After Morocco celebrated the UN’s support for its plan for Western Sahara on October 31, the country’s king, Mohamed VI, has decreed this day as a national holiday. A decision that has been directly linked to the recent support of the UN Security Council for the Moroccan proposal for autonomy for the Western Sahara region. As reported by the agency Europa Pressthe Moroccan Royal House has issued a statement detailing that this new holiday, called “Aid al Wahda” or Unity Festivalwill be celebrated every year on that date and will be accompanied by the granting of royal pardons.
The statement, collected by the MAP news agency and distributed by Europa Pressemphasizes that the establishment of this day responds to the “historic turn” that the Moroccan national question has experienced after the Security Council resolution. In the words of the official text, “it has been decided to decree October 31 of each year as a national holiday and an occasion during which His Majesty grants his pardon.” The Royal House has specified that the new festival “involves meanings and references to the national unity and to the unbreakable territorial integrity of the kingdom.” In addition, he has indicated that it will be “a national occasion of unity to express attachment to the national sacredness of the kingdom and its legitimate rights.”
International support for Morocco’s proposal has been interpreted by Mohamed VI as a turning point in the Western Sahara conflict. After the vote in the Security Council, the monarch addressed a speech to the nation in which he assured that the country has begun “a new and victorious chapter” after more than fifty years of dispute in the former Spanish colony, according to the communication agency.
The response of the Polisario Front has not been long in coming. Its leader has warned that the organization will not participate in any negotiation process that excludes the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
Almost fifty years ago, on November 6, 1975, the Green March marked a turning point in the history of Western Sahara. Some 350,000 Moroccans, mobilized by the King Hassan IIcrossed the border of the then Spanish province with the aim of preventing its independence. Spain, at that time, had 14 days left to get rid of the dictator Francisco Franco.
Morocco has always considered Western Sahara as its own, while Spain, in the process of withdrawal, had committed to guaranteeing the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi population.
The process of decolonization of Western Sahara began formally in August 1974, when the Spanish Government accepted the UN proposal to organize a self-determination referendum. It became complicated when the UN General Assembly, at the request of Morocco, asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to clarify the legal situation of the territory before the Spanish colonizationin particular, if it was considered ‘res nullius’, that is, “nobody’s thing.” While awaiting the ruling of the ICJ, the UN asked Spain to suspend the referendum and sent an observation commission to Western Sahara, which also visited Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania to gather the opinions of the inhabitants and the countries involved.
