(ANSAmed) – RABAT- Moroccan ambassador to the UN Mohamed Loulichki told journalist Christine Amanpour that the possibility of holding a referendum in the Moroccan Sahara had been rejected by the United Nations due to its ”inapplicability”. He was speaking as an invited guest on CNN International.
He said that ”we did accept a referendum and we did cooperate with the United Nations to implement a referendum between 1991 and 2000. In 2000, the impossibility of getting the electoral body,” led the United Nations ”to conclude that the referendum is not applicable for obvious reasons.” Loulichki said that Morocco had always complied with the United Nations conclusions and had committed itself to working to find a mutually acceptable and realistic solution. ”We want a negotiated settlement,” he said. ”We will negotiate and at the end of the day, we will go to the population and put the results of our negotiation and say, do you accept this outcome?” ”We have so many challenges that do not challenge only Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and the Sahara countries, but also challenge Europe and the United States. Terrorism is gaining ground in this part of Africa that is neighboring to Morocco.” As concerns the humanitarian side of the issue, the ambassador said that he considered those in the Western Sahara his ”brothers and sisters”, and that the country wanted them to contribute to building a new, democratic Morocco in which all human rights will be guaranteed. (ANSAmed).
