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SPS Abandoning the Western Sahara, for the UN, is "abandoning its own principles", affirms Spanish El Pais 07.02.06
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Madrid, 07/02/2006 (SPS) Abandoning the settlement of the Western Sahara’s question conforming to the international legality will be, to the UN, "abandoning its own principles", in spite of the fact that the role currently played by the UN’s Mission to the Western Sahara (MINURSO) is far from the objectives for which this mission was initially constituted, the Spanish newspaper "El Pais", wrote on Monday, as quoted by the Algerian press Agency, APS.
"Abandoning the Sahara, will be to the UN, an abandoning of its own principles", in spite of the blockage of the settlement process of the conflict due to the Moroccan intransigence, El Pais underlined in an article by Tomás Bárbulo, the specialised writer in the Saharawi question and the Special Envoy of the Madrid’s based newspaper, El Pais, to El Aaiun, the occupied capital of Western Sahara.
El Pais considered that "it is unlikely" that the UN abandons the Western Sahara as long as the second paragraph of the first Article of its founding Charter stress the necessity to "develop relations of friendship between nations on the basis of the respect of the principle of equality of rights to all peoples and their right to govern themselves".
"Incapable" of implementing the main objectives it was created for at the first place, mainly the organisation of a just and transparent self-determination referendum for the Saharawi people, the UN’s mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, plays nowadays a role that is a mere "pale shadow" of the role it is supposed to play and for which it was created in 1991, Mr. Bárbulo wrote.
"The UN disembarked in the Western Sahara to organise a self-determination referendum within 8 months. 15 years later, it is doubtful that it can pretend to be organising the vote", estimated the journalist, and this, he recalled, despite of the fact that its mission’s mandate was prorogued 31 times and the costs of its maintenance exceeded 600 millions Euros.
Retracing the objectives that justified the constitution of the MINURSO, the writer of the article recalled that it was a question of enforcing a settlement plan composed of 7 points, agreed upon by Moroccan and Polisario Front.
In addition to the cease-fire, he envoy of El Pais recalled, the plan provides for the release of the prisoners of war, the reduction of troops, the return of the refugees, the identification and inscription of voters, the campaigns for the referendum, and finally the organisation of a free and regular self-determination referendum for the people of the Western Sahara.
Concerning the release of the prisoners of war, El Pais notes that Polisario Front, who released last August 2005 the last Moroccan POWs, continues to demand reciprocal and release of Saharawi disappeareds in Moroccan prisons.
The writer underlined that on the ground, Morocco wants a "weak" MINURSO and does not want its departure because, he said, actually the UN’s mission is "protecting the exploitation", which is illegal according to the international law, and maintains the Saharawi refugees "away", while Polisario Front is in favour of the strengthening of the mission so as it can resolve the conflict conforming to the pertinent UN’s resolutions.
Approaching the presence of the MINURSO in the occupied territories, the journalist noted that Morocco has installed two giant antennas near the General Head Quarters of the UN’s mission in the occupied city of El Aaiun. "None knows exactly to what they serve, but it is currently reported that the seat of the mission is put under hearing", he remarked.
The surrounding of the Head Quarters of the MINURSO are "closely watched by Moroccan police which demand identification cards of visitors, and in many cases, denying them access", he said.
On another hand, El Pais publicised an interview with the Commander of the Minurso military corps, the Danish General, Kurt Mosgaard.
Asked if the two antennas near the mission are for intelligence purpose, General Mosgaard did not confirm his allegation but did not deny it either. "We can not tell if the hosting country is undertaking some intelligence activities. We do not know", he declared.
Asked about the landmines spread by the Moroccan army around he Moroccan military wall, which is dividing the Western Sahara in two, the Head of the MINURSO indicated that there is 1 million mines, of which only some thousands were deactivated.
"The problem of mines will continue to be a problem in the territory for at least 50 years. Unfortunately, the climate here is dry. The sand does not let the mines to oxidize and thus they remain active for a long time", he deplored, the same source concluded. (SPS)
060/090/700 070100 Fev 06 SPS
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SPS The Saharawi Republic satisfied with the end of BARAKA’s prospecting off Western Sahara
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Chahid El Hafed, 07/02/2006 (SPS) The Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic welcomed on Monday the decision of Baraka Petroleum, the Australian oil company, to end its participation in the Cap Juby prospect off Western Sahara, in its report of January the 31st 2006, indicated Polisario Front’s Representative to Australia, Kamal Fadel.
The Saharawi Government contacted Baraka to inform it about the illegality of its presence in a zone that includes a part of the Saharawi territorial waters and consequently ask it to withdraw from the area.
The Saharawi Government also seizes the occasion to "call on Kerr McGee and its partners, again, to withdraw from the offshore area of Western Sahara immediately", the same source added.
The illegal activity of these companies, such as Kerr McGee and its partners, "continues to be an affront to the Saharawi people. The companies’ illegal presence is a destabilising factor in a volatile region particularly during this time of increased tension and civilian protest in the occupied territories of Western Sahara". This presence "further complicates the decolonisation process in Western Sahara and provides moral and economic support to the intransigent Moroccan regime", the same source indicated.
The Saharawi Government exhorted the shareholders, investors, Counsellors and contractors to make use of their influence to convince Kerr McGee and its partners to respect the principles of the international la and the UN’s efforts, via putting an immediate end to its activities in Western Sahara.
The Government of the Saharawi Republic finally called on all its friends and all Governments to recognise the legitimate rights of the Saharawi people and to help in the preservation and protection of its sovereignty over the natural resources of its country. (SPS)
020/090/000/TRD 071520 Feb 09 SPS
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SPS An international conference in the refugees camps on the cultural heritage of the Saharawi Republic
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27 of February School (refugee camps), 0702/2006 (SPS) The works of the international conference on the cultural heritage of the Saharawi Republic were opened, Tuesday in the Cultural Centre "Martyr Naaja" in the Saharawi refugee "27 of February School ", under the sponsorship of the Saharawi Ministry for Culture and the participation of Spanish and Argentina scientists from many universities, in addition to Saharawi intellectuals and concerned.
Welcoming the audience and the searchers, Mrs. Khadija Hamdi, Director of the Cultural Centre "Martyr Naaja", estimated that "besides been a praiseworthy initiative, undertaken by the Saharawi Ministry for Culture and the Spanish Universities of Girona and Madrid in addition to Argentinean University of Fasta, and also the Saharawi collaborators, these scientific researches aim in particular to present a part of the Saharawi cultural heritage, raise awareness among the international scientific society on the dangers to which this heritage is subjected and thus to seek ways that can preserve it".
All the speakers, especially the member of the Polisario Front National Secretariat in charge of Political Orientation, Khatri Addouh, the Secretary General of the Saharawi Ministry for Culture, Mustafa Mohammed Fadel, and the Representative of the University of Girona, Narcis Soler, underlined the importance of this scientific demarche of research and investigation that should be "defused and conveyed by all means to the world so as to protect these cultural wealth from plundering and systematic destruction because of the Moroccan occupation of the territory", Mr. Addouh stressed in his intervention.
After the speeches of the opening, the public was able to listen to papers on the results of the researches, starting with the works of teh University of Girona, which seized the occasion to present a book intiteled "Prehistoric rock’s painting in Rekeiz Lemgasem (Zemmur- Western Sahara)", as a "donation from the University’s Cultural Heritage Institute to the Saharawi National Museum", indicated the spokesperson of the group of the university of Girona, wich was composed of the searchers: Gabriel Alcalde, Joan Lluis Alegret, Carlos Serra, Narcis Soler and Joaquim Soler.
On its part, the Argentinean University of Fasta, represented by Beatriz Carbonell, contributed by presenting the work of this searcher in the liberated territories of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.
The University of Madrid, on another hand, presented a detailed paper realised by a group of Saharawi and Spanish Anthropologists under the theme: "the Saharawi culture from the point of view of the Anthropology of development".
The group, of searchers working on the project is composed of Professor Juan Carlos Gimeno Martin, David De Juan Canales, Luis Marin Pozuelo, in addition to Saharawi searchers: Mr. Saleh Nafe Abeid, Mrs. Fanna Saleh Dat, Mrs. Fatimetu Brahim and Mrs. Tfarrah Mohamed Bachir.
The expositions were followed by a general debate, "focussed on the methods of investigations, presentations and protections of this human heritage in danger", the organisers of the encounter indicated. (SPS)
060/090/000 071552 Feb 06 SPS
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PRESS SERVICE