Rabat – His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, delivered, on Wednesday evening, 06 November 2024, a speech to His faithful people on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the glorious Green March.
Here follows the full text of the speech:
“Praise be to God May peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, His Kith and Kin.
Dear Citizens,
Today, we are proudly celebrating the forty-ninth anniversary of the Green March.
That peaceful, popular march enabled us to recover the Moroccan Sahara; it also strengthened the bond between that region’s inhabitants and their motherland.
Since then, Morocco has been able to establish tangible facts on the ground as well as an irreversible reality rooted in law, legitimacy, commitment and responsibility, as evidenced by the following:
Firstly: the strong attachment of our sons and daughters in the Sahara to their Moroccan identity, and their commitment to the nation’s sacred, immutable values, in keeping with the bond of the Bei’a, which has existed throughout history between the inhabitants of the Sahara and the kings of Morocco.
Secondly: the progress, security and stability existing in the Moroccan Sahara.
Thirdly: growing international recognition of the Sahara as a Moroccan territory, and the broad support the Autonomy Initiative has been receiving.
Parallel to this natural, legitimate situation, there is, sadly, another world clearly disconnected from reality – a world still feeding on the illusions of the past and clinging to outdated theories and claims.
As a result, there are some who demand a referendum, despite that option being discarded by the United Nations and the impossibility of implementing it; at the same time, the proponents of that position refuse to allow a census of the people detained in the Tindouf camps, using them as hostages, keeping them in deplorable, humiliating conditions, and depriving them of the most basic rights. And there are those who exploit the Sahara issue so as to secure access to the Atlantic Ocean.
To them I say this: We do not refuse such as a prospect. As everyone knows, Morocco has proposed an international initiative to facilitate the Sahel countries’ access to the Atlantic Ocean, within the framework of partnership and cooperation. The aim being to achieve shared progress for the benefit of all peoples in the region.
And there are those who exploit the Sahara issue to deflect attention from their many internal problems. Still others seek to manipulate certain legal aspects in order to serve narrow political goals.
