US reiterates support for Morocco’s autonomy plan

RABAT - US Deputy Assistant Secretary Joshua Harris reiterated on Thursday his country’s support for Morocco’s autonomy plan as a "serious, credible and realistic" solution to the Sahara conflict.

"The United States continues to view Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as serious, credible and realistic," the US Embassy in Rabat said in a press release following Harris’ talks with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.

The senior US official reaffirmed the deep and historic partnership between the US and Morocco.

Harris, whose visit to Rabat is part of a regional tour to Morocco and Algeria, also underscored US appreciation for Morocco’s crucial efforts on a wide range of regional and global challenges, including addressing instability in the Sahel, supporting Libyan elections, and promoting equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.

He affirmed full US support for the UN Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura, and discussed the importance of engagement with the Personal Envoy in a spirit of realism and compromise, as he intensifies efforts to achieve an enduring and dignified political solution for the Sahara. 

Africa Watch denounces violations of Sahrawis’ rights in Tindouf camps

Harris’ visit to the two North African countries comes as the non-governmental organisation Africa Watch denounced in a report the fate of Sahrawi refugees in the area controlled by the separatist Polisario Front and Algeria. 

The NGO denounced the abuses against the Sahrawi population in Tindouf and the "various violations" suffered by the Sahrawis in the camps of this Algerian region outside any international protection, due to their lack of legal refugee status because of the absence of counting and registration since the creation of the settlements in 1975. 

Africa Watch highlighted "the serious violations committed in and around the camps by the leaders of the Polisario Front and members of the Algerian army stationed in the Tindouf region, as well as the oppression, harassment and manifestations of slavery and attempts to silence human rights defenders and activists in the camps.

As Africa Watch reports, under the protection of the host country, the Polisario Front continues to characterize victims of prolonged detention in its secret prisons as traitors and agents of foreign parties, claiming that their detention is nothing more than the detention of persons involved in crimes or suspects.

"Despite the cross-checking of testimonies, the identification of the names of the executioners, the location of secret detention centers, as well as the testimonies of the surviving victims, the Algerian state still refuses to provide information on the extrajudicial executions committed by the security services, Algerian security forces or the Polisario Front against isolated Sahrawis, who only criticized the ideas of the Polisario and the way the camps are run or who claimed their rights under the relevant international conventions," said the NGO in its report.

Africa Watch said that several young Sahrawis were shot dead by elements of the Algerian army on the Algerian-Mauritanian border and near the Tindouf camps. 

“The systematic nature of the assassinations committed by the Algerian army and gendarmerie against Sahrawi refugees is clearly demonstrated by the frequency of these cases over short periods of time without any punitive measures being taken against the perpetrators of these violations,” it added.