06 Apr The U.S. Senate (Sort of) Backs Morocco in the Western Sahara
06.04.10
|
3 Comments
It’s not exactly a hot topic, even among international lawyers, yet the ongoing dispute over the Western Sahara (and Morocco’s claim to it) has drawn the attention of 54 U.S. Senators, who recently sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Clinton about it favoring support for Morocco’s 2007 proposal for autonomy in the disputed region. This analysis claims the letter’s approach would trample on the people of the Western Sahara’s right to self-determination. I don’t think it’s that clear cut, but it is interesting to see the U.S. Senators even getting involved in this fight. Does Morocco have lots of really good lobbyists?
I’m scratching my head about this one just like you are.
[…] Opinio Juris » Blog Archive » The U.S. Senate (Sort of) Backs … […]
Stephen Zunes analysis is right on and it is in fact “that clear cut.” The International Court of Justice in 1975 ruled unambiguously that the Western Sahara had the right to de-colonial self-determination and that Morocco had no right of sovereignty over the territory. In 1991 Morocco signed on with the Polisario Front, the national liberation movement in the Western Sahara, to hold a referendum on independence, but Rabat basically scuttled the referendum when it realized it would most certainly lose any vote of the people. It is about as clearcut a situation as there is in international affairs. The Senators who signed on to the letter have this all disastrously wrong, and yes, Morocco has lots of high-priced lobbyists doing its bidding.