People's Democracy

The Algiers Declaration

Yohannan Chemerapally

FOR the veterans of the liberation struggle and for those still involved in the decolonisation process, it was like old times again. In the third week of December they all got together in Algiers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of UN General Assembly Resolution 1514, passed on December 14, 1960. Among those present were prominent personalities like Ahmed Ben Bella, the first president of independent Algeria, still active at the age of 92. Also present were the former presidents of Zambia, South Africa and Nigeria ---- Kenneth Kaunda, Thabo Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo. The children of Patrice Lumumba and Khwame Nkrumah, the doyens of the liberation movement in the African continent, were also there in Algiers. Another notable presence was that of the Nobel peace laureate, Rigoberta Menchu from Guatemala.

RE-EMERGENCE

OF ALGERIA

A two day conference that followed ended with the issuing of an “Algiers Declaration.” The declaration emphasised the continuing validity of Resolution 1514 and underlined the fact that many peoples, including those in Palestine and Western Sahara, continue to be still under the yoke of colonialism. The participants stressed that the Palestinians and the Sahrawis should get “stronger support” and “more decisive action” from the international community in favour of their right to self-determination. The participants also expressed their solidarity with the populations of other non-autonomous territories who desire freedom within the framework of UN Resolution 1514. The Algiers Declaration reiterated that colonialism in all its forms and manifestations is contrary to the principles of the UN Charter and the norms of international law. The participants were unanimously of the view that the completion of the decolonisation process is “inevitable.”  

The event in a way signalled the re-emergence of Algeria on the international stage. Revolutionary fighter and thinker Amilcar Cabral had famously said, “Muslims go to Mecca, the revolutionaries go to Algeria.” Until the mid-eighties, Algeria was diplomatically very active, championing causes dear to the people in the developing world. It provided tremendous diplomatic and materiel help to the liberation movements in Southern Africa and for the Palestinian cause. David Ottoway, a former New York Times correspondent who has covered the region widely, spoke on behalf of the media at the conference. Ottoway said that during the sixties and the seventies, Algeria used to host the offices of around 20 liberation movements. General Humberto Delgado, who was leading the movement to oust the brutal Salazar regime in Portugal, had an office in Algiers. But the political crisis that erupted in the country in the early nineties, following the elections of 1992, made the country’s leadership more preoccupied with domestic issues. Now with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the helm, Algeria seems once again keen to regain the centre stage. Algeria, after all, is one of the leading economic and political powers in the African continent. In the next five years, Algeria hopes to be one of the economic powerhouses of the region, fuelled by its vast hydro carbon resources.

It is now universally acknowledged that The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, passed by the General Assembly fifty years ago, set in motion the decolonisation process that swept Asia, Africa and Latin America. Resolution 1514 recognised the right of people under colonialism to be free and is now an inherent part of international law. The struggle of the Algerian people against the brutal French colonisers, which started in 1954, had galvanised world public opinion and influenced the drafting of the resolution. By the time Algeria finally achieved independence in 1962, one million out of a population of nine million had lost their lives in the bloody struggle against colonialism. Very few nations had to pay such a high price to gain their independence.

After Algerian independence, the government led by the National Liberation Front (FLN) was among the most fervent supporters of liberation movements worldwide. Political leaders and guerrilla fighters found sanctuary and got training in the country. The tactics adopted by the FLN against the powerful French colonial apparatus were emulated in other parts of Africa. After the adoption of Resolution 1514 by the UN, more than a hundred countries under colonialism got their independence.

DECOLONISATION:

FAR FROM OVER

Speaker after speaker at the Conference highlighted the fact that the decolonisation process is far from over. The Palestinian issue has been given the global priority in international forums but in Algiers the ongoing struggle of the people of Western Sahara was the main focus. The Sahrawis, led by the Polisario Front, had first fought for freedom from their Spanish colonisers. The populated and productive parts of the Western Sahara are today under Moroccan occupation. Morocco sent an occupation force to the territory in 1975 on the heels of the Spanish withdrawal. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), representing the Sahrawi people, is today recognised by 82 countries and is a full-fledged member of the African Union (AU). The international community has been promising a referendum for the Sahrawis, but the Moroccans have been successful in stonewalling the holding of a referendum, with help from countries like France and its allies in the UN Security Council.  

The UN has re-affirmed on several occasions that the Western Sahara issue is a question of decolonisation included in the scope of the General Assembly Resolution 1514 and therefore under the direct supervision of the UN. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), had in separate rulings in 1975 and 2004, said that a referendum should be held in the territory. The UN had first called for a referendum in 1991 but the vote never took place. In 2007, the Polisario Front agreed to the holding of a referendum offering a choice between independence, self-governance and integration into Morocco. Despite the Sahrawis conceding to the Moroccan generated idea of self-governance to be included on the ballot, the government in Rabat again reneged on its commitment. The latest round of indirect talks was held in February 2010, in New York, without any agreement being reached. Both sides have said that they would keep on talking but there are signs that the patience of the Sahrawis is fraying.

In a letter addressed to the UN Security Council in November, the Polisario Front’s representative in the UN said that the group would have to reconsider its decision to engage in indirect talks with Morocco “in a short period” due to the lack of any positive development. Meanwhile, many people, some with dubious claims to statehood, have become free in the last decade, with the blessings of the West. They include tiny countries like Montenegro and Kosovo. Many of the Sahrawis have been leading miserable lives as refugees in camps along the border with Morocco. Others live in and around the city of El Ayoun, which Sahrawis regard as their capital. In November 2010, Moroccan security forces used extreme force against the Sahrawis protesting for better living conditions in a camp outside El Ayoun. The protest by the Sahrawis is being described as the biggest staged by them inside the Moroccan occupied territories. Sahrawi officials say that scores of people were killed and many went missing after the attack on the camp. Moroccan authorities have said that around a dozen of their security personnel were killed in the incident.

LUMUMBA

REMEMBERED

Many of the participants in the conference were of the view that the UN has to play a more active role to achieve the goals encapsulated in Resolution 1514. Amr Mousa, the Arab League chief, said that the UN General Assembly should be given more powers and the developing countries given a greater say in the Security Council. He also called on other countries to emulate the example of Brazil and Argentina and recognise the state of Palestine. Jean Ping, the AU chairman, pointed out that Western Sahara is one among the 16 autonomous territories in the world that still has to get its freedom. Madam Nguyen Thi Binh, the former vice president of Vietnam, who assumed cult guerrilla stature for her role against the French and the Americans in Vietnam, said that the UN “has to assume a greater responsibility” in ensuring that the Palestinians and the Sahrawis are given justice.

Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, in an incisive speech said that international laws are made by the colonial powers. He reminded those present that Resolution 1514 was passed soon after the assassination of the Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba. Mbeki quoted from the landmark speech of Lumumba in June 1960 as Congo gained its independence. Lumumba had, in the presence of the Belgian King and other colonial dignitaries, talked about the atrocities that colonialism had inflicted on his people. “We are proud of this struggle, of tears, of fire and of blood, to the depths of our being, for it was a noble and just struggle, and indispensable to put an end to the humiliating slavery that was imposed on us by force,” an impassioned Lumumba had said. His speech was widely criticised in the West and his days were numbered.

Olusegun Obasanjo said that the historic Resolution 1514 could not have been passed without the pivotal roles played by Algeria and the Soviet Union. “The UN Security Council could not have passed it at the time as the colonisers would have used their veto powers,” said Obasanjo. While supporting the just cause of the Palestinian and Sahrawi people, delegates from Latin American and Asian countries also pointed out that there were some urgent pending decolonisation issues on their continent. They include the Malvinas (Falkland) which is part of Argentina and the US annexation of Puerto Rico in the 19th century. A consensus resolution on Puerto Rico within the framework of the UN Committee on Decolonisation has been adopted for the eleventh year running. The resolution recognises the inalienable right of the Puerto Ricans to self-determination and independence under Resolution 1514.

US MUST QUIT

DIEGO GARCIA

Arvin Boolell, the foreign minister of Mauritius, drew the attention of the participants to continuing illegal occupation of the Chagos island chain in the Indian Ocean and the use of the Diego Garcia military base located there for waging war and for nuclear activities. The colonial power, Great Britain, without the consent of Mauritius government, had leased the Diego Garcia base to the US. The military base is crucial to the ongoing American military campaign of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. In case there is a military attack on Iran, Diego Garcia with its strategic location in the Indian Ocean will be an important forward base for the US. Boolell said that the latest WikiLeaks data revealed that one of the islands in the Chagos chain was earmarked for nuclear experiments by the US. He also pointed out that the islands were also used for rendition activities by the Bush administration. Boolell called for a diplomatic war to be waged and a common front to be forged against the imperial powers that still hold sway over large chunks of the developing world.

An interesting intervention was made by the noted French lawyer, Jacques Verges. Verges, who has carved out a lasting niche for himself through his consistent struggle against colonialism and imperialism since the 1950s, said that international law has been emasculated by judges appointed by the West. Verges, whose last high profile client was Ramirez Sanchez, known internationally as Carlos the Jackal, gave the instance of the case against Slobodan Milosevic. He said that the rules governing the case were changed 42 times. “Those who provide the money, decide the judges,” said Verges. He was extremely critical about the various international tribunals set up by the UN. Verges said that the tribunal set up to enquire the Hariri murder in Lebanon had first implicated Syria. Four senior Syrian army officers were arrested and had to spend four years behind bars. Now the UN says that the finger of suspicion is on the Hezbollah. On the other hand, he said, the UN is silent when the entire population of the Chagos islands are deported. “Is that not a violation of international law,” Verges asked.