THE Polisario Front called today for international solidarity with Western Sahara’s independence struggle as the movement vowed to continue its fight for self-determination.

Bouchraya Bachir, Polisario representative for the European Union, was speaking at a youth gathering in Spain when he decried Morocco’s failure to hold a promised independence referendum.

This, he pointed out, was a major part of a United Nations-brokered ceasefire agreement signed by the Polisario Front and Rabat in 1991.

But Morocco has reneged on the deal. In November last year, Rabat broke the three-decade-long ceasefire with incursions into the demilitarised Guerguerat region.

Mr Bachir insisted that the Polisario Front “is determined to continue the legitimate armed struggle against the Moroccan occupation until the realisation of the right of the Saharawi people to freedom and independence.”

He added, however, that the liberation movement preferred a peaceful solution along the lines agreed in the UN Settlement Plan.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975, but the majority of the population have consistently been found to favour independence.

The International Court of Justice has rejected Morocco’s claim to have had sovereignty over Western Sahara in precolonial times.