Mandela Family Urges Morocco To Support Self Determination For Western Sahara

The family of the Late Nelson Mandela as urged the Morocoan Government to support its self determination for Western Sahara.

Nigeria has historically supported same till the current government under President Muhammadu Buhari who is probably ignoring it out of historical ignorance.

Here is the full letter

Kingdom of Morocco

30th March 2018

Your Majesty,

Assalaamu alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

We greet you with the universal greetings of peace and send you felicitations of the year in which we observe the Nelson Mandela Centennial Celebrations (1918-2018).

We send you greetings from the Royal House of Mandela (RHoM) and our best wishes on the readmission of Morocco to the African Union. This is indeed a historic development as we welcome back a member of our African family to our collective home the African Union.

Your Majesty, in this year in which we celebrate a 100 years of my grandfather, late President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s legacy and his contribution to unite our continent and bring an end to the shameful legacy of colonialism, repression and suffering that has plagued our continent; it pains us that there still remains a task that is incomplete.

Your Majesty, we witnessed first-hand the suffering and hardship that our fellow brothers and sisters in Islam, old women and children are experiencing in the Sahrawi refugee camps in the harsh desert conditions.

We appeal to you from the depths of our hearts to return to the path of peace, the path of dialogue and the path of negotiations so that we may be guided by the universal human rights that my grandfather devoted his entire life to its achievement.

In this regard it is now time to implement the long outstanding UN proposed referendum and set a date for the self determination of Western Sahara. Your Majesty, the voices of pain and suffering of the political prisoners, protestors, and ordinary civilians in the occupied territories of Western Sahara are being heard in the world.

The brutality and cruelty that is meted out to them reminds us of our own suffering at the hands of the repressive apartheid regime. It is within your power to bring an end to this unfortunate blight on our conscience as fellow Africans.

We cannot and will not stand by in silence. Your Majesty, we call on you to immediately release all political prisoners and those whose hunger strike is now entering its 23rd day. We call on you to observe the rights accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention and ask you to respect their rights.

We are saddened that there are Sahrawi political prisoners that are serving life sentences in Moroccan jails for no other crime except seeking their UN recognized sovereignity and right to self-determination. We were deprived of my grandfather President Mandela for 27 years of his life.

Today, there are Sahrawi political prisoners who are languishing in jail for more than 30 years, some more than 20 years and others more than 15 and ten years. In the darkest moments of our lives as the Mandela family and as a South African nation suffering under apartheid, it was our African brothers across the continent that gave us hope and courage to carry on.

It pains us as fellow Africans to witness and hear the cries of fellow Africans suffering in jails in occupied Western Sahara. We implore you to stop this suffering so that history may not judge you harshly as it brought an end to apartheid South Africa.

We appeal to you in this year of the Nelson Mandela Centennial Celebrations to bring an end to the suffering and longstanding conflict in the struggle for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara so that the Maghrib Region can return to peaceful co-existence, and achieve its true potential for development and progress of all its peoples.

Your Majesty, we affirm the resolutions of the 54th Conference of the African National Congress (ANC) held in December 2017 and the policy position of the South African government calling for the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara and for the release of all political prisoners.

We urge you to speedily resolve this crisis in the heart of Africa. Let us make history in our lifetime by returning to the negotiating table and find a peaceful solution to this longstanding crisis. Thanking you in the struggle for justice, peace and prosperity in Africa and the world.

With sincere regards,

Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela

Royal House of Mandela

Mvezo Komkhulu (The Great Place)