Chahid El Hafed, 12/11/2006 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, estimated on Saturday that "the international community cannot turn a blind eye to this situation and allow such an imminent humanitarian disaster to take place whose victims will be refugees", who are lately facing an alarming reduction of humanitarian aid they normally receive from the international organisations.

Giving a speech during a reception he organised on the honour of the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP, a UN body), Mr. James Morris, in an official visit to the Saharawi refugee camps, heading an important delegation of his organisation, the Head of the State warned against a "real famine" that is threatening the Saharawi refugees, due to "the dramatic shortage of food and the reduction of aid that they used to receive from international organisations”.

The President of the Republic further launched "an urgent appeal to the WFP, under the leadership of Mr. James Morris, and to all international and regional humanitarian organisations around the world to intervene urgently by providing all necessary assistance in order to avoid such a disaster".

Mohamed Abdelaziz, also called "on the United Nations, the main and direct responsible for the decolonisation of Western Sahara, to take all necessary and urgent measures to protect the Saharawi refugees against any possible starvation", renewing the Saharawi people’s "call on the United Nations, the main and direct responsible for the decolonisation of Western Sahara, to take all necessary and urgent measures to protect the Saharawi refugees against any possible starvation".

The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr. James Morris, undertook a few hours official visit to the Saharawi refugee camps heading an important delegation of his organisation, it should be recalled.

Mr. James Morris was received at the Wilaya of Smara by members of the Saharawi Government, the President of the Saharawi Red Crescent, and some Saharawi notables before he visited the different Dairas and socio-economic institutions of the Wilaya.

He had also met with the Saharawi citizens before he had a meeting with the local authorities of the Wilaya and the different Polisario Front’s officials.

Mr. Morris was received after by the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, at the seat of the Presidency in Chahid El Hafed, with the presence of members of the Government, Parliament and members of Polisario Front’s National Secretariat and other Saharawi cadres. (SPS)

Here is the full text of the speech given by the Head of the State:

Speech of Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Republic and Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO

Reception of Mr. James T. Morris, Executive Director of the WFP

11 November 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to welcome Mr. James T. Morris, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, and I would like to express to him our many thanks for having paid this visit to the Saharawi refugee camps in order to assess firsthand their situation. I would also like to welcome all the distinguished guests, representative of different international humanitarian and non-governmental organisations operating in the Saharawi refugee camps.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The conflict in Western Sahara is a decolonisation issue on the agenda of the United Nations, an issue that is considered annually by the General Assembly IV Committee on Decolonisation since its first resolution 2072 of 16 December 1965 until its latest resolution that was adopted last month. All these resolutions reaffirmed the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.

The report of the United Nations visiting mission to Western Sahara and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which both were issued in 1975, underlined unequivocally the need for the decolonisation of the Territory through the exercise of the right of self-determination.

However, Spain’s failure to hold the self-determination referendum and Morocco’s illegal military occupation of Western Sahara in 1975 are the direct cause of the conflict that has lasted so far for more than 30 years.

In line with the UN Charter and resolutions, the international efforts culminated, in 1991, in the elaboration of a plan that was accepted by the two parties to the conflict, the Moroccan Kingdom and the Frente POLISARIO. The objective of the plan was to hold a free, democratic and fair referendum in which the Saharawi people would choose between independence and integration into the Kingdom of Morocco.

In spite of the additional efforts that led to the signing of Houston Agreements, under the auspices of the former Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Mr. James Baker, who proposed the peace plan for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, which was approved by the Security Council in its resolution 1495, the Moroccan Government kept on obstructing the international efforts and going to the extent of declaring publicly its rejection of any solution that would not give blessing to its colonial fait accompli in Western Sahara.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Moroccan Government has clearly violated international legality by occupying illegally a Non-Self-Governing Territory and subjecting its people to genocide practices including bombing the civilians with internationally banned weapons, such as Napalm and Phosphorous, and pursuing a repressive policy of kidnapping, detention and forced disappearances against civil population. The Moroccan Government is therefore the only responsible for the exodus of more than 160,000 Saharawi refugees who live today in Algeria.

More than 160,000 Saharawi refugees have been waiting for more than 30 years to see justice served and international legality respected through enabling them to exercise their right to self-determination and independence and to return to their homeland in a free and dignified way.

More than 160,000 Saharawi refugees were received by Algeria as a gesture of a noble and civilised posture, at a time when the Moroccan Government was hoping to see them perish in the middle of the desert or as a result of the attacks of its aircrafts.

More than 160,000 Saharawi refugees continue to live in very harsh living conditions. They are now threatened by a real famine owing to the dramatic shortage of food and the reduction of aid that they used to receive from international organisations, although the aid itself has never been sufficient quantitatively and qualitatively.

The international community cannot turn a blind eye to this situation and allow such an imminent humanitarian disaster to take place whose victims will be refugees who have done nothing wrong and have only been waiting for the dictates of international legality to be respected in their country so that they could return to it.

We would like, therefore, to launch an urgent appeal to the WFP, under the leadership of Mr. James Morris, and to all international and regional humanitarian organisations around the world to intervene urgently by providing all necessary assistance in order to avoid such a disaster.

We would like to call on the United Nations, the main and direct responsible for the decolonisation of Western Sahara, to take all necessary and urgent measures to protect the Saharawi refugees against any possible starvation. We would also like to call once again on the United Nations to ensure the protection of the rights of the Saharawi population in the Saharawi territories under Moroccan occupation; the release of all Saharawi prisoners of conscience; the accounting by the Moroccan Government for the fate of more than 500 disappeared and 151 Saharawi POWs; and enabling the Saharawi people to exercise, without delay, their fundamental right to self-determination through a free and fair referendum.

I would like once again to welcome Mr. James Morris and all the distinguished guests.

Thank you!

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SPS
SADR/MOROCCO

The Saharawi Government: The ‘autonomy’ proposed by Morocco is a vain attempt to avoid the international legality

Chahid El Hafed, 12/11/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi Government declared on Saturday in a press release published by the Ministry of Information, that "the “autonomy” proposed by the Moroccan Government is a futile attempt to render alienable an international inalienable right", which is the Saharawi people)s right to self-determination and independence.

Answering the recent statement by the Moroccan Minister of Communication, Nabil Ben Abdallah, according to whom the so-called ‘autonomy’ is a "civilised form of self-determination", the communiqué estimates that "to consider a proposal made by the Moroccan occupying power with a view to entrenching its illegal presence in Western Sahara a “civilised form of self-determination” is a matter worthy of international condemnation".

Here is the complete text of the press release of the Saharawi Ministry of Information:

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic

Ministry of Information

Bir Lehlou, 11 November 2006

Following the statements made by the Moroccan Communication Minister regarding the so-called “autonomy”, Mr. Sid-Ahmed Batal, Minister of Information in the Saharawi Government, has made the following statement:

On 9 November 2006, the Moroccan Communication Minister, Nabil Benabdallah, made a statement to the media claiming that the “autonomy” proposed by the Moroccan Government is “a civilised form of self-determination”.

The Saharawi Government denounces vehemently this gross perversion and deplores this blatant act of misrepresentation that aims at distorting the nature of the conflict in Western Sahara and removing it from its well-established legal framework.

To consider a proposal made by the Moroccan occupying power with a view to entrenching its illegal presence in Western Sahara a “civilised form of self-determination” is a matter worthy of international condemnation, not least because it constitutes a blatant attempt by the Moroccan Government to shirk its international commitments and circumvent international legality whilst trying to override the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence and covering up its blatant disregard for the Charter of the United Nations.

The question of Western Sahara is a decolonisation issue that can only be resolved through the exercise of the right to self-determination. The “autonomy” proposed by the Moroccan Government is a futile attempt to render alienable an international inalienable right.

The right to self-determination is a right enshrined in international conventions and is not a gift to be given at will by the colonial power. The Moroccan Government therefore does not have any right to act as a trustee or to try to circumvent the wishes of the Saharawi people and decide on their behalf by way of “autonomy” or the like. This is because the exercise of self-determination means essentially that the Saharawi people should have their say and express their wishes in a free, transparent and democratic way.

The Saharawi Government reaffirms its commitment to cooperating with the United Nations so that the latter can shoulder fully its responsibility for the decolonisation of Western Sahara in accordance with its own Charter and resolutions by engaging in the implementation of either the UN-OAU Settlement Plan that was signed by the two parties to the conflict, the Moroccan Kingdom and the Frente POLISARIO, or the peace plan for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, which was approved unanimously by the Security Council in its resolution 1495, and not in line with a Moroccan colonial vision that seeks to impose the colonial fait accompli in disregard for the wishes of the Saharawi people and the dictates of international legality.

The Saharawi Government therefore calls on the international community to intervene urgently to impose severe sanctions on the Moroccan Government in order to cease making mockery of international conventions and failing to honour its own commitments that it undertook with the Saharawi side under the aegis of the United Nations.

It also calls on the United Nations to act, without delay, to ensure the release of all Saharawi prisoners of conscience, to put an end to the oppression and persecution pursued by the Moroccan Government against the Saharawi civilians, and to account for the fate of more than 500 Saharawi disappeared and 151 POWs. It further calls on the United Nations to put in place all necessary mechanisms for ensuring the safety of the Saharawis in the occupied territories, to act urgently to lift the security embargo and information blackout imposed on those territories, and to ensure that the population are able to exercise their fundamental liberties and rights including essentially the right to self-determination.

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SADR/SPAIN

Brahim Ghali calls on the Spanish Government o denounce Madrid’s Tripartite Accords

Madrid, 12/11/2006 (SPS) Polisario Front’s Representative to Spain, Brahim Ghali, called Saturday on the Spanish Government to denounce the Tripartite Accords of Madrid, signed by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania to part the Western Sahara in 1975, and asked the Spanish Government to listen to the Spanish civil society that is exhorting it to assume its responsibility in the decolonisation of the Non-Self-Governing territory.

"We call on the Spanish Government to denounce and to reject these accords that are the heritage of the last Government of the Franco’s dictatorship", Mr. Ghali underlined in a statement to the press during at the demonstration "for the decolonisation and independence of the Western Sahara", organised in the Spanish Capital by thousands demonstrators.

The demonstration coincides with the 31st anniversary of the Madrid’s Tripartite Accords, signed in the 14 November 975, by Spain Morocco and Mauritania in complete violation to the international legality.

"The objective from the demonstration, which is organised by the solidarity movement and the Spanish civil society, is to denounce these accords and remind the Spanish Government its historical, political and legal responsibilities and its debts towards the Saharawi people", he added.

On his side, the Coordinator of the Spanish Party Izquierda unida (United left), Gaspar Lamazares, asked the Spanish Government for a "clearer position" on the conflict of the Western Sahara and called on it to stop using the Saharawi question as an exchange coin in its relations with Morocco.

Te President of the Spanish Human Rights League, Francisco José Alonso, affirmed, on his part, that the Spanish people "will never accept the legitimisation of the military invasion" of the Western Sahara.

"The Spanish Society wants justice back to the Saharawi people. It is time for the Spanish Government to listen to the society’s voice and engage for a just and democratic solution for the Saharawi people, who are only asking to have an opportunity to decide over their future", the President of the State Coordination of the Spanish Associations of solidarity with the Saharawi people, José Taboada. (SPS)

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SPS
SADR/SPAIN/DEMONSTRATION

More than 40.000 demonstrators demand from Madrid to decolonise the Western Sahara

(Special Envoy)

Madrid, 11/11/2006 (SPS) More than 40 000 demonstrators marched on Saturday in Madrid to ask for the decolonisation of the Western Sahara, the self-determination and independence for the Saharawi people and to denounce the Madrid’s Tripartite Accords by which Spain ceded the Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania in 1875.

The demonstrations, which took place starting from the Atocha square ended by an improvised rally at the Plaza Mayor, where a press release was read on behalf of ll the demonstrators, among whom there was the Coordinator of the Spanish Party Izquierda unida (United left), Gaspar Lamazares, the Secretary for International Relations in the Popular Party, Jorge Moragasas well as many personalities of the two main Spanish parties, PP and PSOE.

«We ask for the immediate intervention of the international community, in particular the UN» (...) "to put pressures on Morocco so as to re-establish the international legality" (....) "save peace and stability, which are seriously threaten in this fragile region because of the intransigence of Morocco and its obstruction to the international legality", the press release stressed.

The press release finally condemned "the repression that the Moroccan Government continues to exercise in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, violating the most fundamental rights and imposing a state of siege and torturing the Saharawi population without any distinction". (SPS)

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