Stage in Paraguay
The Saharawi Movement for Peace (MSP) has continued in recent days its intense agenda in the Southern Cone of America, with a delegation formed by the first secretary Hach Ahmed Bericalla and the head of International Relations Mohamed Cherif, who met with political personalities, academics and media in Argentina and Paraguay.
The delegation took part in a debate organised at the headquarters of the National Defence University of Argentina. Entitled “Dialogue for peace in the current context”, the conference was organised by the University in collaboration with the International Committee for Dialogue and Peace (CIDP).
Speeches were given by the rector of the Universidad de la Defensa, Dr. Julio C. Spota, Hach Ahmed Bericalla, first secretary of the Sahrawi Peace Movement, and Dr. Adalberto C. Agozino, coordinating secretary of the International Committee for Dialogue and Peace.
Julio C. Spota acted as moderator of the meeting. Introducing the speakers, he spoke of the importance of Africa as the continent of the future, pointing out that Argentina should give greater importance to the African continent as its neighbour on the other side of the Atlantic, stressing that, although Africa is far from Latin America, China is much further away, and yet relations with the Asian giant are being strengthened.
He then proceeded to stress that the Ministry of Defence wished to enhance the international links of the Defence University, especially by creating links with Africa, and therefore welcomed the presence of Hach Ahmed Bericalla, whom he described as “a fighter for peace”.
He then referred to Dr. Adalberto Agozino, whom he described as one of the greatest specialists on Africa in Argentina.
In his speech, Mr. Bericalla began by giving a brief overview of the genesis of the Sahara conflict, the oldest in Africa and “which after fifty years is now considered a low-intensity conflict”.
MSP
All of this after indicating that there is no Saharawi family that has not lost loved ones in a war that should never have been fought from the beginning and to which “a just and lasting compromise solution with international guarantees must be found as soon as possible”.
Addressing the emergence of the MSP, he stated that it was the result of an exhaustive debate involving many people, civilians, military, ex-diplomats who had belonged to the Polisario Front and others who never identified with the old movement, highlighting the role of the descendants of the members of the Sahara Assembly from the Spanish era and representatives of the traditional Saharawi authority.
He stated that in the face of the Polisario Front leadership’s refusal to open a dialogue or internal debate to reconsider and change course, “we decided to break away and create a Sahrawi political organisation to be able to influence the course of events”. For Hach Ahmed, “the MSP was born with the exclusive mission of contributing to the peaceful solution to get our people out of the quagmire by ceasing to pursue a mirage and the fantasy of an impossible military victory”.
Hach Ahmed said that the MSP’s proposed solution, its moderate approach and its commitment to a peaceful solution “have struck a chord with the Saharawi population both inside and outside the Tindouf camps”. “Proof of this is the total support expressed by tribal notables for the vision and efforts of the MSP,” he said.
MSP
Finally, he stated that the MSP has a draft Special Status for the Sahara ready to be put on the negotiating table out of the conviction that there is no alternative to the journey to nowhere to which the autocratic leadership of the Polisario has been leading the Saharawis for the last fifty years.
Adalberto C. Agozino, for his part, referred to the genesis of the Saharawi Movement for Peace, the reasons that gave rise to it and the international support that the new organisation enjoys. He stressed that its emergence put an end to the scheme of “single party” and “sole representative of the Saharawi people” that the Polisario Front has tried to impose.
Dr Agozino concluded his presentation by pointing out that while the Polisario Front is part of the past, the Saharawi Peace Movement is part of the future that lies ahead in the Sahara conflict.
This was followed by meetings of the members of the MSP delegation with Argentinean socialist leaders and a visit to the University of La Plata.
During its stay in Buenos Aires, the MSP delegation, on its working visit to Argentina, held meetings with several leaders of the Radical Civic Union Party, among them Mario Alejandro Scholz, with whom the Sahara problem was discussed and the need to support the vision and approach of the MSP based on dialogue and peaceful means to reach a just and lasting solution under international guarantees.
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The talks also covered the candidature of the MSP as an observer member of the Socialist International. The Saharawi officials insisted on the desirability for the Socialist International to recognise the MSP as an independent and genuine political organisation representing important sectors of the Saharawi population who have left or never identified themselves with the Polisario and its totalitarian postulates and methods.
It should be recalled that the Socialist Party of Argentina and the Radical Civic Union of Argentina are members of the Socialist International.
On the other hand, the delegation was received in the City of La Plata by the Board of the National University headed by the Secretary of Institutional Relations, Javier Mor Roig, who at the same time is a member of the Radical Party of the City Council of the City of La Plata.
The meeting discussed the problem of Western Sahara from its origins and the emergence of the MSP as a political force with a vocation for peace and committed to finding a solution without winners or losers to a conflict that has lasted more than half a century.
The two parties agreed to plan future discussions and conferences on the Saharawi dispute.
Stage in Paraguay
After the working visit to Argentina, the delegation of the MSP continued its tour of South America, with a next stop in Paraguay. The MSP delegation visited the capital Asunción as part of a visit organised by the International Committee for Dialogue for Peace and the Saharawi Peace Movement itself. Hach Ahmed Bericalla and Mohamed Cherif carried out an intense day in the city of Asunción, which included interviews to present and disseminate the activities of the Movement and a keynote speech to students of the Institute of Higher Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Defence of Paraguay.
These representatives met with the following Paraguayan officials and legislators:
1.- National Senator Silvio Ovelar, President of the National Congress and President of the Honourable Chamber of Senators.
Hach Ahmed with Silvio Ovelar, the president of the Senate of Paraguay
2.- National Senator Eber Villalba, vice-president of the Education Commission of the Honourable Chamber of Senators.
3.- National Deputy Carlos Arrechea, first vice-president in exercise of the Presidency of the Honourable Chamber of Deputies, accompanied by National Deputy Arnaldo Valdez.
4.- National Senator Antonio Barrios, Vice-President in exercise of the Presidency of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Honourable Chamber of Senators.
5.- National Deputy Juan Manuel Añazco, President of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Honourable Chamber of Deputies.
6.- Rear Admiral Cibar Benítez, Minister/Secretary of the National Defence Council of the Presidency of the Republic.
Mohamed Cherif avec Cibar Benítez, ministre secrétaire du Conseil de Défense du Paraguay
Mohamed Cherif with Cibar Benítez, minister secretary of the Defense Council of Paraguay
7.- Major General Edwin Martínez, Director General of the Instituto de Altos Estudios Estratégicos.
To conclude the day with a master conference at the Institute for Advanced Strategic Studies (IAEE) for students and teachers of the Master’s Programme in Strategic Planning and National Leadership. The students of the Master’s Programme are high-ranking officers of the Paraguayan Armed Forces, military attachés accredited in Asunción and deputy ministers from various ministries.
All the exchanges with the various legislators and officials, as well as the text of Hach Ahmed’s lecture, had a common thread. The first secretary of the MSP made a very brief reference to the origin and current situation of the Sahara Conflict, pointing out the stagnation of negotiations and the intransigence of the parties (Morocco and the Polisario Front), the genesis of the MSP and its plan to reach a just, realistic and possible solution to this dispute based on the acceptance of the proposal for a Statute of Autonomy for Western Sahara presented by the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations in 2007, which the MSP considers a good starting point for the settlement.
Hach Ahmed also mentioned the existence of a plan for the implementation of this proposal that had been presented at the MSP meeting held in Dakar, Senegal, in October 2023.
Asked by one of the Paraguayan legislators about the state of relations between Morocco and Algeria, the first secretary of the PSM described the historical geopolitical rivalry between the two states and the increase in tensions and the arms race after 2022.
MSP
The members of the International Committee for Dialogue and Peace, the organising body of the Saharawi leader’s tour, for their part, described the process that led to the creation of the CIDP, the nature of its members, its objectives and the activities it carries out. They clarified that its purpose is not limited to the MSP, but that the CIDP aims to promote other causes and organisations that promote peace in the world.
Thus concluded the South American tour of the MSP delegation, which began in Argentina and ended in Paraguay, leaving a positive balance of new relations and support for this peaceful and democratic third way that aims to bring the Sahara conflict out of its stagnation and promote peace in the world.
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Publish date : 2024-05-25 03:00:00
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