POLISARIO AND CORCAS

POLISARIO AND CORCAS


Do you have any contacts with Polisario? What is the refugees situation in Tindouf?

Relations have never completely ended, we communicate, including by phone.
Created in early seventies by young scholars in Casablanca, Polisario is a dogmatic movement with single thinking and management system for 30 years. To get to pragmatism and accept reality, it takes time. We think we can help it through talks. All of this is taking place, we want to convince Polisario members they did not suffer failure, that their yesterday’s willingness to be part of a useful Morocco is taking place. We must forget the past and start afresh.

What do local people say? For now, your action is mainly psychological?

Yes, our action today is more psychological than political. Mohammed VI has instructed me to a mission of reconciliation, a very noble mission based on forgetting the past, on the vision of the new Morocco he is striving to build. I need to share this royal will to prepare people's minds to an agreement.
We will also submit to the king a draft autonomy that will be based on the successful experiences of Western countries, such as France, Spain, Great Britain, Germany or Italy.
The Sahara is part of the grand design of Mohammed VI to revolutionize the management of the kingdom with his social and economic reforms. With this huge innovation that will be decentralization.
Local people are very glad to finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. They are tired of this conflict that has lasted too long. They see that the king is resolving their problems, recognizing their problems and rights.
Peace is it for soon?
Since the setting up of Corcas, we are seeing an improvement in the situation psychologically. In the camps, people hear us, see television programs, and are satisfied with our language. I am optimistic, not naive, and I think that 2006 will be a good year to address the consensual solution.
We rely on the people in the Tindouf camps to change things. Polisario is a politico-military organisation, which derives its power from its military units. It has money, distributes water, food…. We hope that people are no longer willing to be manipulated.
Anyone can make mistakes, everyone made mistakes. We must be reconciled.