SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

PS
NORWAY/WESTERN SAHARA/MOROCCO/DIPLOMACY
Norwegian Ambassador to Morocco ordered back home to Oslo for consultations

Oslo, 03/05/2005 (SPS Norwegian Ambassador to Morocco, Arne Aasheim, was ordered back home to Oslo by his Ministry for Foreign Affairs because of his open support, he declared to Norwegian TV, to economical project in occupied territories of Western Sahara, has underlined to SPS Mr. Ronny Hansen, member of the Norwegian Western Sahara supporting Committee.

Norway "is strongly against Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara. And that the Norwegian ambassador's statements and actions in favour of Moroccan occupation in general and in favour of Norwegian development aid and political support for business in occupied WS is wrong and does not have the support of the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs", said the same source.

On his part, Saharawi Representative to Scandinavian countries, Mr. Lamine Yahiaoui, indicated to SPS, that "the Norwegian official position supports Saharawi people right to self-determination and has always supported the UN efforts to resolve the conflict through the organisation of a free and transparent referendum".

"The position of Mr. Ambassador is thus incomprehensible, especially that it does not have the support of the Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs nor of the Minister for Finance who categorically forbidden Norwegian companies from investing, howsoever, in occupied territories of Western Sahara", he emphasised.

"In brief, Norwegian official policy condemns the illegal occupation of Western Sahara and forbidden any kind of support to investment in the region as long as the political question is not resolved conforming to the international legality", added Mr. Yahyaoui.

The Saharawi diplomat finally declared that his country highly considers the position of principle of Norway, "who always has resisted the pressures of the tutors of the Moroccan colonialism", he underlined, inviting the Norwegian Government to "visit Saharawi refugees’ camps to closely have an idea about the situation on the ground".

The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara added Mr. Hansen, is organizing a public event this evening, with the presence of several members of Parliament, from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and journalists, to "show the documentaries" on Western Sahara, in particular about occupied territories, of which a recent footage by both from "Berserk-productions".

Norwegian main political parties recently declared their support to Saharawi people right to self-determination. They called Norway to pressure Morocco put an end to its illegal exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources and to end its human rights violations in occupied zones of the non-self-governing territory.

The biannual national congress of the Norwegian Labour Party, held from the 7 to the 10 April 2005 in Oslo, unanimously adopted a resolution in which the party "supports the UN Peace plan" for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, much known under the Baker Plan II.

Norwegian Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti, in Norwegian- SV), on another hand, supported Saharawi people's right to self-determination, in a statement by the Party's national congress held from 31st to 3rd April 2005 in the city of Kristiansand (Norway), reported on Monday to SPS M. Ronny Hansen, member of Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara. (SPS)

060/090/000 031811 MAI 05 SPS

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PS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/MOROCCO/RESISTANCE
Any solution to Western Sahara conflict other than the referendum would be devoted to failure, declares Daddach

El Aaiun, 03/05/2005 (SPS) Human Rights RAFTO Price and ex-political prisoners, Sidi Mohamed Daddach, declared Tuesday to Moroccan magazine, "Le Journal Hebdo", that the referendum on self-determination remains the unique option for a definitive and democratic solution to the Western Sahara conflict.

Here is SPS translation to English of the text of the interview, originally in French:

" Le Journal Hebdo-- 03/05/2005
Interview- Mohamed Daddach: "The referendum is the only conceivable option"

Le Journal Hebdo – Do you identify yourself as a Moroccan Saharawi or simply a Saharawi?

Sidi Mohamed Daddach – I fought for the edification of an independent Saharawi State that fully enjoys its sovereignty. I stayed for 25 years in prison because of this conviction, to which I am still attached. We bared arms before against the Spanish to obtain our independence. Hundreds of my compatriots fell for the sake of this cause. Now, I subscribe to the UN solution for self-determination. This solution of organising a referendum, which is it should be said a concession from Polisario Front, as at the meantime the most appropriate and the most democratic. Any other preposition would lead nowhere.

J.H- Why is this solution difficult to implement as the UN itself is saying?

S.M.D- If intentions were good there would not have been a problem to go forward in this way. If we really want to build the Maghreb Arab we would have done what Hassan II had said long ago: "walk hand in hand to the vote".

J.H- Who, according to you, has got the bad intentions?

S.M.D – It is Morocco who bares the greatest part of responsibility. The proof: it is the Moroccan regime that pretends that the referendum is void. At the meantime, Saharawi people are divided in dispersed families. It is a necessity to organise the referendum which is the only definitive solution to this conflict. Now, I am struggling to create an association that demands the organisation of the referendum.

J.H- Do you think that Polisario would reward you for your devotion by granting you a democratic State?

S.M.D – All over the world, there is no more place for other way of governance but democratic. It is too early to judge if Polisario is or is not democratic because it is still in the refuge state. It should be said, however, that unlike other armed gorillas around the world, which generally destroy everything in their way, Polisario has never committed such actions.

J.H- But there are Saharawis who run the refugees camps and who do not stop denouncing Polisario acts…

S.M.D – You should know that around the late 80ies Polisario underwent a difficult period. Two options were then prominent for the refugees: To resist or to give up. Thus some chose to continue resisting while others decided to get into the territory. The later group were almost nobodies within Polisario and now they are part of the authorities in Morocco. In counterpart they are forced to utter lies on the account of Polisario Front. But it is only words in the air.

J.H- Don’t you think that Polisario front is manipulated by Algeria?

S.M.D – The Algerian support to Polisario is similar to its support to the Palestinian people or to Timor. It should be said that Morocco in many occasion has proposed Algeria offers so as to give up its support to Polisario but Algeria rejected them.

J.H- What do you think about the evolution of human rights in Morocco?

S.M.D – We had a lot of hopes in the Instance of Fairness and Reconciliation (IFR). In addition I know its president because I used to have close ties with him in prison. The man was to me a guarantee to the independence of the IFR. But we figured out that he was not. We prepared a memorandum that we handed over to the IFR asking it to start a dialogue with us. But nothing happened, while we thought it will answer our urgent demands. Worst, our memorandum was not publicised on the site of the IFR until Amnesty noted this lack. And even the translation, they did not faithfully translated our text.

J.H- What were your demands?

S.M.D – At the first hand, giving back the passports confiscated to 13 persons who were going to Geneva, including myself. We also asked that the people who were victim to abusive redundancy because of their political position be re-employed. And finally, to draw full light on the fate of hundreds Saharawi reported missing persons. «(SPS)

060/090/000 032132 MAI 05 SPS

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