SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

Dakhla (occupied territories), (SPS) 22/04/2004 The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) assisted, on Monday night and the early Tuesday in Dakhla (former Villa Cisnéros), to the birth of the first Saharawi baby refugee having seeing light in his country still under Moroccan colonial domination, we learned from sources close to the UNHCR, which is organising an exchange of visits between Saharawi families who are separated by «the wall of shame» since 1975.

The mother, Salma Lehzam Horma, and her baby are in a good health, after they got out of the hospital on Wednesday, indicated UNHCR's delegate in Tindouf, Mr. Lehcen.

Despite of the warnings of the doctor, Mrs. Salma had decided to make the travel at any price, and to take the HCR's airplane so as to visit her fathers whom she had never seen for 30 years.

The extent of Saharawi people's tragedy can now be measured by the example of this mother who made the flight, risking her life and her baby's, having been at the term of her pregnancy.

The baptism of the baby will be organised this Tuesday, before the return to the refugees' camps on Wednesday, while the father remains in the other side of «the wall of shame ». (SPS)

010/090/100/TRD 221751 Apr 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/SPAIN/MOROCCO
Canaries Islands Coalition calls Zapatero to convince Rabat to enforce UN's resolutions in Western Sahara

Madrid, 22/04/2004 (SPS) The President, spokesperson of Canaria Coalition (CC) to the Spanish Parliament, Paulino Rivero, called the new Head of the Spanish Government, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on Wednesday, to convince Rabat to enforce UN's resolution on Western Sahara, in order to establish a lasting peace in the region, reported Europa Press.

Mr. Rivero expressed his hope to see Mr. Zapatero taking profit of the visit he will pay, on Saturday to Morocco, to convince his neighbours to « respect their commitments regarding the struggle against illegal immigration, regarding the enforcement of the Security Council's resolution 1495 on the future of Western Sahara and the Plan proposed by James Baker », explained the spokesperson of the CC during a press conference.

To Mr. Rivero it is a «marvellous opportunity» for Zapatero to ask Morocco to accept the Baker's Plan for Western Sahara. «We can not speak about the application of the international legality so loudly in some cases and shyly in others», he warned, referring to the Spanish executive's opinion on the war and occupation of Iraq.

The spokesperson finally called Mr. Zapatero to demand «the application of the international legality», from Morocco, through the enforcement of the UN's resolution on the former Spanish colony, «in coherence » with the position included in the PSOE's electoral programme. He «should convince Morocco to accept UN's preposition to unblock the situation in Western Sahara», he concluded. (SPS)

SPS
SADR/SPAIN/MOROCCO
Polisario Front calls Zapatero to defend Saharawi people's right to self-determination in front of Rabat

Barcelona, 22/04/2004 (SPS) Polisario Front's Representative to Catalonia, M'Beirik Ehmedi, called, on Thursday, the Spanish Head of Government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, to defend Saharawi people's right to self-determination and the enforcement of UN's resolutions on the conflict, in front of Moroccan government, during the visit he is expected to undertake this Saturday to Morocco.

Mr. Mbeirik, cited by Europa Press, called "the friend Zapatero" to speak "on behalf of Saharawi people" in order to "defend the international legality", recalling him of the "moral debt" of Spain towards the Saharawi territory, and to avoid that "again, we fall victims of a treason" similar to that of 1975.

According to Polisario Front and to the Association of the Friends of Saharawi People in Catalonia (AFSPC), «if the Spanish Government invests in the peace plan, the latter will be enforced».

The Saharawi Representative declared this statement during a press conference held in the Catalan Parliament, during which he presented the visit that the Association of the Friends of the Saharawi People is planning to pay this Saturday the 24th to the liberated territories of the SADR to demonstrate in front of «the wall of shame», the military oeuvre which is dividing Western Sahara, and having «prevented the families contacts for 30 years», he added.

The AFSPC, which is organising this trip, blamed the Moroccan government for having «used European Union's money, which was intended for projects of cooperation, to build a wall and to legitimise its occupation» of the territory, it was indicated. (SPS)

010/090/666/TRD 221351 Apr 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/MOROCCO/UN
Mr. Khaddad : Benaissa’s appeal to negotiations between Morocco and Algeria concerning Western Sahara is a disdain to international legality

Chahid El Hafed, 22/04/2004 (SPS) Mr. M’Hamed Khadad, member of Polisario Front’s direction, co-ordinator with the Minurso, declared that Moroccan persistence in calling for negotiations with Algeria regarding the decolonisation of Western Sahara is «a disdain to the international legality and to the efforts of peace in the region».

«The appeal of the Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister is a new proof of the Moroccan intransigence and disdain to the international legality and to the efforts of peace in the region», underlined Mr. Khadad, considering that the Moroccan minister’s position «does not augur well for the response his country is supposed to hand over this days to United Nations Security Council regarding the enforcement of the resolution 1495 » .

Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister, Mohamed Benaissa, has called Algiers, last Tuesday, to bilateral negotiations to resolve Western Sahara’s conflict.

«It is time for Morocco, the unique responsible of the blockages in the peace process, to face the truth, and to accept to co-operate with the international community for the enforcement of the resolutions unanimously adopted instead of persevering in the policy of rushing ahead», stressed Mr. Khadad.

In this respect, he recalled that «only the respect of the Saharawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination (…) can guarantee a fair and final peace in a region that is suffering from Moroccan expansionism and adventures since decades».

It should be recalled that the Security Council had unanimously adopted, on the 30th July 2004, the resolution 1495, calling the parties to the conflict, Polisario Front Polisario and Morocco, to accept and enforce the peace plan for the self-determination of the Saharawi people, presented by UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy, Mr. James Baker III aimed at the decolonisation of Western Sahara. A plan Polisario Front had accepted. (SPS)

010/090/100/TRD 221052 Apr 04 SPS