The U.S. Department of State has been criticized by a Polisario news platform for calling «SADR»'s flag «separatist». The U.S. Department of State released Friday, April 20th, its annual 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which includes Morocco. The report comes as discussions to issue a new UN resolution on Western Sahara are underway. In general, the report highlighted the efforts Morocco made last year to eradicate torture, and improve the independence of the judiciary. It also hailed the decline in allegations of torture, abuse in detention and the country's efforts to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for violations. Furthermore, it praised the interventions of the National Council of Human Rights in both Tan-Tan and Laayoune, without referring to any cases of «disappearance» nor «assassinations» of Sahrawi activists in the region. Reacting to the report These annual observations could have gone completely unnoticed by the Front's media platforms if the U.S. Department of State did not break up with the previous editions. In a paragraph entitled «the (Moroccan) government tolerates the activities of several unrecognized organizations», the document referred to the ceremony organized on the 20th of June 2017 in Laayoune, by the CODESA association chaired by Aminatou Haidar, to commemorate the death of Mohamed Abdelaziz. In the report of the event, the services of John Sullivan, did not hesitate to call the flags of the self-proclaimed «SADR» used during these commemorations «separatist». The Front's online newspaper Futurosahara.net was very annoyed by those comments . «The Department of State uses the terms of the Makhzen regarding the Saharawi cause», argued the same source in an article that relays the position of Mohamed Lamine Ould El Bouhali, Brahim Ghali's biggest opponent. The Polisario's news agency has not yet addressed the subject. It is the same for Adamir and the MAPNR.
