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Johannesburg,
12/11/2007 (SPS) ANC Parliamentarian group of the South African
region of Gauteng organised a seminar on Western Sahara entitled
"Western Sahara, decolonisation and referendum on
self-determination", a source from the Saharawi Embassy in
Pretoria indicated.
The group denounced "the colonial occupation of Western Sahara"
ad concluded on the "urgency of settling this colonial conflict
via the organisation of a free and regular referendum on
self-determination in favour of the Saharawi people".
The President of the regional parliament, Mr. Richard Mdakane,
underlined "the commitment of the South African people and the
ANC to the struggle of the Saharawi people and its support to
their just struggle for independence".
Mrs. Nokuthula Sikhakhane, President of the parliamentarian
group of the ANC in Gauteng indicated that the "support to the
Saharawi people’s struggle will be a priority in the Parliament
during the activities of the coming year".
The Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa, Oubbi Bouchraya Bachir,
expressed on behalf of the Saharawi people the "esteem and
gratitude towards South Africa", this country that "adopted the
Saharawi people’s struggle and knew how to provide assistance at
the right moments".
Mr. Bachir also stressed "the recent position of South Africa
within the UN Security Council, where it courageously defended
the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and demanded
the protection of the human rights in the occupied territories
of Western Sahara".
"The honourable position of your country also finds its sources
from the historical struggle you waged against the barbarity of
the Apartheid", the Saharawi diplomat stressed.
The Saharawi member of the Pan African Parliament, Salah El Abd,
underlined on his part, "the important support of the Pan
African Parliament to the Saharawi cause, denouncing the
Moroccan manœuvre aimed to avoid the international legality and
the serious human rights violations committed by the Moroccan
State against the Saharawis" in the occupied zones of Western
Sahara and in the south of Morocco.
The seminar was marked by an important participation of members
of the regional Parliament, as well as representatives of the
movement of solidarity in South Africa in addition to the
members of the Saharawi delegation.
The Saharawi delegation was composed of members of the Saharawi
Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Saharawi Parliament. (SPS)
020/090/600 121145 NOV 07 SPS
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