SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

SPS
SADR/ITALY

Saharawi Government asks the international community to dispatch an ad-hoc committee to Western Sahara

15.12.05

Chahid El Hafed, 15/12/2005 (SPS) Saharawi Prime Minister, Abdelkader Taleb Oumar, invited the international community to dispatch an ad-hoc mission to investigate on the human rights’ situation in Western Sahara, and preserve peace and stability in the threatened region through the intense deployment of Moroccan soldiers, dressed in civilians clothes, in the capital of the Saharawi Republic, El Aaiun.

During a dinner he offered on the honor of the Italian delegation, Mr. Taleb Oumar, who was answering the Italian TV7, indicated that the "recent preoccupying" situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara is a result to the intransigence of Morocco, who "persists in his rejection to abide by the international legality", estimating that Europe must "play a notable role in the establishment of peace and stability in the region".

He underlined that Morocco "pretended that Saharawis in the refugee camps are sequestrated, an allegation that was categorically refuted by the confidence-building measures through the families visits exchange as well as by the peaceful demonstrations in favor of the self-determination of the Saharawi people since May 2005".

The international community is called to "preserve peace and stability in the region", and to impose the respect of the United Nations’ resolutions for the settlement of the conflict of Western Sahara, the Prime Minister underlined during the reception on the honor of the Italian delegation chaired by the President of the Italian Committee of solidarity with the Saharawi people in Roma, Mr. Maurizio Marani.

Concerning the humanitarian aid, the Saharawi Prime Minister regretted that this was lately used as "a political weapon to impose other solutions on Saharawi people outside the baker Plan", stressing that the HCR and WFP decided to reduce the quota of the 158.000 Saharawi refugees of the camps of Tindouf to 90.000, who were considered as the most vulnerable. (SPS)

020/090/000/TRD 151620 Dec 05 SPS

SPS
SADR/UN

Mr. Abdelaziz warns the UN about the dangers of the deployment in El Aaiun of military forces dressed in civilian’s clothing

Bir Lehlu (liberated territories), 15/12/2005 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, warned the UN about the dangers of the deployment, starting from Tuesday evening, of soldiers dressed in civilian clothes in Western Sahara. He considered that this strategy may cause the beginning of confrontations between Moroccan settlers and Saharawis what may be the prelude to a massacre, according to a letter Saharawi President sent to Mr. Kofi Annan, on Wednesday.

"The deployment, starting from December the 13th, of 500 Moroccan soldiers disguised in civilian clothes, carried in 6 busses and small cars as a first wave a plan that aims at dispatching more than 20.000 soldiers dressed in civilians to the occupied territories of Western Sahara. This action constitutes a serious development that can cause dangerous confrontations between Saharawis and Moroccan civilians", he warned.

To Mr. Abdelaziz, the UN must "assume its juridical, historical and moral responsibilities towards Western Sahara, as a non-self-governing territory, in the protection of innocent Saharawi civil citizens against the repressive practices of the Moroccan repressive forces of security, or those corps disguised in civilian clothes".

The UN must "condemn and immediately stop the dispatching and deployment of the forces of repression inside the occupied territories of Western Sahara, so as to ensure the conditions of security and fundamental freedoms of Saharawi citizens", the President of the Republic added.

He also demanded "the release of Saharawi political prisoners, the judgment of the Moroccan accountable for crimes against humanity and for human rights abuses in Western Sahara".

On another hand, Mr. Abdelaziz called the UN’s Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to "exert firm pressures" on the Moroccan Government so as to compel it abide by the international legality and implement the UN’s resolutions on Western Sahara, especially the resolution 1495 for the decolonization of the territory through the organization of a free, just and transparent referendum for the self-determination of the Saharawi people.

The President of the Republic recalled the Secretary General of many letters he addressed him on the explosive nature of the situation in Western Sahara since last May the 21^st 2005. He also recalled the recent assassination of to Saharawi citizens, Lembarki Salek Mahjoub, and Likhlifi Aba Cheikh, and the waves of "imprisonments, tortures, deportations, arbitrary arrests and show trials". (SPS)

020/090/100/TRD 151130 Dec 05 SPS