SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

Tan Tan (south Morocco), 23/09/2004 (SPS) Moroccan gendarmerie arrested the Saharawi citizen, Yahya Mohamed El Hafed, alias AZZA, in the 16th September in Tan Tan, to imprison him without trial in Galat ben Sergaw (Agadir), indicated the father of the victim who was accompanying him before the latter's arrest.

Born in 1965 in Tan Tan, married and father to two children, the victim was recruited against his will by Moroccan armed forces in 1987 before been demobilised two years ago, it was indicated.

The kidnappers had confiscated the vehicle of the victim, letting his blind and mutilated father to his fate, without any apparent chance to get back to his house in Tan Tan.

In a communiqué released Friday, after "the summary trials" of the two young Saharawis, Mahmoud Moustapha Haddad and Mohamed Mahmoud Fekak in September the 16th, the Saharawi political detainees called upon "all human rights organisations to intervene near Moroccan authorities to put an end to the serious human rights' violations perpetrated by Morocco in occupied territories of Western Sahara".

Meanwhile, Saharawi human rights activists in occupied territories of Western Sahara called to "the immediate and unconditional release of all Saharawi political detainees in Moroccan cells", expressing their "solidarity with their families" and exhorting them to struggle "for the release of their sons with all the means in their possession", indicated a communiqué released by the activists the same day. (SPS)

010/090/000 231125 SEPT 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/BELGIUM
A Belgian Senator denounces the use of food aid as a mean of pressure by some international NGOs

Brussels, 23/09/2004 (SPS) Belgian Senator, Mr. Pierre Galand, (Socialist Party), denounced Thursday some international organisations, which use food aid to Saharawi refugees as a mean of pressure against Saharawi leaders, pushed by Moroccan Lobbying pressures, reported Algerian Press Agency (APS) in its Thursday's edition.

During a press conference held today in the seat of Belgian Senate in Brussels, Mr. Galand stated that "the main providers of aid, Europe and United States, have reduced or stopped their help because of pressures and propaganda of Moroccan authorities and their allies".

"These campaigns had attempted to make believe that food aid are misappropriated, but the missions of investigations led by international organisations such as WFP and UNHCR had completely denied these allegations", further, "the conveying and distribution of food aid is achieved with a brilliant organisation", indicated the Senator.

Mr. Galand, who has achieved a mission of the Belgian Parliamentary intergroup of support to Saharawi people in the refugees camps last week accompanied with Mrs. Jacinta De Rock (Socialist Green) and Mr. Jean Cornil (Socialist Party), alerted that the food stocks "reached the levels of total alert", because they can only provide for the needs of a month and a half, "while in the international norms stocks should provide at least for three months".

"The consequences of this lack of food aid is already notable on Saharawi refugees, the children suffer from study problems and malnutrition", he deplored.

He said "Saharawi populations should not be marginalised because of the complicated international situation that makes it difficult to achieve the mandates of the international bodies towards Saharawis". (SPS)

020/090/700 231645 SEPT 04 SPS