The message for peace for Western Sahara in Senegal
The Movement Saharawi for Peace (MSP), in collaboration with the African Centre for Strategic Intelligence for Peace (CISPAIX), is organising the 2nd International Conference for Dialogue and Peace in Western Sahara on 27 and 28 October 2023 in Dakar (Senegal).
This initiative is part of the MSP's vocation and efforts to consolidate itself as a "third way" in the search for a peaceful solution to the problem of Western Sahara and to put an end to the tragedy suffered by the Saharawis for half a century.
The occasion will be an opportunity to encourage Saharawi dialogue through a greater presence of representatives of the traditional authority, tribal notables, as well as Saharawi civil society. Some Polisario Front leaders have also been invited, although they are unlikely to participate.
A significant international presence is expected. Personalities such as the former President of the Spanish government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will be present by telematic means. Domitien Ndayizeye, former President of the Republic of Burundi, the former Minister of Defence and former member of the Spanish Congress, José Bono, a former Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the former advisor to the President of Nigeria, Abdullahi Azukutenyi, former ambassadors, members of the European Parliament, as well as the former Minister of Justice of Spain, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, who will also intervene by telematic means, will also be present. Several members of parliament and leaders of political parties from Mauritania and South American countries will also take part, in short, many African, European and Latin American political personalities, reflecting the growing interest of world opinion in peace and stability in northwest Africa.
The choice of the capital of Senegal, a country known for its leadership in Africa in favour of peace, and the presence of important African personalities at the Dakar meeting reflect the interest of the MSP in getting its message of peace across to the African nations and peoples and in obtaining greater support and commitment for the desired peaceful solution in which there will be neither winners nor losers and in which peace, stability and harmony will at last return to this part of the African continent.
The Dakar International Conference is taking place in a delicate context marked by the stalemate in the UN mediation and peace efforts two years after the appointment of Staffan de Mistura as the UN Secretary General's personal envoy for Western Sahara. It also coincides with a new US intervention in favour of a political settlement, an initiative which, unlike the Polisario, the MSP welcomed.
The 2nd International Conference for Dialogue and Peace in Dakar will be a new opportunity for the MSP to explain the compromise proposal announced in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) in the conviction that such a plan represents a tangible, realistic and viable option to ensure the well-being and prosperity of the Saharawis in their land and, at last, to detach itself from impossible projects and destructive adventures or utopias.