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SPS Aminatou Haidar meets with the President of the South African Human Rights Commission 26.06.05
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Pretoria, 26/06/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi human rights activist and ex-political prisoner, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar, had had a meeting, on Friday in Pretoria, with the President of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), M. Narandan Jody Kollapen, with the presence of the Chief Executive Officer, Adv. Tseliso Thipanyane, in addition to some South African cadres.
The meeting, which took place in the seat of the Commission in Pretoria, was a new opportunity for Mrs. Haidar to present, to her interlocutors, the truth about the human rights violations committed by the Moroccan State in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.
Right after the exposition, the President of the SAHRC, affirmed after a debate that took place after the exposition, the firm support of his organisation to the legitimate struggle of the Saharawi people and to the respect of the human rights of this people, including their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. (SPS)
060/CAPE TOWN/000 261400 JUIN SPS 06
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SPS Mrs. Haidar received by the President of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
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Cape Town, 26/06/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi human rights activist and ex-political prisoner, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar, was received on Sunday afternoon by the President of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd. Njongonkulu W.H. Ndungane, in his residence in Cape Town, with whom she had a deep discussion about the human rights situation in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.
The Saharawi human rights activist presented to her, attentive interlocutor, a detailed briefing on the flagrant human rights violations committed by the Moroccan Government in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara.
The religious South African personality declared "his deep concern about these incredible exactions committed by an African State against an African people, and we are supporting you and very sadden to hear your testimony about the sufferings you underwent".
060/CAPE TOWN/000 261500 JUIN SPS 06
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SPS Aminatou Haidar visits the prison of Nilson Mandela in Robben Island
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Cape Town, 26/06/2006 (SPS) The Saharawi human rights activist and ex-political prisoner, Mrs. Aminatou Haidar, undertook a visit to the prison of « Robben Island » in Cape Town (South Africa), where the legendary South African leader, Nilson Mandela, was incarcerated for 18 years, from 1964 to 1982, and she signed the prison’s official book of visitors.
The Saharawi human rights activist, who was accompanied by militants of the South African resistance and South African ex-political prisoners, expressed her "deep emotion in visiting this terrible prison, and in which the symbol of the African struggle for freedom and independence, Nilson Mandela, was incarcerated with hundreds of his comrades, fighters for dignity ".
Mrs. Haidar visited the Island, where the prison was constructed centuries ago by Dutch settlers, and where "hundreds thousands victims were imprisoned, tortured, and killed in thousands by their oppressors", underlined Mr. Yassine, ex-political detainee, currently In charge of the prison that was converted by the South African State under democracy to a museum.
060/CAPE TOWN/000 261900 JUIN SPS 06
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SPS Police abuses against the Saharawi citizens in the occupied city of Bojador and in Assa
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Boujdour (occupied territory), 26/06/2006 (SPS) The sons of the Saharawi activists, candidates to the Baccalaureate were deprived by the Moroccan colonial authorities to participate to this examinations, accusing them of being the "agitators" of the demonstrators calling for self-determination of the Saharawi people, last Saturday in this occupied city.
The families of the students called on the international organisations of human rights to condemn the political repression exercised against the Saharawi population in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara and in the south of Morocco, according to a press release the families publicised on Monday.
They also launched an appeal to all women organisations to dispatch delegations to investigate on the tragic situation lived by the Saharawi women in the occupied part of the Saharawi territory, the text, of which SPS received a copy, added.
On another hand, the Moroccan repressive forces ransacked the house of the family of the Saharawi citizen, Ahel Weddi, while three member of his family were deprived of their salaries. The Moroccan colonial authorities blame this family for its opinion in favour of the independence of the Western Sahara.
In the city of Assa, in the south of Morocco, a Saharawi citizen, Afriad Tayeb, was arrested on Saturday evening by the Moroccan forces of repression, according to eye witnesses. He was "brutally tortured" by Moroccan security gents before been evacuated in emergency to the hospital of the city in coma, indicated a close source to the family.
Sit-in were recently organised by Saharawi students in this city, (Assa), calling for the immediate release of the Saharawi political prisoners, it should be mentioned. (SPS)
020/090/110/TRD 261110 June 06 SPS
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SPS 15 Saharawis abducted: the President of the Republic interpelates Mr. Annan
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Bir Lehlu (liberated territories), (SPS) The President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, interpellated the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to intervene vis-à-vis Morocco to account for 15 Saharawis, who were abducted last December the 25th, "in strange conditions", knowing that the mothers of the victims had launched many appeals for help to resolve the case of their sons.
"In the face of these alarming developments and in response to the urgent calls of the mothers and families of the disappeared, I would like to address this letter to call on you to do your utmost to uncover the truth in this case, and to intervene with the Moroccan authorities to account for the fate of the young men. I would also like to take the occasion to renew our call on you to create the conditions of security and protect the fundamental freedoms of the Saharawis in the Saharawi territories occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco in anticipation of the early exercise of their legitimate right to self-determination by means of a free, fair and just referendum", Mr. Abdelaziz stressed in his letter to Annan.
Here is the complete text of the letter, the Head of the State sent to Kofi Annan:
"Mr. Kofi Annan,
Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York
Bir Lehlou, 25 June 2006
Mr. Secretary-General,
A group of Saharawi families living the occupied territories of Western Sahara have communicated to us their deep concern about a serious development relating to the dossier of the 15 Saharawi young people who had gone disappeared when Moroccan authorities kidnapped them under suspicious circumstances on 25 December 2005.
It is the cases of Sid Ahmed Abdelwadud ELALEM - Jalihana Elbachir Mohamed ERRAIS - Habibu Alah Sidi Mahmud Mohamed Salem LEJLIFI - Said Laarusi Kraita - Mustafa Mulay Ali Mohamed Fadel ELYUSFI - Saddiq Sid Ahmed Laarusi BUTENGUIZA - Abderrahman Sidi Mahmud Mohamed Salem LEJLIFI - Sid Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed LAKWARA - Laarusi Mbarek Abdellah SWAYAH - Lahbib Elbakkay Mbairik HALAB - Sid Brahim Elmojtar Mohamed Fadel ELYUSFI - Ali Salem Lefdil Mahmud MUL DAR - Ahmed AZMIR - Mohamed Dine Saleh Mohamed Elfadli ELBATHI - Abderrahim ESSEMLALI .
On 17 June, the committee of the mothers of the 15 Saharawi disappeared transmitted to us alarming and suggestive information. The committee had a meeting with the Moroccan authorities represented by the Minister of Justice and the Public Prosecutor of the Court of Appeals of the occupied city of La Aaíun. The officials informed the committee that four bodies were found in the area during January and March 2006, and that one of them could appertain to one of the missing Saharawi young men. The committee members expressed their astonishment at why the officials chose this particular time to inform them about some decomposed body at the same time as the statements emanating from the Mayor of the occupied city of La Aaíun and the Public Prosecution were denying the existence of any information.
The Public Prosecution had asked the families to proceed with a DNA test to identify the body, but the committee members were suddenly ordered by the Minister of Justice to postpone the test ad infinitum.
It is to be noted that the Moroccan authorities summoned the families very late at night, with no formal notifications and without allowing them access to the minutes of the meetings.
The ambivalent attitude on the part of the Moroccan authorities has given rise to profound concerns amid the families of the disappeared who saw in this ambivalence an indication that the disappeared young men may be held by a Moroccan security service. It also signals a serious intention on the part of the Moroccan authorities to shy away from taking responsibility for this tragedy, which may even lead to eliminating the disappeared.
Acting in this way, the Moroccan authorities have confirmed the well-established fact that they are still engaged in a systematic ethnic cleansing targeting the Saharawi young people who have openly declared their opposition to the authorities’ policies aiming at entrenching the Moroccan character of Western Sahara.
In the face of these alarming developments and in response to the urgent calls of the mothers and families of the disappeared, I would like to address this letter to call on you to do your utmost to uncover the truth in this case, and to intervene with the Moroccan authorities to account for the fate of the young men. I would also like to take the occasion to renew our call on you to create the conditions of security and protect the fundamental freedoms of the Saharawis in the Saharawi territories occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco in anticipation of the early exercise of their legitimate right to self-determination by means of a free, fair and just referendum.
Please accept, Mr. Secretary-General, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Mohamed Abdelaziz,
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO". (SPS)
010/090/100/TRD 261745 June 06 SPS
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