Denying peoples’ legitimate right to self-determination, at heart of colonialism, says Sahrawi minister

Sahrawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Yeslem Beisat affirmed Sunday, in Algiers, that colonialism is fundamentally about occupying territories and denying peoples their legitimate rights to life and self-determination, no matter how it tries to justify itself or where it occurs.

Speaking at a high-level ministerial session during the International Conference on Crimes of Colonialism in Africa, at the Abdelatif-Rahal International Conference Center, the Sahrawi minister described colonialism as “an ideology rooted in denying others’ existence, ignoring international law, and driven by greed.” He stressed that “seizing lands and denying peoples their rightful claims to life and self-determination lies at the very heart of colonialism.” “Colonial powers have always tried to portray their colonialism as a civilizing mission or a force for progress,” he added, “or they’ve used national security as an excuse, as we see in various parts of the world.”

The minister reaffirmed that “colonialism, whether European, African, or from anywhere else, is really driven by one thing: the desire to seize natural resources and exploit people and their potential.” He pointed out that “colonialism continues to exist in many parts of the world, especially in Africa and the Caribbean,” and condemned major powers for “failing to honor their decolonization commitments, with some even actively working to block or drag out this process.”