SAHARA PRESSE SERVICE

Bir Lehlu (liberated territories), 23/11/2006 (SPS) The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, sent a message of congratulations to the Saharawi political prisoners, liberated on Tuesday by Morocco, affirming that "this release, which is not a gift, is an invaluable acquisition, which "can be considered as a new success added to the many victories of the Saharawi people".

"We are happy with your release which is a real acquisition for our people and for all the persons concerned about peace and freedom. We welcome you within your people, within the ranks of the struggle that you never left", the President of the Republic wrote in his letter to the Saharawi political prisoners after the release of two of them, mainly Moussaoui Ahmed and Dedi Hmada.

The Head of the State also paid a vibrant tribute to the 36 other Saharawi political prisoners still in Moroccan custody, hailing "all the human rights organisations, and all those who worked side by side with the Saharawis to defend the values of freedom and the right to self-determination".

The two mentioned Saharawi political prisoners, who were arrested since April in the occupied capital of the Western Sahara, were released after they served a six months imprisonment sentence knowing that they were sentenced the same day they were released. (SPS)

020/090/100/TRD 231530 Nov 06 SPS

SPS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/REPRESSION

Warm reception in the occupied Smara to two released Saharawi political prisoners

Smara (occupied territories), 25/11/2006 (SPS) Dozens Saharawi citizens organised peaceful demonstrations in the occupied city of Smara to express their joy about the release, on Tuesday by the Moroccan colonial authorities, of two Saharawi political prisoners, concordant sources indicated.

The demonstrators gathered in front of the houses of the families of the Saharawi political prisoners, Dedi Hmada and Moussaoui Ahmed, released last Tuesday by the Moroccan colonial authorities after they spent six months in the notorious Carcel Negra in the occupied city of El Aaiun.

The demonstrators raised the Saharawi Republic’s flags affirming their determination to pursue the Intifada until the release of the "36 other Saharawi political prisoners still in Moroccan custody", added to "more than 500 disappeareds and more than 151 prisoners of war whose fate is still ignored", the same sources added.

Dozens Saharawi citizens were stopped from joining the demonstrators by Moroccan forces of occupation, "units of the army strengthened the police and auxiliary forces in sealing the city".

On another hand, writings on the wall of the occupied city of Boujador, advocating the independence of the Western Sahara besides drawings of the Saharawi flag were seen before the Moroccan authorities deployed their forces to remove them.

In Mhamid Elghezlan the Saharawi citizens pursue their sit-in that started since last August, in front of the administration of this Moroccan locality situated in the South of Morocco, to protest against the ill-treatment perpetrated by the Moroccan authorities against the Saharawi citizens, it should be recalled. (SPS)

020/090/110/TRD 251110 Mars 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/MALI/VISIT

MR. Mhamed Khadad received by he Malian Minister for Foreign Affairs

Bamako, 25/11/2006 (SPS) Mr. Mhamed Khadad, Member of the Polisario Fronts’ National Secretariat Coordinator with the MINURSO, was received on Friday by Mr. Moktar Ouane, Malian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation at the seat of his ministry in Bamako.

The meetings between the two officials tackled the "bilateral relations and the last developments of the Saharawi question, especially the efforts of the United Nations to enable the Saharawi people to enjoy their inalienable right to self-determination", a Saharawi official press release indicated.

Mr. Khadad recalled that the three last decades showed that "without the respect of the Saharawi people’s rights it is impossible to think about a lasting peace in the region", the text indicated.

"Mali, which follows with deep concern the development of th conflict has always supported a jus and peaceful solution", the Malian Minister recalled, the press release stresses. (SPS)

010/090/100/TRD 251043 nov 06 SPS

SPS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/REPRESSION

A Saharawi NGO denounces the against a Saharawi journalist in the occupied El Aaiun

El Aaiun (occupied territories), 25/11/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi Association of the Victims of the Gross Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH) denounced on Friday "the savage aggression" perpetrated on Tuesday by Moroccan police agents against the Saharawi journalist, Dahi Mohamed Salem, indicated a press release issued by the Saharawi NGO the same day, of which SPS received a copy.

The Saharawi journalist, who works in the Moroccan newspaper 'el Watan', has affirmed having been aggressed by agents of the Moroccan police in a police station where he was led by a police patrol "without any legal reason", the text says.

He was insulted, beaten and interrogated about his articles on the question of the Western Sahara, and his interviews to some Saharawi human rights activists such as Mr. Sabbar Brahim, the Secretary General of the ASVDH now in detention in the notorious Carcel Negra (Black Jail) since June the 17^th 2006, the press release stressed.

Mr. Dahi Mohamed Salem, who is also a member of the Forum Truth and Justice Western Sahara Section (FVJ) and member of the Section of the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) in the occupied El-Aaiun, declared he has presented a complaint to the General Persecutor of the king on Wednesday the day after he was aggressed. (SPS)

020/090/110/TRD 251240 Nov 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/SOUTH AFRICA/HUMAN RIGHTS/CONFERENCE

Seminar in Pretoria on the responsibility of the UN in the Western Sahara

Pretoria (25/11/2006), (SPS) The Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) organised on Friday a seminar about the "responsibility of the UN in the human rights violations in the Non-Self-Governing territories, the case of the Western Sahara", with the participation of the Saharawi human rights activist, Ali Salem Tamek, who is currently undertaking a visit to South Africa.

"The judicial nature and the colonial aspect of the conflict (of the Western Sahara) which is languishing for 30 years so far and that opposes the Moroccan kingdom and the Saharawi Republic, push us to warn against possible degradation of the current situation, which will be the consequence of the violent repressive campaigns against the helpless Saharawi civilians", warned Mr. Timothy Othieno, the specialist in the conflict of the Western Sahara, who animated the seminar.

The South African expert related in details the Morocco-Saharawi conflict, estimating that "it is time for the UN to assume its responsibility in organising the referendum and enlarge the mandate of the MINURSO to include the protection of the human rights".

"Any delays in the process will lead the region to dangerous and uncontrollable changes and will deprive the UN from all credibility. The African peoples will have no more confidence in this international body", he said.

On his part, South African Ambassador, Louis Lulu Mnguni, present to the seminar on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, recalled that South Africa "suffered from the cruelties of the Apartheid regime" and as a member to the UN’s Security Council for the coming two years, it will pay all necessary efforts to "lead the UN to assume its responsibilities towards the Saharawi people, that is to say to organise a self-determination referendum but also to impose the respect of the human rights".

On another hand, Mr. Tamek drew a dark picture "of the system of oppression and suffocation imposed by the Moroccan regime and especially directed against the Saharawi citizens". He illustrated his presentation with photos and documents.

"The Mroccan regime also led campaigns of atrocious repression against the participants to the Intifada of Independence, who claimed the organisation of a self-determination referendum, and still are claiming it via peaceful demonstrations always oppressed violently", he said.

Mr. Tamek regretted that "this barbarous repression sometimes occur under the very sight of the UN’s representative in the territory, the MINURSO, who are present in the territory to impose the respect of the Saharawi people’s rights".

The intervention of Mr. Tamek aroused a debate that was marked by a deep indignation of the participants. All the interventions insisted on the fact that "the African intellectuals must play a crucial role to lift this shame that continues to stain the soil of Africa". (SPS)

010/090/110/TRD 251506 nov 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/SOUTH AFRICA/HUMAN RIGHTS

South Africa can not accept the persistence of the human rights violations in the Western Sahara (minister)

Pretoria (25/11/2006), (SPS) The South African Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, declared that his country "can not accept the persistence of the human rights violations in the Western Sahara by Morocco", calling on the UN to "fully assume its responsibilities in the protection of the Saharawis in the occupied territories".

Mr. Phad, who received the Saharawi human rights activist, Mr. Ali Salem Tamek, on Thursday in Pretoria, renewed "the principled support of South Africa to the Saharawi people’s struggle for their natural right to freedom and independence".

He was in particular shocked by the illustrated file Mr. Tamek presented him about the Moroccan regime crimes in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.

"Our country can not accept the persistence of such unacceptable horrors in its continental space", he said, adding that Pretoria, during her coming two years membership in the UN Security Council, "will pay efforts so as these crimes are recognised and the UN completely assume its responsibilities in the Western Sahara including the human rights".

The meetings took place with the presence of high officials of the South African Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Ubbi Bechraya. (SPS)

010/090/110/TRD 251543 nov 06 SPS

SPS
SADR/SOUTH AFRICA/MEDIAS

The Saharawi Government calls for the protection of the civilians in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara

Pretoria, 25/11/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi Ambassador to South Africa, Mr. Oubbi Bouchraya, asked, on behalf of the Saharawi Government, for the enlargement of the mandate of the UN’s mission in the Western Sahara to include the protection of the civilians, estimating that this can help "prevent against a real bloodshed that is threatening the territory".

Invited to the South African TV channel, SABC, in its programme "African Views", which was consecrated to the human rights violations in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, the Saharawi Ambassador indicated that the Saharawi Government is frustrated seen that the UN Security Council is hesitating regarding the implementation of its resolutions and the recommendations of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Saharawi human rights activist, Ali Salem Tamek, also invited to the same programme, presented a striking testimony on the practices of the Moroccan colonial authorities against the Saharawi helpless civilians in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara, who are peacefully advocating the right to self-determination through a just and transparent referendum under the auspices of the UN.

On his part, the South African searcher, Mr. Timothy Othieno, who is animating this famous TV programme treated the conflict of the Western Sahara in its juridical and political aspects in addition to the positions of some countries, such as France which is encouraging Morocco in its illegal occupation and helps it hide the gross human rights violations in the Non-Self-Governing territory. (SPS)

020/090/000/TRD 251610 Nov 06 SPS