The prime minister of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (RASD), Bucharaya Hamudi Beyun, argues that the executive that emerges from the elections on November 29 in Spain has the capacity to spearhead a way out of the conflict in Western Sahara and to "repair the damage" caused to the Sahrawi people five decades ago with the withdrawal of what had been a Spanish province.
For the head of the Polisario Front, there is now "an opportunity for Spain to lead a solution process" regarding a territory that it administered until 1976. "With that, it would clean up its face" after half a century in which "no one had the courage to repair the injustice" committed against the Sahrawis, who saw their land later occupied by Morocco, which today maintains control of three-quarters of the territory.
In an interview with Europa Press during his participation in EUCOCO, the European conference of solidarity with the Sahrawi people that has been held in Madrid for its 50th edition, Hamudi stressed that, with the elections so close, "Spain is now better positioned than anyone to lead a solution in accordance with International Law".
"With that it would repair that damage it did, that injustice; with that it would solve a problem that is creating a lot of tension in the region, in North Africa and the southern shore of the Mediterranean," he said, insisting on the destabilizing consequences of the conflict.
"We ask any party that is victorious in the elections of November 29 to lead a solution in accordance with International Law," the Sahrawi prime minister said, underscoring that Spain still remains the power administering de iure and that it did not complete decolonization, given that Western Sahara continues to be included in the UN list of non-self-governing territories.
Failure of the Moroccan autonomy track
Asked about a possible victory by the PSOE, which the Polisario accuses of "betrayal" for supporting Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, or of a PP government with Vox, Hamudi indicates that he is putting forward "an idea" in general terms, but he emphasizes that the autonomy option is exhausted.
In his judgment, this became evident last October 30 in the UN Security Council, when Russia vetoed the resolution promoted by the United States that sought to enshrine the autonomy plan as the only way out of the conflict and proposed modifying the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO) to remove the 'R' relating to the pending consultation.
"Pedro Sánchez and any politician in Spain knows that that route failed, autonomy failed," he has reiterated, stressing that even Washington has not managed to impose it in the Security Council, so "we have to look for other alternatives."
Call to the PP and criticism of the 2022 turnaround
With regard to the PP, whose electoral program released this week does not include reversing the support for the Moroccan autonomy plan assumed by Pedro Sánchez in 2022, Hamudi calls on Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party to "be consistent with the position they have always defended that it is International Law and the application of International Law."
"That is what the PP has always said and I hope that if it wins, at 99, it will be consistent with that policy and that discourse," he added, reiterating that the proposal for an autonomy of Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty has proven its failure.
On the other hand, the head of government of the RASD has pointed out that the eventual disappearance of MINURSO would not mean that the "right of self-determination of the Sahrawis" has been resolved and he predicts that the most likely scenario is "an escalation in the actions involving armed conflict."
In this context, he has rejected the idea that Morocco is committed to the ceasefire — which the Polisario declared broken in November 2020 — despite the words of Mohamed VI, since "they are mobilizing troops, they are regrouping troops and it is surely going to a greater escalation in the war."
He considers this reaction to be "understandable" in the face of "failure they have suffered in the Security Council" after "they have invested all their capabilities" to "buy countries" and consolidate a solution that would legitimize the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. "That did not happen and surely their reaction will be to try to invade the territory" that was liberated and which the Polisario controls to the east of the wall, he warned.
Prepared to respond militarily
In this scenario, Hamudi emphasizes that the Sahrawi people are ready to stand their ground. "I know we cannot compare ourselves in terms of men and materiel, but our bet is on the quality of the Sahrawi fighter compared with the Moroccan soldier." His "advantage," he has said, lies in the fact that the Sahrawis fight for a "just cause," unlike the Moroccans, who "fight for a cause that is not theirs."
Within this framework is placed the call for the "general mobilization" decreed this week by the president of the RASD and secretary general of the Polisario, Brahim Ghali, who for this reason has not been able to travel to Madrid to intervene in EUCOCO as planned.
As Hamudi has detailed, this call implies that "all Sahrawis must join their positions of struggle: the fighter at the front, the teacher in the school, the nurse in the hospital, the doctor in the hospital..."
He has stressed that hospitals and educational centers "are very important positions of combat, as much as the one that is at the front with a rifle." All basic services must be maintained and the fighters need the assurance that their families will have the water and food necessary, he has reiterated.
Willingness for dialogue with Morocco
At the same time, the Polisario leader insists that they do not close the door to a negotiated outcome with Rabat. "In the Sahrawi people we are willing to negotiate solutions today, tomorrow, as long as the right to self-determination is respected," he has clarified.
Hamudi has stressed that they are "willing to share the bill of peace" and to take into account "the interest" of Morocco, but without this implying going "to the detriment of the Sahrawis' right to self-determination," as, he denounces, has been attempted by trying to impose autonomy.
He has recalled that in previous stages the negotiating approach focused on the idea that "the Sahrawis accept autonomy and that is why it failed." For this reason, he has insisted that "they have to think that there is a need to seek another path because that path leads to nothing," and points out that there Spain could play a relevant role, after the failure of the United States, which in the last year promoted three rounds of talks between the parties, with the participation also of Algeria, the main support of the Polisario, and Mauritania.