Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ammar Benjamea, yesterday evening, Friday in New York, reaffirmed that self-determination for the Sahrawi people has always remained a basic reference for resolving the conflict in Western Sahara.
This came in Ben Jama’s speech, during a session of the UN Security Council to vote on a draft resolution on Western Sahara during which Russia used its veto power, in which he reaffirmed that “self-determination has always been a basic reference for resolving the conflict in Western Sahara,” adding that “this is the most recent, clearest, and unquestionable picture of a people freely exercising their choice for their future.”
Ben Jamaa thanked Russia, which presented the draft resolution to technically extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission to Organize the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), along with all member states that chose not to be associated with “such an obvious injustice,” which he said was “a clear stain on the foundations of our organization.”
Ben Jamaa explained, “Algeria requested to participate in this meeting in its capacity as a neighboring country affected by the conflict that has been going on for fifty years in Western Sahara, which is a source of tension in our region, and as a country hosting hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi refugees, providing them with assistance and protection as long as they remain deprived of their right to self-determination, and also as a member state of the United Nations that respects international legitimacy and adheres to respecting the charter, principles and purposes of this organization.”
Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, used its veto, which led to the dropping of the draft resolution on Western Sahara.
