingly comfortable in their positions of privilege and pecuniary benefits from international humanitarian aid, and distanced from a population that lives and suffers in the camps in the weariness of permanent indefinition, while it is ignored and indiscriminately repressed when it raises its voice against its leaders.

There is no doubt that today's world is looking to the future on this issue, well into the 21st century, with the examples of France, Germany and the United States (and now Spain), based on a negotiated solution within the framework of the United Nations, precisely in view of the Security Council resolutions of recent years, which do not mention the word referendum, and which clearly refer to "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution", an issue that was suspiciously self-censored during this event in Logroño. But in different circles in our country, people are still diving into the depths of the 20th century, alluding to anachronistic United Nations resolutions dating back decades, which are difficult to fit in today. Proof of this is the holding of an event such as this.

In fact, this Fórum Canario Saharawi has just participated in the World Social Forum from 1 to 6 May in Mexico, an event whose host country is a historic and great ally of the Polisario. During the Forum, we were able to see that the Polisario, entrenched in its chimerical claims, is going through its worst times since its existence, since the conferences organised by its leaders showed a huge lack of attendance. Barely half a dozen people attended the main event organised by them (photo attached). Thus, while their historic allies such as Mexico turn their backs on them, in Spain we continue to live in the unreality of continuing to support the utopia of their theses with useless meetings such as this one, when it is well known that these theses are unrealisable. 

Moreover, the fact that this year's event is being held in La Rioja is shameful, precisely after the events of last year, with the suspicious and illegal entry of Brahim Ghali into Spain and his stay in the San Pedro Hospital, whose case is still under judicial investigation in Zaragoza, with officials of the La Rioja administration being called into question precisely because of this infamous event, with reprehensible actions, and some of them having to testify before the judge, with the connivance of the La Rioja government in this event as well.

As for what is stated in the institutional declaration of the event held in the Rioja Parliament, referring to the fact that "the Polisario Front is the legitimate and sole representative of the Saharawi people, recognised by the UN and the international community", we must remember that the status of the Polisario at the UN is that of a very limited participation, as a mere interlocutor, and limited to the specific issues of its interest. There is no UN document on the formal status of the Polisario, nor does it appear on the organisation's list of observer missions. The status of the Polisario at the UN is ambiguous and diffuse.

In any case, we believe that Polisario has rested on its laurels, forgetting that in politics legitimacy and representativeness are not eternal titles and that they can be eroded over time by mistakes and abuses.  Today such credentials are only provided by the ballot box and good governance, not by tribal compromises or past glories. Especially when, moreover, they have failed to achieve any of their objectives as representatives of their people in decades of presumed leadership. Stifling any kind of internal opposition and new leadership.

The institutional declaration made in La Rioja also mentions "serious violations in the occupied territories of the rights of expression, assembly and association of the Saharawi population". However, as expected, the conference did not mention the various human rights violations that have been perpetrated for decades against the Sahrawi population in Tindouf, such as those that ended in lawsuits in the Audiencia Nacional, for example. In reality, there are no monitoring mechanisms there; it is a human rights cesspit. The Polisario has the mouth, eyes and ears to denounce Morocco's actions day in and day out, but it participates, or turns a blind eye, to the abuses in the refugee camps. These abuses have been denounced by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others. A blind eye that extends to Spain with a detestable double standard on the part of those who blindly and militantly support them.

Finally, as we highlighted before, in the 21st century, we understand that at this point there is only one solution, the proposal of a broad autonomy as a realistic, feasible and humanitarian means to put an end to the suffering of the part of the Sahrawi population residing in Tindouf (the minority), separated from the rest of their families in the rest of the territory (the majority), with the consequent reunification and reconciliation of these families, as well as the possibility of prosperity and social progression that they could have under such autonomy, which, in turn, after half a century, is impossible to obtain through the Polisario.  

A proposal for autonomy now also supported by Spain (along with the aforementioned countries, among others). We have had many differences with the decisions of the current government, especially in relation to the recent illegal entry of Brahim Ghali into Spain. But despite the manner in which the Spanish government's recognition of the Sahara's autonomy proposal was made, which could be improved and made more transparent, some government, whatever its political colour, had to take this step. Let us be far-sighted and recognise that this is the only possible way to bring this terrible dispute to an end, to the detriment of the infinite stalemate and the eternal journey to nowhere proposed by the Polisario.