PRESS

Alleged map of Arab League including occupied Western Sahara, Morocco's "umpteenth deception"

ALGIERS-The Special Envoy in charge of the Western Sahara issue and Maghreb countries, Amar Belani on Sunday called the alleged new map including the occupied territory of Western Sahara, which the Arab League Secretariat would have adopted, "gross manipulation" and "umpteenth deception" of Morocco.

"Continuing, with a rare consistency, their gross manipulation and misleading propaganda as to the holding of the next Arab Summit, scheduled for next March in Algiers, Moroccan official sources, via their official sounding board (MAP news agency), have mobilized their relays (including some well-known Algerian mercenaries) to spread the news of an alleged new map including the occupied territory of Western Sahara, which the Secretariat of the Arab League would have adopted recently," Belani told APS.

The Moroccan media, "intoxicated" by the officials of their country, are caught "in the trap of a blatant lie that it is easy to deconstruct to expose this umpteenth deception," said the Algerian diplomat.

Belani stressed that this unified map, which does not mention the borders of member states, "is not new and it has always appeared on the official website of the League of Arab States.

The same map, which does not specify the borders of member states, "had been adopted in its time by the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU)," he continued.

After the Algerian representation "strongly" protested against "unacceptable" the release by the Arab Women's Organization in Cairo of a map including Western Sahara, "the Secretariat of the Arab League has sent a note instructing all organs and organizations under the league to publish the only official map recognized by the League of Arab States, the one which is the subject of a consensus, that is to say, the one that does not mention the borders of member states, recalled Belani.

"It is a mystification that aims to decontextualize the real reasons that led the Secretariat of the Arab League to develop this reframing note to make a false event that exists only in the minds of those who excel in the art of manipulation and intoxication," he assured.