SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

London, 03/12/2006 (SPS) Polisario Front warned the international community against a possible massacre in the Western Sahara Occidental, similar to that of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina, indicated Saharawi members of the Pan African Parliament, who were participating Thursday to a conference on the "human rights situation in the occupied cities of Western Sahara".

The enlargement of the mandate of the Minurso to include the defence of the human rights in the Western Sahara will answer the claims of Polisario Front and of many international human rights organisations, the Saharawi Parliamentarians indicated in a statement to the London’s Bureau of the Algerian Press Service, APS.

"Seen the explosive situation in the Western Sahara due to the odious policy of oppression of the Saharawi people’s peaceful intifada, any delay in the enlargement of the mandate of the Minurso get us close to a second Srebrenica", the Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa had declared in his intervention during the aforementioned conference.

The South African Committee for Human Rights organised on Thursday a seminar under the theme "the human rights situation in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara" and declared the "emergency of enlarging the mandate of the MINURSO", according to a press release issued by the Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa, it should be recalled.

The seminar, which was organised at the seat of the South African human rights organisation, was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps in Pretoria, representatives of South African political parties, NGOS, searchers and journalists, the press release indicated.

In his intervention, Mr. Mtselsio Thipanyane, Executive Director of the Committee put forward "the serious human rights violations in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, perpetrated by Morocco, which are periodically denounced in international reports and in concordant testimonies of Saharawi citizens".

"This is a major concern for our organisation and our seminar aims to put the head lines of a work programme that will be organised in coordination with our partners to ensure a better defence of Saharawis, so as to consecrate the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and independence", he added.

During the seminar, many personalities intervened, including Mr. Ebrahim Saley, Director of the Department of North Africa in the South African FA Ministry, Mr. Eddy Makue, Secretary General of the South African Council of Churches, Mr. Oubbi Bouchraya Bachir, Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Timothey Othieno, from the Institute of Global Dialogue and Mr. Ali Salem Tamek, Member of the Collective of the Saharawi human rights defenders and ex-political prisoner.

The South African Committee for Human Rights exposed, on the margin of the seminar, pictures of the Saharawi victims of the Moroccan repression showing people injured Saharawis savagely tortured, burned alive or assassinated. (SPS)

010/090/700/TRD 020944 DEC 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/AUSTRIA/AMINETOU HAIDAR

Mrs. Haidar denounces the Moroccan human rights violations in the Western Sahara

Vienna, 03/12/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi human rights activist, Mrs. Aminetou Haidar, denounced the Moroccan human rights violations in Western Sahara, on Friday in Vienna, condemning the fishing agreements signed by the European Union with Morocco to "consecrate the illegal occupation and exploitation of the fishing resources in violation to the international law", reported a source from the Saharawi representation in Vienna.

Aminatou arrived on Thursday to Vienna, within the framework of a campaign to raise awareness on the situation in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara. She was received by Mrs. Karin Schelle, President of the European Parliament’s intergroup "Peace for the Saharawi people" as well as Polisario Front’s representative to Austria, Najat Hindi.

The Saharawi human rights activist met with the Director of the International Institute for Human Righs, Mr. Lans, who has been Minister for Interior and Foreign Affairs in Austria, the same source stressed.

During the meeting, Mrs. Haidar gave a briefing on the abuses, violations and arbitrary arrests to which the Saharawi civilians are subjected, especially human rights activists in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.

On his part, Mr. Lans reaffirmed his support to the Saharawi people’s struggle for self-determination and independence, reaffirming his decision to publicise the testimony of the Saharawi activist on his organisation’s website.

Before the meeting, Mrs. Haidar has animated a press conference in Baden in company of Mrs. Karin Schelle and Mr. Korlos, Secretary General of the Austrian Socialist Party in Baden as well as Polisario Front’s Representative, Najat Hindi.

Another conference was organised in the raining Institute in Vienna under the presidium of the Austrian Parliamentarian in charge for external relations with the Socialist Party, Petra Bayer, under the theme "the human rights in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara".

The conference was organised on the occasion of the international day of Human rights, and was attended by important Austrian personalities, including the President of the Austrian Parliament, Mrs. Barbara Prammer.

Mrs. Prammer called on her Government to adopt "a more positive position towards the Western Sahara’s conflict", while Mrs. Schelle said in this respect that Austria should "follow the example of Sweden and the Nordic countries, who refused to sign the EU-Morocco fishing agreements", because they were ethically unacceptable. (SPS)

020/090/000 031415 DEC 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/MOROCCO/UN

50 Saharawi youngsters drowned: Abdelaziz calls on the UN to start an "international investigation"

Bir Lehlu (liberated territories), 03/12/2006 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, asked the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to order "an international investigation" on the death of 50 Saharawi youngsters, who died droned in the Atlantic ocean last week while they were trying to flee the Moroccan repression in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.

"The Frente POLISARIO calls for an urgent international inquiry into the involvement of the Moroccan occupying authorities in the death of those young people and the ethnic cleansing against the Saharawis as well as the policies aimed at draining Western Sahara of its inhabitants and driving them, under duress, to go somewhere else", Mr. Abdelaziz wrote in a letter he sent to Mr. Annan on Monday.

The President of the Republic recalled of the cases of death or disappearance "in similar circumstances" of 40 other young Saharawis in two groups, in June and October 2006.

In this respect, he renewed the call for an "immediate extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara so as to encompass the protection of the safety of the Saharawi population in the occupied territories and safeguarding their fundamental rights, whilst working to enable to the Saharawi people to exercise, without delay, their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations".

On the basis of information collected from the survivors, the families of the victims as well as human rights organisations, Mr. Abdelaziz affirmed, the "involvement of the Moroccan occupying forces in this horrendous operation, which comes within the context of a systematic policy aiming at eliminating the Saharawis and draining the occupied Western Sahara of its own inhabitants".

Further, he declared that "there are active and organised mafias funded by the Moroccan occupying authorities, which operate in the Saharawi occupied territories and on the coast in collaboration with Moroccan oppressive apparatus that provide them with all logistical assistance in order to drive those young people, victims of the persecution of that apparatus, to migrate clandestinely and risk their lives in unknown journey across the ocean".

Here is the full text of the letter translated to EnglishÑ

"Mr. Kofi Annan,

Secretary-General of the United Nations

New York

Bir Lehlou, 3 December 2006

Mr. Secretary-General,

On Sunday, 25 November 2006, a new tragedy occurred in the Atlantic coast of the Saharawi territories under Moroccan occupation where 50 Saharawi citizens were drowned when their three boats sank while they were trying to reach the Spanish coast.

25 Saharawis youngsters died in the beginning of October 2006 under similar circumstances, while there are 15 others who remain missing after they had disappeared under unknown circumstances to which we referred in our letter addressed to your Excellency on 25 June 2006.

Mr. Secretary-General,

All the information that we have received from the survivors and the families of the victims in addition to reports and testimonies gathered by independent human rights organisations point to the involvement of the Moroccan occupying forces in this horrendous operation, which comes within the context of a systematic policy aiming at eliminating the Saharawis and draining the occupied Western Sahara of its own inhabitants.

Since the illegal occupation of Western Sahara on 31 October 1975, the Moroccan colonial authorities have been engaged in a series of eradicationist policies involving assassination and forced deportation of Saharawis into Morocco in addition to genocidal practices, kidnapping and disappearance perpetrated against hundreds of Saharawi civilians.

Since 21 May 2005, the date of the beginning of the Saharawi peaceful resistance, the Saharawi cities have witnessed an overwhelming presence of Moroccan oppressive security forces including police, gendarmerie and the army that have been deployed solely to smother the Saharawi civilians and put their neighbourhoods under permanent siege.

The colonial authorities have been targeting the active young people and subjecting them to a myriad of terrorist practices including assassination, burning, killing in premeditated traffic accidents, kidnapping, unfair detention, severe torture, and disposing of victims in remote places. These have also been coupled with policies of starvation, impoverishment, forced unemployment and repeated intimidation against individuals and communities in order to force them not only to renounce their convictions but also to depart their country and families.

These gross violations, which have resulted from the denial of a fundamental right, namely the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, are the same violations to which we have repeatedly drawn attention and which were reaffirmed by the Office of the Higher Commissioner for Human Rights following the visit of its mission to the Territory in May 2006.

Reliable information indicates that there are active and organised mafias funded by the Moroccan occupying authorities, which operate in the Saharawi occupied territories and on the coast in collaboration with Moroccan oppressive apparatus that provide them with all logistical assistance in order to drive those young people, victims of the persecution of that apparatus, to migrate clandestinely and risk their lives in unknown journey across the ocean.

Mr. Secretary-General,

The death of a large number of innocent Saharawis, particularly young people, within a short time and in a territory that is under the United Nations responsibility is utterly unacceptable. For that reason we call on you to intervene urgently to put an end to this tragedy.

The Frente POLISARIO calls for an urgent international inquiry into the involvement of the Moroccan occupying authorities in the death of those young people and the ethnic cleansing against the Saharawis as well as the policies aimed at draining Western Sahara of its inhabitants and driving them, under duress, to go somewhere else.

In view of these actions that are in contravention of international law and conventions, we renew our call for an immediate extension of the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara so as to encompass the protection of the safety of the Saharawi population in the occupied territories and safeguarding their fundamental rights, whilst working to enable to the Saharawi people to exercise, without delay, their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with the Charter and resolutions of the United Nations.

Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Mohamed Abdelaziz,

Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO

". (SPS)

010/090/100 031458 DEC 06 SPS

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