The Saharawi delegate for Spain, Abdullah Arabi, appears at a press conference at the Saharawi Delegation for Spain, this Monday in Madrid.Alejandro Martínez Vélez (Europa Press)
The Polisario Front has considered this Monday that "far from helping", Spain's new position with respect to Western Sahara supposes "four steps backwards" that seriously complicates the work of the UN special envoy, Staffan de Mistura.
This was stated at a press conference by the representative of the Polisario Front for Spain, Abdullah Arabi, who lamented Spain's decision to "side with Morocco" against Saharawi interests.
The PSOE partner in the Government, Podemos, has asked Pedro Sánchez to reconsider the turn in international politics and thus return to the previous consensus, the call for a referendum in the former Spanish colony.
For Arabi, Spain has made a mistake by siding with Morocco, breaking a consensus that had lasted 46 years, placing itself outside international legality and excluding itself from the mediating role in the conflict.
For this reason, the Polisario Front has decided to suspend its political relations with Spain, as announced this Sunday, although not humanitarian and solidarity relations.
Thus, Arabi has thanked the Spaniards for their great solidarity with the Saharawis and their attitude to all the political parties (except the PSOE) that have been opposed in Congress to the new position of the Government in favor of the autonomy process for the Sahara .
According to the Polisario Front, the only solution to the conflict with Morocco is for the Saharawi people to decide in a referendum since, the organization understands, "no country, no matter how big, can change the legal situation of another".
“The Sahara and its natural wealth cannot be the subject of any agreement between two countries, he underlined after recalling that Spain continues to be the power responsible for some territories that are still in the process of decolonization.
Arabi has pointed out that both the High Court of Justice of the EU and the African Union recognize the Sahara as an independent state that must decide its own future, so "if Spanish fishermen want to continue fishing in the waters of the Sahara they must negotiate with the Sahara”.
Thus, the Polisario representative thanked the Spaniards for their solidarity with the Saharawis and their attitude to all the political parties (except the PSOE) that have been opposed to the new position of the Government in favor of the autonomy process for the Sahara.
Podemos has demanded the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to reflect and return to the traditional consensus of defense of the referendum for Western Sahara, after the pronouncement of Congress in this way and the suspension of relations with the Executive announced by the Polisario Front this end. of week.
The secretary of Institutional Action of the formation, María Teresa Pérez, has indicated that she is concerned about the president's position on this international matter, with a change of position that Algeria does not share either.
Pérez has commented that although the PSOE alleges that it has not undertaken a change of position, the Socialists voted against last week the non-law proposal that urges to continue in line with the United Nations resolutions, international law and the defense of the self-determination of the Saharawi people.
