Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on recognition of the Polisario Front as the representative of the people of Western Sahara.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Government officials engage with the Polisario Front regularly, most recently on 16 March in London. We regard the Polisario Front as a pro-independence movement and party to a UN-mediated dispute, but not all Sahrawis consider it to be their representative. Therefore the UK Government does not regard the Polisario Front as representing all Sahrawis. Because of this, Ministers do not meet Polisario Front members.