Toledo (Spain), 2 December 2023 (SPS) – The 47th Conference of the European Coordination for the Support and Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO) got underway late Friday afternoon at the Toledo Congress Centre (Spain), with the participation of several delegations from around the world.
Themed “Independence Is the Only Solution”, the conference will address the latest events related to the Sahrawi question, define the actions to be taken during 2024 and analyze the challenges that the movement of solidarity with the Sahrawi people should take up.
Around 300 participants, including representatives of governments recognizing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), MEPs and elected representatives, political and trade union organizations, associations of friendship with the Sahrawi people, NGOs, lawyers and cultural figures are participating in the event.
After a welcoming address by the local authorities of Toledo, the opening session was marked by a speech by the Sahrawi Prime Minister, Bouchraya Hamoudi Bayoun, who expressed the determination of the Sahrawi people to continue the struggle until independence.
In this respect, he recalled that it was the international community that had decided to organize a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara, which the Sahrawi people are still waiting to see implemented.
“No solution other than the referendum can be applied to Western Sahara, and those who claim otherwise are against international legality and international law,” he assured.
He stated that all the political, military and diplomatic support given by Western countries will not be able to divert the Sahrawi people from their goals of self-determination and independence.
It was Morocco that forced us to resume the armed struggle by violating the ceasefire that came into force in 1991 between the Polisario Front and Morocco, without the slightest condemnation from Western countries and the United Nations,” he also regretted, noting that the Polisario Front was determined to defend the rights of the Sahrawi people with all possible means.
It should be noted that the first day of the EUCOCO Conference will be marked by the formation of four workshops dealing with different themes linked to the Sahrawi question, namely
“Politics and Communication,” “Human rights and Saharawi Political Prisoners,” “The Sahrawi Natural Resources” and the “Consolidation of the Sahrawi state.”
These workshops will focus primarily on assessing the work carried out since the 46th conference held in Berlin a year ago.
In addition, a program will be drawn up for the coming year for each of the themes dealt with in the four workshops, after which the conference will reconvene in plenary to hear the outcomes of the workshops. A final declaration will be issued tomorrow, Saturday, at the closing ceremony the 47th EUCOCO.
