The Fórum Canario Saharaui condemns the political manipulation of the Western Sahara issue and the violation of Moroccan immigration laws
The Fórum Canario Saharaui has strongly condemned the recent media campaigns that ‘seek to misrepresent the region with fake trips that seek supposed human rights monitoring and observation, but which, in reality, seek personal public notoriety and propaganda activity in favour of the Polisario Front’, in relation to the latest visit of European parliamentarians to Laayoune, in Western Sahara.
In an official statement, the Forum called for respect for Moroccan immigration laws. Referring to the recent visit of the MEPs, it said that ‘it is cynical and embarrassing that, in their complaint of expulsion, they claim not to have been able to carry out their work and to be under alleged missions and supposed mandates in a sovereign country that is not under European jurisdiction, and with which they had not previously arranged such a visit’.
The Forum has denounced ‘the practice of lying at border controls to enter the Sahara’, which would represent fraudulent entry into the territory.
The official statement of the Fórum Canario Saharaui is reproduced below
Statement of the Fórum Canario Saharaui
The Fórum Canario Saharaui strongly condemns the recent media campaigns that seek to distort reality in the region with fake trips that seek an alleged control and observance of human rights, but that in reality seek personal public notoriety and propagandistic activity in favour of the Polisario Front.
Respect for Moroccan border and immigration control laws
We reiterate that the actions of politicians, journalists, activists, organisations, etc., who for years now, but especially in recent weeks following the opening of the Ryanair Madrid-Dakhla air route, have been trying to enter the territory while concealing their true motives, represent a clear violation of Moroccan immigration laws, which are as legitimate as those of any other country.
More specifically, and with reference to the recent visit of the MEPs, it is cynical and embarrassing that, in their complaint of expulsion, they claim to have ‘not been able to carry out their work’ and to be under alleged missions and supposed mandates in a sovereign country that is not under European jurisdiction, and with which they had not previously arranged such a visit.
Fraudulent entry into the territory
We condemn the practice of lying at border controls to enter the Sahara. As has been demonstrated and recognised by the interested parties themselves, some well-known Spanish journalists, whose militancy in favour of the Polisario Front has been more than proven, openly admit to having concealed their profession at passport control, claiming to be tourists and hiding their intention to work. This constitutes immigration fraud and fully justifies their expulsion once they are already in the country.
We denounce media manipulation
We categorically reject the disinformation campaign orchestrated by these political and media figures who use the media that pays them as a platform for Polisario propaganda. These actions, far from seeking the truth, pursue predetermined political objectives and lack all journalistic objectivity.
Firstly, they refer to what are in reality mere administrative denials of visas as expulsions. Similarly, is informing, observing or monitoring really the true intention of this incessant pilgrimage to the Sahara that these people have been making for years, knowing in advance that they will not be able to enter the territory? In other words, it is not that they know they will not be allowed to enter, it is that they go with the premise and even the desire for that to happen and then carry out the aforementioned propaganda actions.
Unacceptable double standards
On the other hand, would these people have interviewed different representatives of Saharawi society to gather information from various sources, with a plurality of opinions, by virtue of the status of ‘observers’ that they themselves claim?
The double standards of these tricksters who presume to be defenders of human rights when they know that if we were to go to the Tindouf camps to ‘observe’, ‘monitor’ or ‘report’ on the abuses of the Polisario, we would not only be expelled, but would not even be able to travel, is utterly reprehensible.
The Fórum Canario Saharaui reaffirms its commitment to truth and stability in the region. We will continue to support Morocco's efforts for the development and prosperity of the Sahara, rejecting any attempt at destabilisation or media manipulation, especially in Spain, the nerve centre of this distorted view of reality with regard to this issue.