26 March 2019 Newsletter Issue: 2 SELF-DETERMINATION INDEPENDENCE SOLIDARITY Newsletter photo credits: DIRCO News/GCIS South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, delivers welcome address at the SADC Solidarity Conference with Western Sahara “In the many times he addressed the international It is only through the implementation of these community on the anti-apartheid struggle, Comrade decisions that a solution to the Western Sahara OR, as he was known, spoke of the role of ‘men and question can be achieved. This must be done in the women of conscience’ in giving voice to the spirit of multilateralism, based on the Charter of the struggles of oppressed peoples everywhere. United Nations and the applicable provisions of the Gathered here today are men and women of African Union. conscience. “We continue to urge all the parties involved to “You stood by South Africa during the struggle for negotiate, in good faith and without preconditions, to our own liberation, and today you are here to affirm ensure that an enduring solution is found. We once your solidarity with the Saharawi people in their again affirm our support for the work being done by quest for self-determination. the AU and the UN, particularly the initiatives taken by the UN Secretary-General. We are immensely “The presence of representatives from the national encouraged by the efforts of the Personal Envoy of liberation movements of the region, from the African the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Union and African Union Commission, from the former German president Horst Koehler, who is Southern African Development Community and our facilitating a political dialogue between the Kingdom friends in the international community sends the of Morocco and Polisario. clearest of messages. “This is a development to be welcomed and “That we are with the people of the Western Sahara. encouraged. We stand with you, we support you, and we will never forget you.” “As countries of the SADC region who have waged struggles in pursuit of our own liberation, we know President Ramaphosa said the conference reflected too well the pain of being deprived of the right to be the commitment, as the countries of Africa, treated as full citizens in the land of one’s birth. The supported by friends in the international community, pain of the Saharawi people, their trauma brought to call for a just, acceptable and lasting solution to about by displacement and exile, is ours too. the situation in Western Sahara. “So long as the aspirations of the people of Western “…the people of Western Sahara have been Sahara are not met, we will fall short of realising the President Cyril Ramaphosa this morning delivered deprived of the most fundamental right of a people – vision of the AU’s Agenda 2063 of a continent at the welcome address at the Southern African the right to determine their own destiny. peace with itself. Development Community’s (SADC) Solidarity Conference with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic “We are here to hear from the Saharawi Arab “As a collective, let us reaffirm our support for the Republic or Western Sahara. Democratic Republic and Polisario what we can do UN process that seeks to bring these two African to aid them in advancing their cause. nations, Morocco and the SADR, back to the “On behalf of the people and government of South negotiating table. Africa I would like to welcome you to our country. We “While we are here to express our unwavering are honoured to be hosting this historic act of solidarity with the just cause of our brothers and “As lovers of peace and freedom – as men and solidarity with the Saharawi people. sisters, any actions going forward must be decided women of conscience – let us step up our upon by the Saharawi people and not any external international solidarity efforts, in both word and President Ramaphosa said it was fitting that the entity. deed, with the people of Western Sahara, with conference took place in a building named after Polisario and with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Oliver Reginald Tambo, a legendary statesman and a “We are here to deliberate on the way in which we Republic. committed internationalist who was unwavering in his can use our respective positions with the United support for the struggle for self-determination of the Nations and African Union to advocate for the urgent “It was international solidarity that brought down the Saharawi people. implementation, without delay, of all the UN Security barbaric system of apartheid, and it is international Council and AU decisions on Western Sahara, solidarity that will see realised the foremost “It was Oliver Reginald Tambo who affirmed, as we do including the holding of a referendum. aspiration of the people of Western Sahara: to be today, that international solidarity is an imperative for independent and free. progressive peoples everywhere. The plight of Western Sahara It has been 43 years since Western Sahara was annexed, and for these four decades the people of Western Sahara have had to ensure dispossession, displacement, conflict and the deprivation of their liberties. The Saharawi people have lived in refugee camps in Tindouf in Algeria since the 1970s, making this one of the longest humanitarian crises the world has known. In these camps, men, women and children live in desperate conditions, relying on international aid to survive. The situation of the Saharawi people is a blight on the human conscience, all the more so that it has endured for far too long. It has been three decades since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 621 of 1998 first calling for a referendum on self- determination for the people of Western Sahara. But despite successive Security Council resolutions and decisions of the Organisation of African Unity and African Union, this critical step has not taken place. Dr Hage G. Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia and SADC Chairperson, opens the SADC Solidarity Conference During the official opening of the conference, Dr Geingob said he was aware of growing President Geingob thanked President Cyril divisions on the continent on the issue of Western Ramaphosa, the Government and the people of Sahara. South Africa for accepting to host the conference and for the wonderful hospitality accorded to his He emphasised: “Now that the Kingdom of delegation. He also thanked all Heads of State Morocco has been admitted into the AU fraternity, and Government and representatives from we thought that we will work together, at African friendly countries for their presence. Union and United Nations level, to ensure that like all of us, the people of Western Sahara can He said the conference was held in the spirit of enjoy their inalienable right to independence and Pan Africanism, to reaffirm solidarity with the self-determination”. people of Western Sahara, in their struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination and “Let us be committed and unwavering in our independence. support to the people of Western Sahara. As we enjoy our hard earned freedom and democracy, The President quoted Oliver Reginald Tambo, the so should the Sahrawi people. former President of the ANC, when he addressed the 50th session of the OAU Coordinating “This Conference is an affirmation of the Committee for the liberation of Africa, in Harare, importance we attach to the plight of the people Zimbabwe on 13 May 1988. of Western Sahara to achieve their inalienable rights to freedom. Comrade Tambo stated that “The objectives of the Committee will have become achievable The international community should continue to because the OAU Coordinating Committee for the support efforts aimed at resolving once and for all Liberation of Africa carried out its mandate, the question of Western Sahara, the last colony sweeping aside all obstacles to the emancipation on the Continent, to hold a free and fair of the peoples of Africa from the shores of the referendum to determine their destiny. The Mediterranean to the confluence of the Indian and decolonisation of Africa will not be complete until Atlantic Oceans.” the day the people of Western Sahara decide the fate of their future status, through a free and fair “Comrade Tambo envisioned the total Liberation referendum. of Africa from colonial occupation and oppression. Although many African countries have achieved “The Africa We Want, is an Africa which is this feat, Western Sahara remains occupied to characterised by peace, stability and unity. These this day. It is therefore befitting that we have are the prerequisites for the pursuit of our convened today in the OR Tambo Building, aspirations, which can only be achieved through demonstrative of our concerted efforts towards an the establishment of a united and integrated international solidarity in cause of freedom for the African continent. “Freedom is not a gift to the people of Sahrawi people. “Therefore, our call for the freedom of the people Western Sahara. It is a right. “The prolonged impasse on the Western Sahara of Western Sahara is not aimed at dividing the issue will have grave consequences on the continent; instead, it is aimed at fulfilling the “No one can bestow freedom on the functioning of our Union. We can only move drams of Africa’s founding fathers: extraordinary forward when freedom is guaranteed to all our personalities like Julius Kamabarage Nyerere Saharawi people; for freedom is their birth citizens. As said by the revolutionary icon of Pan who believed that, ‘No nation has the right to right, which no one can keep from them Africanism, Kwame Nkrumah, ‘Freedom is not make decisions for another nation; no people for something that one people can bestow on another people.’ and which they must claim as their own.” another as a gift.