April 2017

Copenhagen (Denmark), April 11, 2017- In the response of the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Anders Samuelsen on Monday to various questions related to Western Sahara in the Danish Parliament mainly about the trial of 24 activists from Gdeim Izik, in Sale near Rabat in Morocco and the holding of the Crans Montana Forum for the third time its annual session in the city of Dakhla in the Moroccan-occupied territories of Western Sahara from 16-21 March 2017.

Bir-Lehlu (Liberated Zones), April 10, 2017 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, sent a message of condolences to the Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, on the two bomb attacks that targeted two churches in the Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria.

Stockholm, 10 April 2017 (SPS) - Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom reaffirmed her country’s unshakeable position vis-à-vis the issue of Western Sahara, underlining that after 40 years of occupation, “the Sahrawi people should exercise their right to self-determination.”

Algiers,10 April 2017 (SPS)  – High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini said Sunday in Algiers the EU position regarding Western Sahara issue has not changed and "strongly supports" the UN efforts to achieve a political just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution which guarantees self-determination to the Sahrawi people.

Sale (Morocco), 9 April 2017 (SPS) - The Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik group have refused the expertise requested by the Court of Appeal of Salé, conducted by a Moroccan commission.
This is contrary to the Istanbul protocol which stipulates that the medical expertise must be impartial, said the Defence League of Sahrawi detainees.

Brussels, 9 April 2017 (SPS) – The illegal exploitation of Western Sahara natural resources continues to arouse the indignation of the European deputies who put pressure on the Commission to take the necessary measures to comply the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Last December the Court issued a ruling that the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Morocco are not applicable in Western Sahara.

Brussels, 9 April 2017 (SPS) - According to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Service (ECHO), total EU funding for humanitarian aid to Sahrawi refugees was only € 9 million in 2016, compared to € 10 million in the past.
However, the European Commission has described the situation of these refugees as a "forgotten crisis" because of the limited funds allocated to them by the international community.

Brussels, 9 April 2017 (SPS) -  The achievement in 2015 of major projects funded by the European Union (EU) as part of humanitarian aid to Sahrawi refugees in the five camps near Tindouf has entailed, in 2016, a downward revision of this aid, which nevertheless remains in line with humanitarian principles, affirmed European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Christos Stylianides.

Gothenburg (Sweden), 8 April 2017 (SPS) - A delegation of the Polisario Front has taken part in the 39th Congress of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SPD), which kicked off Saturday in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, in the presence of more than 4,000 delegates and 30 parties from different continents.

Guelmim (South of Morocco) 8 April 2017 (SPS) - The Sahrawi Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in the city of Guelmim, South of Morocco, reported that the family of the Sahrawi political prisoner, Secretary-General of the Committee, Abdel-Khaliq al-Markhi, informed that their son was isolated Friday in a clinic by the Bouzkarn prison administration, without knowing the real motives of this action.

Nanterre (Ile-de-France), April 8, 2017 (SPS) - The Saharawi Coordinator with the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), M'hamed Kheddad, said Thursday in Nanterre that "the key to the solution to the conflict in Western Sahara is in Europe."
"The key to the solution is in Europe because the European Union has always considered that Western Sahara is part of Morocco," he said in a conference at the Faculty of Law of the University of Nanterre under the theme: "The question of Western Sahara before the court of the European Union."

Shaheed El Hafed, April 8, 2017 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the POLISARIO Front, Brahim Gali, chaired Friday a meeting of the Monitoring Committee on the situation of Saharawi political prisoners (Gdeim Izik's group).
The President of the Republic praised during the meeting the resistance and defiance shown by Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik throughout the phases of the farce trial.

Sydney (Australia), April 7, 2017 (SPS) - April 07, 2017 (SPS) - The Australian University of Sydney hosted a scientific conference on Western Sahara issue under the theme "Challenges, hopes and next stages of struggle for self-determination.”
In the presence of the Representative of the Frente POLISARIO in Australia, Kamal Fadel, and a large audience of interested parties, a seminar was organized on the peaceful resistance of the Saharawi people, where the organisers answered important questions posed by students on various aspects of the Sahrawi issue.

Quito, Ecuador, April 7, 2017 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Brahim Gali, sent a congratulatory message to the President-elect of the Republic of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno Garcés, for his victory in the elections of last Sunday.
The Saharawi president expressed his sincere congratulations to the brotherly people of Ecuador, underling that under the leadership of Moreno Garcés, Ecuador and its citizens in a spirit of unity will achieve great success that will benefit all Ecuadorians.

Copenhagen (Denmark), April 4, 2017 (SPS) - Free Western Sahara campaign in Denmark (Frit Vestsahara) issued Tuesday a statement calling for clearing all mines from Western Sahara, on the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. The statement reads as follow:

New York (U.S.A), April 05, 2017 (SPS) -  The Security Council will extend, on 27 April, the MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) mandate, an adoption that will be preceded, on Friday, by the presentation of the UN Secretary General’s report on Western Sahara said Monday, the United Nations body.
The Security Council also scheduled two other consultation meetings on the MINURSO on 19 and 25 April, according to the programme presented Monday, by the United States, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency in April.

Madrid, April 05, 2017 (SPS) - The Spanish Coordination of Friendly Associations with the Sahrawi People (CEAS-Sahara) on Tuesday denounced the existence of the Moroccan military wall in Western Sahara, on the occasion of the International Mine Awareness Day.
The mines buried all along the wall constitute "a continuous and permanent crime" against the Saharawi population, it said.

London (UK), April 05, 2017 (SPS) - Mhamed  Kheddad, the Sahrawi coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and member of the national secretariat of Polisario Front has been received on Tuesday at the British Foreign Office.

Bir Lahlou, April 4, 2017 (SPS) President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario front, Brahim Ghali, has drawn attention of  the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to the gravity of the crime committed by the Moroccan state against the Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik whose trial was postponed again until 8 May.

Quito (Ecuador), 3 April 2017 (SPS) - The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic participated along with other countries and international organizations in the international observation of the presidential and legislative elections in Ecuador.
Chargé d'affaires of the SADR Embassy in Ecuador, Mr. Hfdala Chadad, attended as an international observer in these presidential elections held on Sunday.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is the only African mission that participates as an observer in this election. (SPS)
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