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courtesy call on him and Zanu-PF women’s league secretary Cde Oppah Muchinguri.
He said Zanu-PF and the Polisario Front of Saharawi had a lot in common.
Cde Khaya Moyo castigated Morocco for refusing to accept that Saharawi was independent.
“Morocco should be told in no uncertain terms that Saharawi is not an extension of Morocco,” he said.
“We are surprised that despite efforts by the international community to bring a solution, Morocco still occupies two thirds of your country. Morocco has refused to take its hands off your country. We know they like your fish and the great potential you have in mineral and oil exploration.”
Cde Khaya Moyo said Zanu-PF would continue to stand with Saharawi because of fraternal relations between the two liberation movements.
“We are very pained to see that 32 years after our Independence, your country is still occupied. We know you will be free one day. Zanu-PF is not going to abandon the Polisario Front because we are sister movements.”
Cde Khaya Moyo said the solution to the occupation of Saharawi lay in the referendum being pushed for by the United Nations. Cde Muchinguri said women in
Zimbabwe and Saharawi had a lot to share. She outlined Zanu-PF’s policies aimed at improving women’s livelihood.
“We have a lot to share with our colleagues in your country. We should exchange visits and discuss joint venture programmes,” Cde Muchinguri said.
She said Zanu-PF was strong because of the women’s involvement. Ambassador Cheij hailed Zanu-PF’s stance on Saharawi.
“We thank you for your consistent support to our quest for freedom and independence. We commend your position against injustice. Our citizens are subjected to all kinds of human rights abuses, for instance arrests, imprisonment and harassment.
“Morocco has undermined negotiations. We are now in a deadlock situation because Morocco is trying to impose a solution which is not compatible.”
Morocco annexed the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara in 1976 after Spain that had colonised Saharawi abandoned it.
The Polisario Front formally proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and set up a government in exile, initiating a guerrilla war with Morocco, which continued until a 1991 ceasefire.
As part of the 1991 peace accords, a referendum was to be held among indigenous people, giving them the option between independence or inclusion to Morocco.
The referendum has not been held because of questions over who is eligible to vote.
At the 9th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July, President Mugabe urged the AU chairman to bring finality to the long-running conflict between Morocco and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.
‘‘Can Morocco still continue standing in the way of the right to self-determination that the people of Saharawi have? What do we have as an effective programme for that country or are we going to be, year in and year out, purely going to be hearing Saharawi representatives coming before us here to tell us nothing has happened?
‘‘Saharawi is an African territory, it has representatives here, it is a member of the AU. Let us ensure that it is attended to as effectively as it can,’’ President Mugabe said in his address to the AU plenary.
Morocco unilaterally withdrew from the OAU on November 12 1984 following the continental bloc’s recognition and admission of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1982.
Online Reporter