Leave W. Sahara to the UN: RI

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 06/22/2010 10:52 AM

The Indonesian government maintains its stance of not recognizing Western Sahara, a non-self governing territory in Africa, as a sovereign state, following the line of the United Nations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Indonesia hoped for immediate results from “an ongoing process” by the UN to hold a referendum in the territory of Western Sumatra.

“We have good relations both with Morocco and Algeria. We cannot send anyone to a disputed territory or send aid there. It could be interpreted as recognition [of Western Sahara’s standing as a sovereign state],” he told The Jakarta Post recently.

“One thing is for sure, we will support any efforts made by the UN,” he said.

Indonesia’s decision not to recognize Western Sahara’s sovereignty will likely win favor from Morocco, which claims sovereignty over the territory, but risk the ire of Algeria, which supports the establishment of Western Sahara as an independent state.

The president of local NGO InSahara, Luluk Nur Hamidah, earlier said the Indonesian government’s silence on the issue was one of the main reasons for a lack of public knowledge about “the last colonized state in Africa”, and had resulted in little or no local support for a global recognition of Western Sahara.

“As the world’s largest Muslim majority country and the [third] largest democratic country, Indonesia’s voice will be listened to by Morocco and other countries if it has a clear stance on the Sahrawi people,” she told the Post, referring to the name of the ethnic population of the disputed region.

“Indonesia can play the role of mediator between Morocco and Western Sahara, or be active and bring the matter to ASEAN, for instance,” she said.

Echoing Luluk, Middle East expert at the University of Indonesia Hanief Saha Ghafur said that a lack of information among academics on the conflict, which involved Morocco, Algeria and Western Sahara, was one of the reasons why Western Sahara remained off the radar.

Indonesia, Luluk said, should help the Sahrawi people attain their rights to a referendum.

“I’m not saying whether they should be independent or not. But their first right to self-determination, whatever that is, must be fulfilled,” she said.

She also said the UN had on three occasions cancelled a planned referendum for the Sahrawi to choose whether they would reject Morocco’s sovereignty over the region.

Moroccan Ambassador to Indonesia Mohamed Majdi said Western Sahara belonged to Morocco, based on historical, religious and political factors.

“Western Sahara is Moroccan territory. It is proven by international treaties. Many dynasties that ruled Morocco came from there,” he said.

He also said Morocco had proposed autonomy for Western Sahara before the UN Security Council to help settle the prolonged issue.

But Polisario is "not interested in solving the issue", he said referring to the region's national liberation movement.