Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Calls For Corporation From Zimbabwe As They Declare Full-fledged War Against Morocco, Will ED Send Our Army?
25 November 2020
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Paul Nyathi

Saharawi Republic Embassy Deputy Head of Mission to Zimbabwe Mr Hamahu-Allah Mohamed

Known to some as Africa’s last colony, nearly 80 per cent of Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco back in 1975. A smaller area is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a liberation movement of Saharan people. At the weekend, their army broke a 29-year-old ceasefire and declared war on Morocco.

After the departure of Spanish colonial power in the 1970s, Morocco annexed over three-quarters of Western Sahara. Supported by Algeria, the Polisario Front is the national liberation movement of the Saharawi people which controls the rest.

In 1991, the UN-brokered a cease-fire between Moroccans and Sahrawis and established a peacekeeping mission that would help set a referendum on the territory’s future. But it has never taken place.

As the war brakes out, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has called for greater cooperation with Zimbabwe and the rest of the continent as they appealed to the African Union to stop Moroccan aggression.

Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Hamahu-Allah Mohamed made the call for Zimbabwe’s help in Harare on Tuesday.

In a statement, Ambassador Hamahu-Allah Mohamed said African leaders cannot continue to fail the people of Western Sahara, the only nation on the continent under colonisation, and should unrelentingly persist to make clarion calls to the world that enough is enough.

African Heads of State and Government are on record calling Morocco to live up to the principles of the AU’s Constitutive Act which it acceded to when it rejoined the continental body in 2017 and which stipulates that member states should respect Borders existing on achievement of independence.

“Zimbabwe is our sister country, so the friendship which binds us with Zimbabwe dates back to the colonial era. We both have been colonised by foreign powers. We both struggled for independence. Zimbabwe is one of our strongest allies in Africa,” he said.

“There are some really positive developments in the nation. I was telling my friends back in my country, that Zimbabwe is a peaceful nation. When I am in Zimbabwe I feel safe. I feel at home. If you don’t have peace and security in the country there is no development, there is no progress,” he said.

“We hope to open trade links between the two countries. Once we get independence definitely we will open business opportunities. They will be economic cooperation between the two countries. We don’t forget the people who are behind us, helping us in asking for our rights,” he said.

African Heads of State and Government are on record calling Morocco to live up to the principles of the AU’s Constitutive Act which it acceded to when it rejoined the continental body in 2017 and which stipulates that member states should respect Borders existing on achievement of independence.

Meanwhile, the UN and the European Union are calling for the respect of the ceasefire to not revive a conflict that has been frozen for decades.