March 2017

Brussels, March 31, 2017 (SPS) -The intergroup Peace for the Sahrawi people at the European Parliament urged the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini to intervene to release all Sahrawi prisoners of "Gdeim Izik" group.
"As MPs of the European Parliament, we express our solidarity with Gdeim lzik group and we request your intervention to release the prisoners of Gdeim Izik group," the Intergroup said in a letter to Mogherini inked by 29 European MPs belonging to various political groups.

Copenhagen, (Denmark) March 31st, 2017 – Danish activists from the Campaign for free Western Sahara (Frit Vestsahara) and International Forum have organized Thursday demonstrations in various cities in Denmark; Arhus, Alborg and Copenhagen against the illegal investments of Siemens Denmark Branch in the last colony in Africa, Western Sahara.

Bir Lehlu, March 30,2017 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, condemned in a message sent yesterday to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the policy of provocation and repression exercised by the Moroccan occupant.
 

Algiers, March 30, 2017 (SPS) - The head of the Algerian Red Crescent, Saida Benhabyles, said Wednesday that Algeria's aid to Western Sahara people was purely humanitarian and not politically motivated. 
"In Algeria, we do not exploit ordeals of the others for political purposes," Benhabyles said while supervising the departure of a humanitarian aid caravan to Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf.
All relevant initiatives are "purely humanitarian," she insisted.

Algiers, March 30, 2017 (SPS) - A caravan of food aid set off Wednesday from Algiers to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf (around 2000-km southwest of Algiers), under the supervision of the Algerian Red Crescent (CRA) in collaboration with the Algerian Muslim Scouts (SMA).
The caravan, made up of five trucks loaded with 100 tonnes of foodstuffs, "shows the solidarity of Algerian people with Sahrawi people," said the head of the CRA, Saida Benhabyles.

New York (U.S.A.), March 30, 2017 (SPS) - The Frente POLISARIO is ready to cooperate with the United Nations to relaunch the peace process in Western Sahara, which is on a standstill since 2012 said, Wednesday, its representative to the United Nations Ahmed Boukhari.
“We are ready to cooperate with the United Nations to discuss the ways allowing to put the peace process back on track, and to overcome the tensions created in the area of El Guerguerat,” Boukhari told APS following a meeting of the Security Council on the MINURSO.

New York, March 29, 2017 (SPS) -The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous briefed Tuesday the Security Council about the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso), which until now has not regained its full role.
"We have discussed the Minurso at the request of Uruguay and we have been briefed by Herve Lasdous about the situation on ground and the issue of the Minurso's role," stated President of the Security Council, British Matthew Rycroft after this meeting held in camera.

Salé (Morocco), MARCH 28, 2017 (SPS) - The Moroccan occupation court postponed the trial of the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik until May 08, according to a source in the occupied territories.
The same source said that the court decided to postpone the verdict against Gdeim Izik's group after hearing the allegations of all Saharawi political prisoners.
In the same regard, a Team Media source added that the defense had submitted an application for provisional release to political prisoners until the trial commenced on that date.

Madrid, March 28, 2017 (SPS) - The plenary session of the Balearic Parliament (Spain) has approved on Tuesday by the approbation of all groups an institutional declaration calling for "compliance with the judgment of the European Court of Justice on the Western Sahara, dated December 21, 2016.
 
According to this judgment "no trade agreement between the EU and Morocco is applicable in Western Sahara and no commercial activity or export of natural resources in Western Sahara can be established without the consent of the Saharawi people."

Madrid, March 28, 2017 (SPS) - The head of International Relations of the Sahrawi Women Union (UNMS),  Ms.  Jadiyetu El Mojtar participated on Monday in the Conference on refugees organized by Carlos III University of Madrid, where she has presented a paper on refugees and the causes that drive people to flee their countries.
 

Dakar (Senegal), 27 March 2017 (SPS) - Saharawi Foreign Ministers Mohamed Salem Ould Salek said Morocco has once again failed to prevent the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) from taking part in the African Union-United Nations partnership conference, to take place in Dakar.
The Saharawi policy chief told reporters after the postponement of Dakar's meeting that "Morocco has once again failed to prevent the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic from taking part (in an international conference as an AU member) after its failure in Malabo Summit."

New York, 27 March 2017 (SPS) - The United Nations Security Council included the Western Sahara issue on the agenda of its meeting scheduled for Tuesday, in order to review the implementation of the resolution 2285 relating to, notably, the relaunch of negotiations between the Polisario Front and Morocco, sources told APS on Monday.
The Western Sahara issue will be discussed during this in camera meeting at the request of Uruguay, a non-permanent member of the UN Council, said the source.

London, 27 March 2017 (SPS) - Last Thursday, 23 March, a group of unemployed individuals demonstrated pacifically in El Aaiun, in the Occupied Territories in Western Sahara. In view of the brutal repression with which the Moroccan forces responded to the demonstrators, Adala UK demands that the Moroccan authorities carry a complete, impartial and independent investigation of the human rights abuses committed and that all liable individuals are brought to justice.

Shaheed El Hafed, March 27, 2017 (SPS) - The Council of Ministers condemned the negative role taken by some memebrs of the UN Security Council to undermine peace and security efforts in the region by supporting the Moroccan colonial thesis and providing protection for the military occupation of Western Sahara.

New York, March 27, 2017 (SPS) - The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa announced Sunday that it would postpone the conference of the African Union-United Nations partnership scheduled to take place in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, after receiving a legal opinion issued by the Commission of the African Union that refutes Moroccan accusations and supports the position of the Saharawi Republic.
The Commission said it discussed Morocco's objection to the participation of the Sahrawi Republic.

Shaheed El-Hafed, 26 March 2017 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, chaired Sunday a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Presidency of the Republic. 
The meeting addressed various issues, notably some legal amendments that can improve the legal system and conduct the public life of citizens.
The President of the Republic underlined that any amendment to the laws will be based on ensuring the comfort of the citizen and the introduction of more dynamic administrative conduct.

Paris (France), 26 March 2017 (SPS) - Members of the task forces of the European Coordination Conference of support and solidarity with the Sahrawi people (EUCOCO) expressed their concern about the situation of Sahrawi political prisoners of the Gdeim Izik group, whose appeal trial opened in Rabat on 13 March.

Brussels, 26 March 2017 (SPS) - Algeria's ambassador in Brussels, Amar Belani, welcomed the "firm and enlightened" position of the European Parliament's Fisheries Commission after that of European Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, who said a few weeks ago that the EU will now take into account the "separate and distinct" status of the territory of Western Sahara in its exchanges with Morocco on renewable energy.

Brussels, 26 March 2017 (SPS) - The agreement between the European Union (EU) and Morocco on the protection of geographical indications and appellations of origin for agricultural products, processed agricultural products, fish and fishery products, "should not apply to products from Western Sahara," recommended the Commission on Fisheries in the European Parliament in a draft opinion for the Committee on International Trade.

Addis Ababa, 25 March 2017 (SPS) - Concerning the question of the illegal exploration and exploitation of the natural resources of the Saharawi territory, the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) has stressed the "urgency" of finding answers to this question bearing in mind the call made in the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations of 10 April 2014, to all those involved, in the light of the growing interest in the natural resources of Western Sahara in order to recognize the principle that the interests of the inhabitants of these territories