2nd International Conference on the Sahara: The Sahrawi Peace Movement asks the UN to include it in the process of negotiating a solution for the Sahara

The second day of the international conference for dialogue and peace in Dakar continued at the same pace; All speakers praised the Sahrawi Peace Movement (MSP) initiative aimed at promoting the resolution of the conflict in the Sahara to establish lasting peace and stability in the region.

To this end, the Ambassador of Chad, Zakaria Ousmane, recalled that the genesis of the Western Sahara conflict is known, and now it’s time to seek peace. The diplomat noted that traditional and customary authorities are better placed to talk about peace.

According to Zakaria Ousmane, peace can only be achieved through cooperation between different actors, namely civil society, the media, traditional and tribal leaders, as well as regional actors.

For her part, Esther Lum Ntola, from the United Nations Peace University, stressed that the Sahara needs coexistence and cooperation between peoples, noting that peace is necessary for the development of the continent.

The Chilean parliamentarian, Mr Raul Leiva, cited his origins to present himself as a witness to troubled times when peace was constantly called into question. He stressed the importance of dialogue, tolerance, and the ability to understand the position of adversaries to resolve conflicts, thus praising the role of the MSP in promoting peace through dialogue.

His compatriot, MP Andres Longton praised the commitment of the Sahrawi Peace Movement as an actor seeking solutions outside of violence. He, thus, called on the Sahrawis to opt for a constructive dialogue with a view to reaching a peaceful solution, evoking the autonomy proposal made by His Majesty King Mohamed VI in 2007, while emphasizing that good governance is characterized by the ability to abandon personal interests for the common well-being.

The two Chilean deputies, Andres Longton (National Renovation) and Raul Leiva (socialist) announced, during their intervention, that they will carry the message of the Sahrawi Movement for Peace in Chile.

At the of the Conference, Dakar Declaration has been adopted, through which the Sahrawi Movement for Peace expanded its proposal to negotiate with Morocco concrete measures to give substance to the autonomy proposed by Rabat to the United Nations as formula to achieve a credible, truthful and acceptable solution to the Sahara conflict for all.

According to the Dakar declaration, the creation of the MSP, April 22, 2020 constitutes the start of the peace march. Thus, it turned out that it is necessary and essential to promote initiatives through which the uninterrupted path towards the end of the conflict is shorter, to put an end to the suffering and the horrors of war.

In this context, the Dakar Declaration calls for:
• Support “the Sahrawi Movement for Peace” in its efforts to consolidate itself as the necessary “third way”, as evidenced by its clear and defined roadmap, its moderate approach and its realistic proposal in order to achieve a peaceful solution, without winners or losers. We must all convince those who still insist on the practice of “guerrilla warfare”, sending young people desperate by poverty and lack of horizon towards certain death, to reconsider and turn away from the paths of suicide. The Polisario, which we invited, rejected our invitation to dialogue for the second time, ignoring the fact that the title of “single representation and single party” was buried with the penultimate totalitarianisms of the last century.
• Create African platforms for peace in Africa, involving intellectuals, politicians and experts from various countries. In support of the efforts of the AU and UN institutions mobilized in Europe and Latin America, so that the Movement can consolidate itself as a “third way” and be able to contribute to the peaceful solution of the problem.
• Urge the UN Secretary General to persuade his Personal Envoy to invite and include in the political process our Sahrawi Peace Movement, as well as the representatives of the Sahrawi traditional authority, represented by the notables and the Chioukh.
• Urge the governments of influential countries, notably the United States, Spain or the European Union, to recognize the Sahrawi Peace Movement as a necessary interlocutor in the search for a peaceful solution to the Sahara problem and advise it Personal envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan De Mistura to explore other avenues and democratize the political process by incorporating other actors, new political currents, members of traditional authority and representatives of civil society.
• Welcome the initiative of creating the “Sahrawi Commission for Dialogue and Peace” resulting from this Dakar Conference, made up of representatives of the different political currents and notables of the territory, as well as the Sahrawi refugee camps. It should be remembered that the creation of this commission was one of the proposals of the Conference, held last year in Las Palmas, therefore, we must put it on the agenda immediately.
• Ask the Moroccan authorities, if the peace efforts and the mission of Staffan de Mistura do not prosper, to open channels of dialogue with the Sahrawi Commission for Dialogue and Peace in order to explore the possibilities of a definitive agreement, whose starting point is the 2007 autonomy proposal as a basis for a compromise solution.
• Thank the Senegalese authorities and the African Center for Strategic Intelligence for their collaboration in the organization and running of the Conference in the best conditions and whose resolutions and recommendations will be included in what will henceforth be called “THE DAKAR DECLARATION”.

Done in Dakar, October 28, 2023