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Bir Lehlu (Saharawi liberated territories), 20/03/2008 (SPS) A "human chain" composed of some two thousands persons, from different European countries, will be formed on Saturday in front of a part of the Moroccan Separation wall (wall of shame), erected by Morocco in Western Sahara, they will demand the dismantling of this "symbol of colonisation".
The organisers named the initiative, the "1000 colon", as an "innovative action because it will constitute a premiere: one besides another, hand in hand to face the Moroccan wall" all along a distance of one km, declared he Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, on Wednesday.
The idea was elaborated by students of the University of Complutense in Madrid to denounce this "wall of shame".
Members of NGO from Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and many other European countries will participate to this demonstration, Mr. Ould Salek stressed. The Moroccan wall of shame, which is about 2.720 km long, "separates the Saharawi people and their territory", he said.
"We would like to draw the attention of the international public opinion on the fact that the territory of Western Sahara is still colonised and millions antipersonnel landmines are still implanted there in contradiction to international conventions", he added.
The Saharawi occupied territory "is surrounded by the Atlantic ocean from one side and the Moroccan wall of shame from the other, it becomes in fact a real prison for the Saharawi population", he underlined. The Saharawi Minister also affirmed that the occupied zones of Western Sahara are "closed to international observers’ visits, to NGOs and to foreign press”.
"The aim behind initiative such as the 1000 colon is to lift the blockage imposed on the occupied zones", he said.
Mr. Ould Salek recalled that Morocco had "started to build this wall since the eighties of the last century after big military defeats in the regions of Ouarkziz, Lebouérate, Guelta Zemmour and other" (ALPS).
The aim of the Moroccans was to protect their soldiers, but the Saharawi fighters were not stopped by this wall and "succeeded in inflicting many other defeats to the Moroccan army of occupation, thanks to a strategy of guerrilla, however, in a bare land", he added.
In addition to the dismantling of the Moroccan separation wall, POLISARIO Front demands the dimining of the territory around the wall, where some 6 millions antipersonnel landmines are mined there by the Moroccan army.
"The number of victims of these landmines exceeds one thousand cases and thousands wounded since the beginning of the conflict" in 31 October 1975, he regretted.
"POLISARIO Front signed the Geneva Call and destroyed, in many occasions in the presence of observers and international press, important quantities of landmines its fighters recuperated from the battles”, Mr. Ould Salek stressed.
"We call on the UN to assume its responsibilities in the matter because the landmines around the wall usually cause victims among the Saharawi civilians, especially the nomads”, the Head of the Saharawi diplomacy stressed. (SPS)
010/060/700 201033 mars 08 SPS
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