Sahara: Leadership Council On Human Rights Warns Against Attempts Likely To "Derail The Negotiation Process"

The Leadership Council for Human Rights (LCHR), one of the leading organizations of human rights in the United States, cautioned in a statement issued on Thursday, against the attempts that are likely to derail the process of negotiations, particularly through the expansion of the mandate of MINURSO to cover human rights.

 The LCHR denounces the "arrogance" of the Robert Kennedy Center for justice and Human rights and its "unjustified antagonism" towards Morocco through "untrue and biased reports", and considers this approach as an "umpteenth attempt of Algerian power to derail the ongoing process of negotiations."

    "A lack of understanding of the Sahara issue would put the United Nations in a situation where it would not be able to apprehend the regional security concerns in their global dimensions", said the President of Leadership Council for Human Rights, Kathryn Porter Cameron.

    The founder of the caucus on human rights in the U.S. Congress added that the reality on the ground shows the active support of Algeria to the Polisario and the" proven links between the separatists and the terrorist "groups operating in the region.

    "Numerous experts have emphasized the ever-strengthening relationship between leaders of the Polisario Front and organizations such as al Qaida in the Maghreb and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa", she said, adding that recently, the involvement of Polisario members in the fighting in Mali was confirmed by numerous sources, including by Malian Foreign minister Tièman Coulibaly.

     She also warned against any attempt to put on an equal footing the Kingdom of Morocco, an "independent ad sovereign state" and the polisario which is "well-known and recognized as a puppet of the Algerian regime".