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Morocco intervened at the El Guergarat border post in the service of peace and to unblock an international route to ensure free civil and commercial movement, in accordance with international law and in perfect harmony with the needs of the region and the cease-fire agreement, said, on Thursday in Rabat, Head of Government Saâd Dine El Otmani, noting that the Kingdom's decision enabled a strategic change.
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El Otmani stressed that this week was filled with good news, starting with the securing of the El Guergarat crossing a few days before the celebration of Independence Day, said the Minister of national education, vocational training, higher education and scientific research, government spokesman Saaid Amzazi, in a statement read at a press briefing after the weekly cabinet meeting.
The head of government welcomed the decision of HM King Mohammed VI to carry out an operation to restore the situation at the El Guergarat crossing and secure it against the separatist militias, noting that this operation was conducted with great professionalism by the Royal Armed Forces after a number of attempts by Morocco and its diplomacy and successive contacts with the UN Secretary General, the MINURSO forces and many members of the Security Council as well as other countries to restore the situation.
Amzazi noted that the head of government recalled that the blocking of the crossing and the route of El Guergarat was the subject of a resolution of the Security Council in which it called on the separatist militias to withdraw and they responded favorably at the time, noting that the UN Secretary General expressed in his report his concern about the violations committed in the buffer zone that Morocco voluntarily chose during the ceasefire agreement to make a weapon-free zone.
However, the Polisario front has not stopped, for years, violating the ceasefire in this area, El Otmani said, noting that this violation was the subject of Royal messages addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations to draw its attention to this situation.
He noted that Morocco has the capacity to win the battle on the ground but out of respect for the ceasefire agreement and its international commitments, it expects a solution to the conflict by the UN and its secretary general.
He deplored the fact that the latest blockage of the El Guergarat crossing lasted more than three weeks, noting that this crossing is not a Moroccan or Mauritanian issue only but it is an international trade route, including for trade between European and African countries.
He explained that HM the King took the crucial decision at the right time to solve the problem with the intervention of the Armed Forces Kingdom in a harmless way and without clashes with the Polisario militias in order to establish a security cordon, which definitely made the difference.
Morocco's latest decision regarding the El Guergarat crossing enabled a strategic change, knowing that the separatists were still using this crossing against Morocco and its interests and causing problems to disrupt the Moroccan case, particularly with the nearing of the meetings of the Security Council to give its annual resolution, he noted.
El Otmani thanked the brotherly and friendly African and Arab countries, as well as the Islamic and Arab organizations which unequivocally welcomed the measures taken by Morocco and voiced their support for the Kingdom.
According to him, Morocco is now facing a second stage where the Polisario is fighting a battle of fallacious rumors after its defeat on the ground and in terms of international legality. Now the Polisario has only fake news to face the Royal Armed Forces and the realities on the ground, he said, adding that the national media have defeated these lies and proved that the videos and images run by the separatists are related to other events in other places.
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