According to Ecsaharaui, Sahrawi’s leading informational newspaper in Spanish, the European nation’s position was endorsed by Minister David Rutley, his country’s undersecretary of state and member of parliament for the Americas and the Caribbean.

In this regard, British politicians demanded a ceasefire and expressed support for the UN envoy in the region, Staffan de Mistura, in seeking a solution based on a decolonization resolution and through a UN-supervised referendum.

On February 27, President Brahim Gali assured that the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a real national, regional and international reality that Morocco cannot deny and warned against the kingdom’s stubborn and expansionist policies.

The president emphasized the disrespect of the Moroccan state and the damage to regional security and urged the United Nations to promote a referendum on self-determination, based on the provisions of the 1991 African Nations Settlement Plan.

In his speech on the 47th anniversary of the country’s proclamation, he was also secretary-general of the Polisario Front, demanding that the African Union (AU) respect its constitutional legal principles and goals of ending the Moroccan military occupation.

He also recalled that “from an international law perspective, Western Sahara continues as a non-autonomous territory and Morocco exercises jurisdiction over it as an occupying power.”

Spain left the area on February 26, 1976 and, the following day, the Polisario Front promulgated the constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was then recognized by the majority of countries in the Organization of African Unity, currently the AU, of which it served as a full member.

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