SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

Bir Lehlu (liberated territories), 24/05/2006 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, urged the UN Secretary Gneral, Kofi Annan, to intercede with the EU so as to convince it "to exclude" the Saharawi territorial waters from its fishing agreement with Morocco, because it "is generating the germs of instability and seriously mortgages the possibilities of peace and the implementation of the international legality".

The accord, adopted on Monday by the EU, "has no legal basis, does not only support Morocco in its negative attitude of intransigence and refusal to implement the international resolutions but also encourages Rabat in its policy of systematic violation of human rights against the civil populations in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara", M. Abdelaziz wrote on Tuesday in a letter to Mr. Annan.

"By providing clauses for the exploitation of the natural resources of the Western Sahara, which are the exclusive property of the Saharawi people and not the Moroccan occupier, the EU committed, unfortunately, major error and undertakes a demarche in complete contradiction with the international law", the letter underlines, of which SPS received a copy.

Recalling that the Western Sahara is a Non-Self-Governing territory which is still to decolonise, the President of th Republic stressed the wise position adopted by the American Government, which abstained from signing a Free Trade agreement that includes a territory which is not under the sovereignty of Morocco. He also hailed the position adopted by the America oil company, Kerr-McGee, which did not renew its contract in the Western Sahara.

He finally hailed the position of Sweden, which voted against the accord, and the positions of other European countries which expressed reserves. (SPS)

On 22 May 2006, the European Union approved a fisheries agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco that include, in some of its provisions, the territorial waters of Western Sahara.

As your Excellency is aware, in accordance with international law, Western Sahara is not part of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is a territory pending decolonisation and whose people have not yet exercised their right to self-determination in conformity with the General Assembly resolution 1514. Enabling the Saharawi people to exercise that right is the mission that has been entrusted by the Security Council to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) that has been present in the territory since 1991.

In some of its provisions, the fisheries agreement involves the exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara, which belong only to the Saharawi people and not to the illegal Moroccan occupying power. By approving this agreement, the European Union has unfortunately taken a step that is incompatible with international law and moral principles.

I am addressing to your Excellency this urgent message precisely because the signing of such an agreement could further complicate the situation of the Saharawi-Moroccan conflict by jeopardising the respect for and implementation of the dictates of international legality.

This agreement can lead only to encouraging the Moroccan Government to persist in its intransigence and rejection of the UN resolutions and to continue to violate human rights of defenceless Saharawi citizens in the territories of Western Sahara under its occupation.

The European Union should have followed the example of the United States when it excluded the territory of Western Sahara from its Free Trade Agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco on the grounds that neither the United Nations nor the United States recognises Moroccan sovereignty over the territory.

It was in this context that several foreign companies, the last of which was Kerr-McGee, decided to terminate contracts for oil prospecting that were concluded with the Kingdom of Morocco and involved the Saharawi territorial waters.

The Frente POLISARIO would like to applaud the position of some Member States of the European Union that expressed reservations on the agreement such as Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland as well as Sweden that voted against the agreement on the grounds that it contravenes international law and moral principles.

In view of your being the main responsible for ensuring the implementation of international law and the dictates of international legality, and considering the authority and responsibility of the United Nations as regards Western Sahara, I would like to call on you to urgently act vis-à-vis the European Union so that it annuls the provisions of the fisheries agreement that involve the Saharawi territorial waters, pending an early holding of a free and fair referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.

Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration.

SPS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/MOROCCO/REPRESSION

Sit-in of support in the Moroccan universities to the victims of El Aaiun

Rabat (Morocco), 24/05/2006 (SPS) The Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) and the Saharawi students of the University of Rabat organised on Tuesday, in the University campus, a sit-in, in solidarity with the victims of the Moroccan repression that occurred last Wednesday in the occupied city of El Aaiun, calling on the UN to "protect" the Saharawi civilians from the fierce Moroccan repression in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, indicated concordant sources.

In the Moroccan city of Agadir (South of Morocco) the Saharawi students organised a sit-in the same day to express their solidarity with their compatriots, the victims of the Moroccan repressive apparatus, and advocate their people’s right to self-determination and independence.

In the occupied territories, three demonstrations took place on Tuesday evening, in the occupied city of Smara, advocating "the immediate withdrawal" of the Moroccan colonial forces from the Western Sahara.

In the occupied city of Boujdour, the Saharawi students of the intermediary school "Omar Ben El Khattab" raised the flags of the Saharawi Republic and chanted slogans in favour of the independence of the Western Sahara during a demonstration that was "violently oppressed" by the Moroccan forces of repression, and arrested a student, mainly Ely Mayara.

In the occupied city of El Aaiun, the young Saharawi, Mohamed Mokhtar Khneibila, was arrested on Tuesday by the Moroccan force of occupation for having "raised a flag of the Saharawi Republic".

According to eyewitnesses, the families of the victims are put under surveillance by the Moroccan forces of occupation after the confrontations that took place between the families and the corps of Moroccan security. (SPS)

020/090/110/TRD 241715 May 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/UN/HUMAN RIGHTS

Mr. Giraud: "We enjoyed a very good cooperation of the Saharawi authorities"

Chahid El Hafed, 24/05/2006 (SPS) The Head of the delegation of the UN High Commissioner or the Human Rights (HCDH), Christophe Giraud, affirmed that his delegation "enjoyed a very good cooperation from the Saharawi authorities" after the end of the three days visit the delegation undertook to the Saharawi refugee camps, within the framework of a week investigation mission to the Western Sahara.

In a statement to the press after a meeting with the Saharawi Prime Minister, Abdelkader Taleb Oumar, Mr. Giraud estimated that his delegation was able "to do its duty, there (in the occupied territories) and here", estimating that as a whole the "mission was good".

This UN mission, the first of its kind in this 30 years, will present its report and "recommendations" to the Un High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Louise Harbour, who "will decide what to do about the report", Mr. Giraud said.

The mission of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCDH) to the occupied territories of the Western Sahara was ''very short'' and faced ''some problems'', declared, on Sunday, the President of the delegation, Christophe Giraud, to the press after his first meetings with the officials of Polisario Front and of the Saharawi Republic, in the Saharawi refugee camps.

The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, warned against dangers of degradation of the situation in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara and consequently asked for the creation of "UN mechanisms" able to "protect Saharawis against the Moroccan repression" in order to prevent a slaughter of a whole people that are submitted to pitiless colonial occupation for more than 30 years. (SPS)

010/090/000/TRD 241148 May 06 SPS

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