The MSP prepares the 2nd International Conference on Western Sahara
Prominent leaders of the Movement Saharawi for Peace (MSP) met to deepen the preparations for the 2nd International Conference for Peace and Security in Western Sahara. The meeting was attended by the first secretary of the organisation, Hach Ahmed Baricalla, the president of the Preparatory Committee, Mohamed Chej, the head of International Relations, Cherif Mohamed, and the coordinator for Mauritania, Sidahmed Ashleichel.
The aim is to continue to address key issues relating to security and peace in the disputed region of Western Sahara and North West Africa, an area of political instability and in need of increased security.
The MSP officials met in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, a country bordering Morocco and the Western Sahara area and also close to the troubled Sahel region, which is plagued by criminal and terrorist organisations, and discussed the key issues relevant to the maintenance of peace and security in the area. Focusing on the preparation of the 2nd International Conference for Peace and Security in Western Sahara, the political leaders discussed various issues related to the question.
The meeting assessed options for a venue and date for the conference and presented the steps taken so far at the international level to ensure a strong presence at the forthcoming conference of political and civil society representatives from Europe, Africa, Latin America, Mauritania and Western Sahara. The expectations of the growing participation in the event of the representatives of the Saharawi traditional authority, who will play an essential role in the so-called Saharawi dialogue to agree on strategies in favour of an early peaceful solution to the Western Sahara dispute, which has lasted for more than four decades since Spain left the territory as a colonial power, were also positively valued, as pointed out by sources from the MSP itself.
The First International Conference for Peace and Security in Western Sahara was held in late September 2022 in Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, Spain, and was attended by important European political figures and a large group of prominent representatives of Sahrawi civil society. On that occasion, an invitation was extended to the Polisario Front, which was declined due to its leaders' determination to continue to represent the Sahrawi people exclusively. In fact, the MSP and other groups defend the existence of other entities representing the Saharawi people other than the Polisario Front.
Hach Ahmed Baricalla, first secretary and founder of the MSP, advocates a peaceful solution to the Saharawi question. After years of struggle by the Polisario Front and without any political progress towards a realistic solution, Hach Ahmed Baricalla considers it "much better for the Saharawis to seek a compromise", a "negotiated solution" and, moreover, sees the need to coexist with the Kingdom of Morocco, as "common sense dictates". Without renouncing his identity, the MSP leader considers that the agreement implies concessions on both sides, as he pointed out in an interview with i24 News.
Morocco proposes a formula of broad autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty, respecting the resolutions of the United Nations, with the aim of giving the territory great room for manoeuvre in many territorial areas, while reserving the management of security and foreign policy for the Moroccan state. This initiative has the support of many important countries such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Israel and Spain, which consider the North African country's proposal to be the most serious, credible and realistic way of resolving the Saharawi problem.
Faced with this position, the Polisario Front defends the holding of a referendum on independence for the Sahrawi people, which has less international backing, although it has the support of Algeria, Morocco's great political rival, especially after breaking diplomatic relations with the Moroccan kingdom in August 2021 after accusing it of carrying out "hostile acts" and due to major political differences on issues such as Western Sahara.
At the first summit in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the MSP presented a proposal for a compromise solution in which there are neither winners nor losers. At the forthcoming conference, the MSP will offer more details on what some analysts have described as a 'third way' to settle a long-standing problem that seriously affects northwest Africa and the southern shores of the Mediterranean.
