“The latest developments in the national question”…subject of a press conference in Zaida, Midelt region

Heba Press – Midelt

The Zaida Youth Training and Capacity Building Center, Midelt province, organized, on Monday evening, August 19, a press conference on the theme “The latest developments in the national question”, under the supervision of members of the Moroccan Organization for Supporting Autonomy in the Moroccan Sahara, as part of the activities of the second edition of the Peace and Tolerance Festival of Moroccans around the World, which Zaida will host from August 19 to 21, 2024.

In his opening speech at the press conference, the head of the regional branch of the organization in Midelt, Mr. Hamou Hadi, said that one of the objectives of creating the regional branch of the Moroccan Organization for Supporting Autonomy in the Moroccan Sahara within the newly created Midelt is to defend national issues at the local and regional levels.

He stressed that the organization of this conference is part of the context of ongoing diplomatic developments and the victories won by the Kingdom of Morocco in the issue of the Moroccan Sahara, thanks to the various official and parallel concerted diplomatic efforts, particularly on the part of members of the Moroccan community residing abroad.

In the first intervention of this conference, the National General Coordinator of the Moroccan Organization for Supporting Autonomy in the Moroccan Sahara, Mr. Abdel Karim Hasso, indicated that the context in which this press conference is organized calls for celebrating the members of the Moroccan community residing abroad as ambassadors of the Kingdom of Morocco in all regions of the world and representing their country, Morocco, with their high values ​​and morals in all areas.

Regarding the theme of the press conference, the General Coordinator of the organization indicated that the issue of the Moroccan Sahara has experienced several positive developments at the international level in recent years, thanks to the royal patronage and the collaboration of various official and parallel diplomats. efforts and thanks to the permanent and continuous popular support, which have resulted in obtaining many victories and diplomatic achievements during the national question, the most notable of which was the decision of the United States of America to officially recognize the Moroccan Sahara.

Al-Sayyed Wahso added that this recognition constitutes support for the autonomy proposal presented by Morocco, in addition to changing the positions of many important countries in Europe, and their support for the autonomy proposal, in parallel with the withdrawal of many countries from the African Union and Latin American countries from their recognition of the fictitious republic, and this resulted in the development of the positive aspects of the Security Council resolutions, especially the recent resolution No. 2703.

The same speaker noted that Moroccan foreign policy has won several important diplomatic victories in recent years, culminating in the opening of several foreign consulates in the southern provinces of Laayoune and Dakhla.

Mr. Ahso stressed that all these efforts made and the achievements that our country has achieved today require everyone to make more efforts and mobilize more support for our national cause, in order to consolidate the achievements and prevent the enemies of national unity from losing this opportunity. and this requires the need to strengthen coordination between all economic and social actors and government, political and civil actors, as well as good planning to build a harmonious, united and supportive position for the benefit of the national cause, aimed at consolidating the achievements and strengthening diplomatic victories.

At the end of his speech, he recalled an excerpt from the speech of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God protect him, at the opening of the first session of the third legislative year of the ninth legislature: “Here is the Sahara This issue is not only the responsibility of the king of the country, but it is also the business of everyone: the institutions of the State, the Parliament and the elected councils, all political, union and economic activities, civil society organizations, the media, etc. citizens. Here, we must recall, once again, that the source of our strength in defending our desert lies in the consensus of all components of the Moroccan people concerning its sacred things.

In a second intervention at the conference, the professor, researcher in history and cultural heritage and member of the organization, Mr. Ali Al-Maazawy, addressed the theme of “The problem of the borders between Algeria and Morocco, from the battle of Islay to the war of the Sands.

In his speech, he presented a historical timeline of the establishment of the Moroccan state from the Almoravids, then the Almohads, then the Merinids and Saadians, to the honorable Alawite state, emphasizing its geographical extensions. He mentioned that Algeria was part of the Moroccan state at the time of the Almoravids and Almohads, until it was subjected to the Ottoman Empire, which sold it to France in 1830.

He stressed that the roots of the artificial conflict over the Moroccan Sahara date back to the Battle of Islay in 1844, which Morocco fought in solidarity with Algeria, then at the center of various foreign ambitions, thus embodying its strong and enduring belief in the unity of the destiny of the Maghreb.

The speaker referred to the famous “Oued Ras” treaty of 1860, in which Spain imposed harsh conditions on Morocco, which historians consider to be the beginning that paved the way for European colonial ambitions in Morocco, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Protection in 1860. 1912.

After 45 years of French colonization of Morocco, the same speaker added, Morocco gained its independence from France in 1956, so France proposed to Morocco to begin negotiations to resolve the border dispute between Morocco and Algeria, according to which Morocco would regain what had been cut off from its Eastern Sahara in exchange for Morocco ceasing its support for the Algerian liberation movement, but King Mohammed V then rejected the French offer, stressing that the border problem would be resolved with the Algerian authorities after Algeria’s independence from France.

Professor Maezaoui then referred to the agreement that King Hassan II signed with Farhat Abbas, Prime Minister of the interim government of the Algerian Republic, in 1961, according to which he recognized the existence of a border problem between the two countries and stipulated the need to begin negotiations to resolve it upon Algeria’s independence.

However, upon Algeria’s independence in 1962, President Ben Bella disavowed the agreement signed between Morocco and the interim Algerian government on the status of the borders between the two countries, created by French colonialism, leading to the outbreak of war known as the Sand War in 1963, which lasted a few days before the fighting stopped on November 5, 1963. The efforts of the Arab League and the Organization of African Unity resulted in the signing of a final ceasefire agreement on February 20, 1964.

He concluded his speech by recalling that Morocco organized the Green March in 1975, in which around 350,000 people participated and entered the regions of the Moroccan Sahara, thus ending the presence of Spanish colonialism in the region.