SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

El Aaiun (occupied territories), 17/11/2006 (SPS) The icon of the Saharawi resistance and human rights activist, Mrs. Aminetou Haidar, was welcomed on Wednesday evening in El Aaiun (the occupied capital of the Western Sahara) by the Saharawi population as a "real heroine", the Spanish newspaper, ABC, reported on Thursday.

Dozens Saharawis visited Mrs. Aminatou Haidar in her family house to wish her welcome and "openly express their support to the Polisario Front and to the independence of the Western Sahara'', despite of the fact that many others were unable to reach Mrs. Aminetou’s house because of the Moroccan forces, the newspaper indicated.

The Coordination of the Spanish Associations of Solidarity with the Saharawi people (CEAS-Sahara), launched a plea to the international organisations; human rights activists and public opinion, to be vigilant so as the "fundamental rights to freedom of movement and expression" of Mrs. Haidar are not violated by the Moroccan authorities of occupation. (SPS)

020/090/700/TRD 171150 Nov 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/AFRICAN UNION/PARLIAMENT

The AU must "compel Morocco respect the international resolutions" (Pan African Union)

Midrand (South Africa), 17/11/2006 (SPS) The President of the Pan African Committee for International Relations (PAP) recommended, on Thursday that the African Union (AU) "compel Morocco respect the international resolutions" on the Western Sahara, Algerian Press Service, APS, reported.

"The UN failure to implement the Settlement Plan adopted by the UN Security Council in 1990 will jeopardize the organisation of a self-determination referendum in the Western Sahara", Mr. Kante El Hadj Diao declared during the 6^thSession of the PAP, in Midrand in South Africa.

Mr. Diao regretted that the mandate of the UN’s mission for the organisation of a referendum in the Western Sahara (Minurso) was "renewed for more than 15 times" since its deployment on the ground in 1991, "without succeeding in fulfilling its mission".

He UN and the Minurso "did not dare address serous warnings to Morocco who undertook, at many times, action that jeopardize the peace process in the Western Sahara", he added.

Minurso "was not able to succeed its mission because Morocco hindered its activities fro the very beginning", he affirms.

For these reasons, "the members of the Committee recommend that the Pan African Parliament propose to the African Union to seize the Security Council so as to implement the resolutions its adopted" to resolve the crisis of the Western Sahara, Mr. Diao indicated.

The Committee also presented, in the plenary, a draft resolution on the Western Sahara demanding the decolonisation of the territory. (SPS)

020/090/700/TRD 171210 Nov 06 SPS