Russia came out this Tuesday in defense of the veto it exercised at the end of last month against the draft resolution proposal by the United States on Western Sahara, alleging that the text promoted by Washington ignored and even “completely marginalized” the aspirations for self-determination of the Sahrawi people by imposing the Moroccan autonomy plan as the only way out of the conflict, an initiative which, according to Moscow, deprives the Sahrawi population of its historical claims.
The Russian representative, Anna Evstigneeva, has pointed out that the drafts drawn up by the United States sought to turn the Sahrawi people into a collective of “refugees” without historical demands and “in terms not agreed with the Frente Polisario,” an organization that acts as the political representative of the demands for self-determination of Western Sahara. In her view, “reducing a historical issue on decolonization to a closed political-humanitarian plot would shut the door on the Sahrawi population to seek alternative solutions in pursuit of its own destiny.”
Moscow assures that it respects the joint position of the United States and Morocco, but it holds that it had no choice but to resort to the veto in the face of an initiative which, in its successive drafts, “not only has ignored, but has marginalized” the Frente Polisario, which it considers an essential actor that embodies the aspirations for self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
At the same time, Russia argues that it tried to keep operational the UN mission in the area, MINURSO, whose mandate ended up expiring due to the lack of agreement between Moscow and Washington. “We proposed a ‘dry’ document on the possible one-year extension of the mission(…) an opportunity to save MINURSO that ended up being rejected because of the hypocrisy of the West,” Evstigneeva has denounced, regretting that the proposal did not move forward.
In her speech, the diplomat has insisted that "The solutions to ensure genuine autonomy must be aligned with the aspirations of the Sahrawi people themselves, respect their dignity and their right to a fair resolution of the protracted conflict, and not be presented as the only possible solution". She has also emphasized that "Any predetermined outcome, hasty approach, or fast-solution modus operandi are the recipe for failure", without responding to the harsh accusations made moments earlier by the Moroccan ambassador, Omar Hilale, who had blamed Algeria for the blockade.
For its part, the Algerian delegation, a close ally of the Sahrawi people, has backed that vision. "The question of Western Sahara remains an issue of decolonization," the spokesperson for Algeria before the General Assembly said, underscoring that the status of the territory continues to be pending a solution consistent with international law.