Thaindian News

RABAT, MOROCCO (BNO NEWS) — Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Taib Fassi Fihri, on Friday informed that he provided full details on the raid at a camp in the disputed Western Sahara to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Fassi Fihri met with the MEPs on Thursday at the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs in Brussels. The clarification was made to consolidate the dynamics of the ongoing negotiations on the issue of the integration of Western Sahara.

“It is now proven that, contrary to allegations, the police, who were provided protective vests and batons, at no time used firearms and no civilian deaths were recorded during the dismantling of the Gdim Izik camp,” said the minister. “The only casualties during this operation were unfortunately registered only in the ranks of security forces, which lost 11 elements.”

On November 8, Moroccan security forces clashed with protesters in Laayoune, Western Sahara. Police were dismantling the Gdaim Izik camp of the Polisario Front. The camp was made up of around 12,000 people, most of them Saharawi refugees.

The violent clash began after protesters refused several orders to leave the area. During the unrest, two fires were seen in the city, and hundreds of people fought with police officers throughout the streets of Laayoune.

Morocco annexed the Western Sahara region in 1975. Previously, the area was a Spanish colony but withdrew. Morocco has offered autonomy to the region but the Polisario Front wants a referendum seeking independence for the territory.

The Moroccan government said that eleven people died but the Polisario Front claimed that dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured. The hospitals in the area were reportedly full that day.

Fassi Fihri said that the Polisario Front’s information was a campaign of misinformation with the sole purpose of disrupting the negotiation process underway. He remarked that the aim of the negotiation process is to achieve a political solution.