The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs ( ar, المجلس الملكي الاستشاري للشؤون الصحراوية; french: Conseil royal consultatif pour les affaires sahariennes) is an advisory committee to the Moroccan government on

Western Sahara Western Sahara ( '; ; ) is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), while the ...

. It was created under

Mohammed VI Muhammad VI may refer to: * Muhammad Imaaduddeen VI (1868–1932), sultan of the Maldives from 1893 to 1902 * Mehmed VI (1861–1926), sultan of Ottoman Empire, from 1918 to 1922 * Mohammed VI of Morocco (born 1963), King of Morocco since 19 ...

in early 2006, after a new autonomy plan proposed by Morocco to replace the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

' Baker Plan. The

Polisario Front The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس� ...

opposes Morocco's autonomy plan, demanding for a referendum and independence.

Mission

The CORCAS is a consultative body for proposals related to what Morocco calls their

Southern Provinces The Southern Provinces ( ar, الأقاليم الجنوبية, Al-Aqalim al-Janubiyah, french: Provinces du Sud) or Moroccan Sahara ( ar, الصحراء المغربية, Assahra al-Maghribiya, french: Sahara marocain) are the terms used by th ...

, CORCAS also defends Morocco's claim over Western Sahara in local media and abroad. The CORCAS fully condemns the refugee camps of

Tindouf Tindouf (Berber: Tinduf, ar, تندوف) is the main town, and a commune in Tindouf Province, Algeria, close to the Mauritanian, Western Saharan and Moroccan borders. The commune has population of around 160,000 but the census and population ...

and the Polisario Front, citing human rights concerns.

Composition

There are 141 members of CORCAS, mostly Moroccan Sahrawi politicians and tribal leaders. The members were appointed by the King of Morocco and support Morocco's claim on Western Sahara.

Khalili Erguibi Khalili Ben Mohamed El Bechir Erguibi (or Rguibi) (1925–2017) was a Moroccan Captain, member of the Southern Liberation Army and a member of CORCAS. He is the father of Mohamed Abdelaziz, the 3rd Secretary General of the Polisario Front. Bi ...

, the father of the late Polisario Front leader and SADR president,

Mohamed Abdelaziz Mohamed Abdelaziz can refer to a number of people: * Mohamed Abdelaziz (Sahrawi politician) (1946–2016), President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976–2016) *Mohamed Abdelaziz (Libyan politician) Mohamed Abdelaziz is a Libyan polit ...

was a member of CORCAS until his death in 2017. The president of CORCAS, Khalihenna Ould-Errachid, founded the Partido de Unión Nacional Saharaui (PUNS) in 1974, the party supported the Spanish colonization of

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara ( es, Sahara Español; ar, الصحراء الإسبانية, As-Sahrā'a Al-Isbānīyah), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958 then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used f ...

. After the departure of the Spanish in 1975 and the disbanding of the PUNS, Ould-Errachid pledged allegiance to the king of Morocco at the time,

Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People * Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...

and helped organize the

Green March The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. At that time, the Span ...

, he is an active defender of Morocco's claim over Western Sahara.

International activities

Members of CORCAS are regularly featured in the Moroccan press. The president of CORCAS, Khalihenna Ould-Errachid, regularly attends meetings in international forums, such as the United Nations, where Western Sahara is discussed. Most notably, Ould-Errachid has met with the

President of the People's Republic of China The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the head of state and the second-highest political office of the People's Republic of China. The presidency is constitutionally a largely ceremonial off ...

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, and ...

Criticism

In 2008, a transcript from a 2005

Equity and Reconciliation Commission The Equity and Reconciliation Commission ( ar, هيئة الإنصاف والمصالحة; - IER) is a Moroccan human rights and truth commission created on January 7, 2004, when King Mohammed VI signed a '' Dahir'' (royal decree). The commissi ...

meeting regarding the

Western Sahara War The Western Sahara War ( ar, حرب الصحراء الغربية, french: Guerre du Sahara occidental, es, Guerra del Sahara Occidental) was an armed struggle between the Sahrawi indigenous Polisario Front and Morocco from 1975 to 1991 (an ...

was leaked to Al-Jarida al-Oula, during the meeting, Ould-Errachid declared that "there are some people .. about three or four Army officers who have committed what can be called war crimes against prisoners outside the scope of the war" and that "many civilians were thrown from helicopters or buried alive". In an interview with the independent Moroccan weekly magazine ''

Le Journal Hebdomadaire ''Le Journal Hebdomadaire'' (French for ''The Weekly Journal''; often shortened to ''Le Journal Hebdo'') was a French-language, Moroccan weekly magazine, published between 1997 and 2010.Sylvain MouillardAu Maroc, le «Journal hebdomadaire» jett ...

'', the ex-chairman of CORCAS' Human Rights Commission and head of the Association of Sahrawi Victims of Repression in the Tindouf Camps,

El Houcine Baïda EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

, criticized the lack of tackling human rights issues, and about the manner which Ould-Errachid runs the Council. In his opinion, the country's actions in the Western Sahara were alienating Sahrawis, and thus could push more youth towards what he defined as separatism. He further claimed that most of the organization's members had no knowledge of the government's autonomy plan - that they were supposedly responsible for drafting - and that president Ould-Errachid runs the council's affairs despotically, like "a new

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

Notes

External links