A/40/PV.25 General Assembly

We have heard the last speaker for this afternoon. I shall now call on those representatives who wish to speak in exercise of the right of reply. May I remind members that, in accordance with General Assembly decision 34/401, statements in exercise of the right of reply are limited to 10 minutes for the first intervention and to 5 minutes for the second, and should be made by representatives from their seats. Mr. ALAOUI (Morocco) (interpretation from French): In this Assembly on 3 OCtober last, on the occasion of a statement made in the general debate, which was marked by a lofty tone and a complete lack of polemics, Mr. Abdellatif Filali, the Minister for Foreign Affairs to the Kingdom of Morocco, clearly explained in a wholly responsible manner the position of my country on what is termed tbe question of the Western Sahara. Then on 4 OCtober, in this same Assembly, the * The President returned to the Chair. representative of Algeria took advantage of the opportunity to make a statement in exercise of the right of reply and launched a veritable accusation against m¥ country. One might express some surprise at the animosity, nay, the spiteful tone of such a diatribe, at a time when Algeria wants to persuade the international community that it has no part in this matter. What is the situation? The Moroccan Minister has been reproached for having quoted, here in the united Nations, on 1 October last, a press conference at which the Algerian representative spoke as a senior member of the Algerian diplomatic corps, and it was fo~nd strange that he relied on that source. But were we supposed to satisfy the representative of Algeria by reproducing here in the General Assembly nearly half an hour of discussion with the press. In order to remove any ambiguity on the question and to provide further evidence, if that were needed, of our good faith, I wish to remind representativeb ~hat they may look up the entire press conference, which was recorded, and that the journalist's question was worded as follows. "Now, coming back to the question of western Sahara, does it not seem that a major deadlock or some difficulty was created on the path to negotiations on a referendum by the recognition of POLISARIO as a State by the Organization of African Unity and, on the basis of Algeria's expe~ience in its own war of liberation, I would have thought ~t prematu~e for the Sahraoui to have requested that status." The Algerian Minister, after having recalled Morocco's refusal to enter into direct negotiations with the Polisario, stated: "With reference to your question, we quite agree that the admission of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic would not solve the problem because, in order for the framework to be viable - and I must say that the African framework could not be used - both parties to the dispute must be present. This leads us to think of the Maghrebian framework and to work within an Algerian-Moroccan dialogue. That was when we become convinced that the African framework was no longer viable. But Af.rica, since Morocco refused to implement the resolution, was obliged to accept the Sahraoui Republic, even if Morocco should leave the room. But once again we agree that the admission of the Sahraoui Arab Democratic Republic to the Organization of African Unity does not settle the problem." Those are the facts, and we cannot ignore their relevance by blindly rushing into useless polemics. The Kingdom of Morocco has only recalled the facts. As the Secretary-General of the Organization of African unity himself has just recalled in the report he addressed to the Secretary-General, he believes that there have been no developments since the admission of the Sahraoui Arab·Democratic Republic. I wish to remind the representative of Algeria, who has often called resolution 39/40 a (Mr. Alaoui, Morocco) universal consensus, that that text at the last session was adopted by a simple majority. If there was a universal consensus, it was on the need to organize a referendum for self-determination, free and democratic, under appropriate international auspices, and without exclusions. The allegations of the representative of Algeria according to which we only wished to gain time are shown to be baseless in view of the unambiguous statement by the Moroccan Minister for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation: ·We should encourage the Secretary-General in all initiatives he may deem appropriate, particularly in co-operatiun with the Actin9 Chai~aan and General Secretary of the Organization of African Un!ty and together with all the parties concerned in the final settlement of th~ ~luestion. Th~ Kingdom of Morocco wishes to restate here that it stands fully ready t~ assist the secretary-General and fully to co-operate in the holding of a free and democratic referendum under the auspices of the United Nations, and that it commits itself to accept the results. Q Such is the process for a definitive and peaceful settlement of the question of Western Sahara, which has been described in detail by the decisions of the Implementing Committee of the Organization of African Unity. Morocco's political will is there, and we continue to await an equal readiness on t.he part of Algeria in order to reach a consensus solution which is indispensable. Beyond this conflict we could then, together, pursue the lofty work of building a Maghrebian area of solidarity and equality, something which our peoples fervently desire. Mr. RAJAIE-KHORASSANI (Islamic Republic of Iran): I recall that in his statement, His Excellency Sheikh Mohamad Bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa, Foreign Minister of Bahrain, made a reference to the inspection of vessels in the Persian Guli by the naval forces of the Islamie Republic of Iran. My delegation deems it necessary to clarify simply that these inspections are in accordance with the rules of international law. and tp~ position of my Government regarding these inspections has been explained in detail in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, which has been circulated as Security Council document S/17496. Mr. DJOUDI (Algeria) (interpretation from French): I understand the anxiety and distress shown by the Moroccan representative, anxiety and distress caused by isolation. He is isolated because he is trying to defend that which cannot be defended. The situation is such that he wished to distort the statement of a Minister of Foreign Affairs, to try and have him - flying in the face of all logic and after having listened to his statement in the General Ass~mbly - espouse the Moroccan thesis. That goes beyond rationality and soundness. Therefore it is normal that these points be made. In exercising its right of reply, which we did last Friday, my delegation was solely inspired by t~e'will to recall here its continuing position regarding the western Sahara. I can only here associate myself with the eminent Minister from Benin, who has just recalled the unanimous position of all of Africa on this issue. Without going into detail, and witho.ut trying to anticipate the debate of the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly - which the representative of Morocco is trying to do - all our contacts with Algeria have from Algeria's point of view been designed to facilitate contact, bringing together points of view and a rapprochement between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front, the two parties directly involved and concerned. Despite what has been stated by the Moroccan delegation, these direct contacts did take place: in 1981 in Bamako, Mali; in 1983 in Algiers; and this year, 1985, in Lisbon. (Mr. Rajaie-Khorassani, Islamic Republic of Iran) Having thus fulfilled that duty here, my delegation is not going to allow itself to become involved in any attempt aimed at upsetting the serene atmosphere of the debates of the A6~-mbly. . In conclusion, I can only associate myself with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of MOrocco in his statement recalling that, whether we like it or not, the peoples of the Maghreb have a common destiny that can be implemented only through the building of a Maghrab community in full solidarity, which the peoples of the region ardently wish to see - I would add here, all the peoples of the region, including the Sahraoui people. ~r. ALAOUI (Morocco) (interpretation from French): I should like to put the representative of Algeria at ease: I am neither distressed nor upset~ neither is my country. We are calm, we are in favour of international legality. I wish to remind him and the General Assembly that Morocco is in the Sahara after a decision and negotiations which were duly held, with a due agreement entered into in the united Nations. We are not aggressors. We consider ourflelves to be at borne. Algeria has alwaysl said that it has no territorial claims Ion the Sahara, that it is simply defending a principle, the principle of peoples' right to self-determination. That is why' Morocco has gone beyond that wish and striven for peace to prevent a catastrophe. We have accepted the holding of a referendum. We are in favour of a referendum organized by the united Nations in co-operation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU). We are in favour of a democratic, free referendum. We are in favour of the results which would oome out of the ballot boxes, because we are not afraid of democracy~ we are not afraid of the voice of the people. If Algeria wishes to lend its assistance to having contacts between POLISARIO and Morocco, we would say, "Thank you", although we are disheartened when we see it organizing, arming and training people who commit aggression against Morocco, at a time when that alleged liberation movement does not exist on the territory. In ~ny event, the debate, as he has said himself, will take place in the Fourth Committee. He should know, however, that Morocco, as he has just recalled, will not let itself be drawn into polemics. We are in favour of a just and democratic solution within the framework of international legality. We do not fear the voice of the people. The meeting rose at 5.25 p.m. (Mr. Alaoui, Morocco)