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SPS The African Union remains concerned about the Saharawi refugees situation 04.06.05
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Ouagadougou, 04/06/2006 (SPS) The African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner, declared tat the AU is "concerned" about the situation of the more than 165.000 Saharawi refugees in Algeria, during the closure of the AU Ministerial meeting on refugees, repatriated and displaced persons, which was recently held in Ouagadougou, indicated a close source to the Saharawi Representation to the AU.
"Despite of the creation of a Saharawi State, these refugees continue to live in deplorable conditions", she regretted, expressing the hope "that one day they will have the occasion to voluntarily return in their completely independent homeland in the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic".
Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner added that more than 50.000 Saharawi families were forced to move during the torrential rains that cause inundations last February in the Saharawi refugee camps.
In margin of this conference the Saharawi delegation met with many African delegations to inform them about the developments of the situation in the Western Sahara as well as on the intransigence of Morocco and its refusal to submit to the international legality by accepting the holding of a self-determination referendum for the Saharawi people.
The Saharawi delegation is composed by the Ambassador of the Saharawi Republic in Ethiopia and to the African Union, Mr. Lehbib Breica, and Mr. Habib Boukhreis, it was indicated. (SPS)
020/090/000/TRD 041020 Jun 06 SPS
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SPS Australia recalls its national companies the status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing territory
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Canberra, 03/06/2006 (SPS) Australia recommended to its national companies to "request a legal opinion" before any importation of products from the "No-Self-Governing" territory of Western Sahara, the Australian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade indicated on Saturday, reported the Algerian Press Agency, APS.
"The Australian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade consider that the Non-Self-Governing status of the Western Sahara, and the international law must be considered when it is a question of exporting the natural resources" of this territory, the official website of the Ministry indicated.
"We recommend to the companies to ask the legal council before importing such products", the Australian Ministry added.
The UN Security Council’s legal Bureau had issued an opinion on January the 29, 2002, that affirmed the "Non-Self-Governing" status of the Western Sahara, which is registered since 1963 in the list of the UN, and which final status is still to define through a self-determination referendum.
In his report on the situation in the Western Sahara, last April 2006, the UN’s Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, underlined that "no member State of the UN recognise the Moroccan sovereignty" over the territory it occupies since 1976.
On its part, the USA has excluded the Western Sahara, and consequently its natural resources, from its Free Trade Agreement with Morocco, it signed last July 2004.
The European Union, has however included the Saharawi territorial waters in the fishing accord it signed with Morocco last May. A decision that was qualified by Polisario Front as a "dangerous mistake", it should be recalled. (SPS).
020/090/700 041030 Jun 06 SPS
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SPS Aminatou Haidar EXPECTED THIS Thursday in Italy
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Roma, 4/06/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi human rights activist, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar, will start this Thursday a visit to different Italian cities within the framework of a mission of information and mobilisation of Italian on the Western Sahara, marked with a ''fierce repression and violations committed against the civil populations in the territories occupied by Morocco'', indicated the International Bureau for the Respect of the Human Rights in the Western Sahara (Birdhso) and the National Association of solidarity with the Saharawi people (ANSPS).
Many meetings with human rights associations, associations of solidarity with the Saharawi people as well as with political personalities and local authorities of the region of Emilie Romagna, Bologna, Florence and Roma, are planned during this turn that will continue until June the 18, the same source indicated.
Emblematic figure of the Saharawi resistance, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar was received at the European Parliament last Wednesday by the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Josep Borell as well as the members of the Ad-Hoc delegation of the EP and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the same European Institution. (SPS)
020/090/700/TRD 041717 June 06 SPS
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SPS CNASPS denounces the Moroccan repression in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara
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Algiers, 4/06/2006 (SPS) The Algerian National Committee of solidarity with the Saharawi people (CNASPS) denounced the policy of repression adopted by Morocco in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, which is "committed under the silent sight of the UN", the Committee indicated on Sunday in a press release, reported by the Algerian Press Agency, APS.
"The Saharawi civil population of the occupied territories of the Western Sahara continue to be the target to fierce repression by the Moroccan colonial forces (...) for having peacefully advocated their aspiration to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination", the same source noted, adding that "hundreds Saharawis are still reported missing after they were abducted by the Moroccan security services agents".
"The tragedy of the Saharawi prisoners of war is still pendent despite the fact that Polisario Front had released all the Moroccan POWs", the Algerian Committee wrote, stressing that "Morocco continues to deny the existence of the 151 Saharawi POWS" in its custody.
Regretting the "silence" of the UN in front of the "human rights violations" in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, "despite the presence of the MINURSO and the mobilisation of NGOs". (SPS)
020/090/700/TRD 041710 Jun 06 SPS
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