SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

Chahid El Hafed, 03/06/04 (SPS) Spain reaffirmed its "attachment to international legality to resolve Western Sahara's conflict", has declared Foreign Affairs Minster, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, after the meeting the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, had had with the Spanish Foreign affairs Ministry's Secretary of State, Bernardino Leon Gross, on Wednesday in Chahid El Hafed.

"The Spanish delegation, he added, had reaffirmed Spain's attachment to the international legality to resolve Western Sahara's conflict within the framework of the United Nations", qualifying the meeting as "frank, and productive",

"The visit of this Spanish delegation constitutes a turning point in the bilateral relationships of the two countries, and a clear expression of the Spanish new Government's preoccupation about Western Sahara's problem", he underlined.

Heading a delegation of Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Gross was the guest of the President of the Republic to a dinner offered in his honour, to which Saharawi officials took part.

It should be recalled that the decolonisation process in Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony, remains blocked by the Moroccan refusal to conform to the international legality and to Security Council's resolutions mainly the resolution 1495 which recommends the enforcement of the Baker Plan as an optimal solution to the conflict. (SPS)

070/090/000 031703 June 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/SPAIN/VISIT
Spanish Foreign affairs Secretary of State received by the President of the Republic

Chahid El Hafed, 03/06/04 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, received the Spanish Foreign affairs Ministry's Secretary of State, Bernardino Leon Gross, accompanied by the Head of his Cabinet and of the persons in charge of North Africa's department and of co-operation, on Wednesday at the presidency, SPS has noted.

The private meeting between the parties, was "frank, and productive", according to Saharawi Foreign affairs Minister, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, adding that the "Spanish party had had the occasion to listen to Polisario and to the Saharawi Government's point of view regarding the late developments of the Saharawi question".

The Spanish delegation reaffirmed "Spain's attachment to the international legality within the framework of the United Nations", underlined the minister.

The Spanish delegation was saluted by a military detachment at the gate of the presidency, and was received by members of the National Secretariat, Government and Parliament besides civil and military officials.

The President of the Republic offered a dinner, the same afternoon on the honour of his guests, with the presence of Saharawi officials.

It should be recalled that that this is the second official visit of the kind to the refugees' camps after that paid by Felipé Gonzales, who was then Secretary General of the Spanish Labour Party (PSOE) in 1975.(SPS)

070/090/000 031634 June 04 SPS

 

SPS
MOROCCO/WESTERN SAHARA/HUMAN RIGHTS/ARRESTS
Two Saharawi human rights' activists arrested in Morocco

Casablanca, 03/06/04 (SPS) Two Saharawi human rights' activists were arbitrarily arrested, Wednesday in Rabat and Casablanca, and were released three hours later, after having been interrogated at the station of Moroccan criminal police in Casablanca, reported matching sources.

Dr. Benbaya Mohamed Khalil, 42 years old, inspector of finance in Moroccan ministry of finance and father of a family, was arrested at the police station of the 2nd district of Hassane (Rabat) where he went to get back his driving license confiscated earlier by the police of circulation.

He was informed that he was wanted by Moroccan national brigade of criminalpolice (BNPJ) of Casablanca, then driven to the latter.

There, he was informed that he will be deported again to Agadir to be presented before of the prosecutor of the king to court at that city been accused of membership of a Polisario Front's secret web, referring to the famous "antelope group" or the so called pro-Polisario group, which was reported by Moroccan newspapers in 1999 and which led to the arrest of four Saharawis, mainly Khaya Cheikh, Laghzal Brahim, Massoud Laarbi and Bahaha Sidi Salek, who were sentenced to 4 years imprisonment.

Meanwhile, another Saharawi activist, Mohamed Cheikh El Moutaouakil, a former political prisoner, member of the executive bureau of Forum Truth and Justice and President of the "Committee of action for the release of Ali Salem Tamek and all Saharawi political detainees", were subjected to the same fate at 16 o'clock of the same day in his work in Sidi Othmane Ben M'Sik (a city in Casablanca), where he works as Secretary General of the urban district of the same, after having been forcefully transferred from Assa in 2002.

Having denied all the accusations, the two men were released after 3 hours interrogations in the Moroccan national brigade of criminal police (BNPJ) of Casablanca. (SPS)

060/090/100 031441 June 04 SPS