SPS
SADR/MEXICO/INTIFADA/UN
A Mexican association interpelates Annan on the organisation of the
referendum in Western Sahara
26.07.05
Mexico, 26/07/2005 (SPS) The
President of the Mexican Association of
Friendship with the SADR (AMARASD- in French), President of the Society
of Mexican Writers, Victor Hugo Rascon Banda, called on the UN’s
Secretary General, Kofi Annan, to pay more efforts for the organisation
of a self-determination referendum for the Saharawi people and to put
an end to the suppression in the non-self-governing territory.
"The referendum that was proposed in 1991, Moroccan Government
arbitrarily and illegally hinders, must be organised and pressures
should be put on the Morocco so as to stop its suppression against
Saharawi civil society", wrote Mr. Rascon Banda in a letter to Mr.
Annan, of which SPS received a copy.
The association also claims for the "entry o0f all medias,
international observers and human rights organisations" to the Saharawi
territory, where "the arbitrary and the crimes perpetrated by the
Moroccan Government are still hidden from the international community".
(SPS)
SPS
SADR/SPAIN/INTIFADA/DEMONSTRATION
Demonstration in Valencia to demand the release of Tamek, Mrs. Haidar
and Saharawi political prisoners
Valencia, 26/07/2005 (SPS) A
demonstration that gathered thousands
Spanish participants was organised Sunday in Valencia to condemn the
brutal suppression against Saharawi population in occupied territories
and demand the release of Ali Salem Tamek, Aminetou Haidar and other
Saharawi human rights activists and political prisoners held by Morocco.
Organised by the Federation of the Associations of solidarity with the
Saharawi people in the Community of Valencia, the demonstration was
attended by many political figures of Spanish parties, trade unions,
institutions, associations in addition to the Saharawi community in
Valencia.
"We demand the condemnation of the violations of human rights in the
occupied territories of Western Sahara", "we demand freedom of
circulation in the territory" (Saharawi), "we demand the immediate
release of Aminetou Haidar, Ali Salem Tamek and all Saharawi political
prisoners", "we demand from our Government… the implementation of the
Baker Plan", are some of the slogans chanted by the demonstrators. (SPS)
SPS
SADR/SPAIN/INTIFADA/DEMONSTRATION
Demonstration of solidarity with Tamek, Mrs. Haidar and Saharawi
political prisoners in Almeria
Almeria,
26/07/2005 (SPS) More than 3.000 persons demonstrated Monday in the
streets of Almeria (Andalusia) to claim for the release of Ali Salem
Tamek, Aminetou Haidar and all Saharawi political prisoners, demand the
organisation of a referendum and putting an end to the state of siege
imposed on Western Sahara since its colonial occupation in 1975.
Attended by the former leader of the Unified Left (Izquierda Unida),
Julio Anguita, the demonstration crossed the main streets of the city
before the demonstrators improvised a sit-in in front of Moroccan
Consulate in the city. There a press release was read to denounce the
repression perpetrated by Moroccan colonial authorities against
Saharawi population in the occupied zones of the territory and demand
the organisation of a referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi
people.
A similar demonstration was organised last Saturday in Barcelona and
another in Valencia last Sunday, it should be recalled. (SPS)
SPS
SADR/UN/HUMAN RIGHTS
A Saharawi delegation attends the UN’s Commission on Human rights in
Geneva
Geneva, 26/07/2005 (SPS) A
Saharawi delegation, chaired by Ambassador Mohamed Yeslem Beissat,
participates to the works of the 57th Session of the UN’s
Sub-Commission on human rights, which will take place from the 25 of
July to August the 12 in Geneva.
"The opening of the works of the Sub-Commission intervenes this year in
an extremely crucial context in Western Sahara marked with the Moroccan
colonial authorities’ fierce suppression of the Saharawi civil
population who only claim for their legitimate rights through peaceful
means", declared Mr. M’Hamed Cheikh, member to the Saharawi delegation.
"The results of this continuous repression is extremely heavy: Hundreds
people injured, arrested, ‘disappeareds’ and heavy sentences against
human rights defenders, who were subjected these last weeks to a real
chase by the Moroccan security", he stressed, adding that "human rights
activists such as Ali Salem Tamek, Aminetou Haidar, Brahim Noumriya, El
Moutawakil, and many others are now in prison".
"The continued expulsion by Morocco of European delegations from
Western Sahara constitute a real danger for peace", he warned,
underlining that all the efforts so far undertaken by the international
community, aiming in particular at providing the necessary conditions
for the exercise by the Saharawi people of their right to
self-determination "is hindered because of the intransigence of the
Moroccan Government and its refusal to respect the international
legality".
The delegation met with independent experts and many representatives of
member States and present NGOs, in margin of the opening session.
The meeting discussed: "the Moroccan barbarian repression that prevails
since May the 21st 2005 in the occupied territories of Western Sahara,
especially in El Aaiun, Dakhla, Smara, Boujdour and other Saharawi
cities as well as the south of Morocco" after the demonstrations and
"peaceful" protests that claim for "the freedom of expression, freedom
of circulation, the release of Saharawi political detainees and
Saharawi people right to self-determination through the organisation of
a free and democratic referendum as decided in all the texts and
resolutions of the United Nations", it was indicated. (SPS)
SPS
SPS MOROCCO/PARTIES/GRIETAS
A Moroccan party distances itself from the official policy regarding
Western Sahara
Rabat, 26/07/2005 (SPS) A Moroccan
party “the Democratic Path” (Ennahdj Eddimocrati) has distanced
itself form the Royal Palace’s policy regarding Western Sahara while
the monarchy continues attached to “the sham democracy” and the “bit
player role” that it wants the Moroccan political parties to play, and
it demanded the implementation of the legal and democratic solution
proposed by the UN: a self-determination referendum.
In an interview given to the Moroccan weekly “Le Journal Hebdomadaire”,
the National Secretary of the “Democratic Path”, Abdellah Elharif,
responded to the five questions of the journalist Taieb Chadi, which we
reproduce below in full:
- Why have you turned down the
invitation of the King’s counsellor?
- In the first place, it did not seem to us as a coordination in the
sense of a free debate that allows one to express different points of
view that may even contradict the official standpoint regarding the
question of the Sahara. During the last three decades a sham democracy
has prevailed in our country in which the political forces have played
the key role of a bit player. This is also true in the question of the
Sahara of which management has been monopolised by the Palace. That
happens at a time when the public opinion and the political forces were
confined to playing the role of an unconditional supporter of the
official decisions, while the forces that were demanding a democratic
solution of the question of the Sahara on the basis of the principle of
self-determination were subjected to an implacable repression, even
after Morocco has accepted the principle of a self-determination
referendum beginning in 1981, in Nairobi. The Moroccan official
position has witnessed a setback as to the question of the Sahara.
Indeed, while the authority accepted a solution on the basis of the
principle of self-determination and the UN plan for holding the
referendum and was haggling over the details related to the lists of
voters, but now it seems that it has decided to renege on its previous
commitments and to resort to a negotiated solution on the basis of the
“morrocanity of the Sahara”. Besides, the authority seems to return
very strongly to the pure and simple security approach as was evidenced
by the numerous detentions of Saharawi activists that took place
recently and the heavy sentences passed on them. Moreover, the question
of the Sahara continues to be a “sacred” cause on which no discussion
or debate is allowed.
- Will you boycott all invitations of
this kind?
- While we do not see a genuine willingness by the authority to break
with the current approach to the Sahara, by opening the way towards a
democratic solution with the effective participation of the
representative political forces, we will have to turn down this type of
invitation especially since we are not allowed access to the public
media that would allow us to spread and to explain our positions.
- Do not you run the risk of isolating
yourselves?
- Our position on the Sahara, instead of isolating us, brings us closer
to the really democratic forces in Morocco and in the world. We are not
isolated from the active forces in the country because we are members
of the Rally of the Democratic Left and we participate actively in the
mass and trade union organisations, organisations of human rights, of
unemployed graduates, and other organisations of the civil society....
- You have paid a lot for your
convictions?
- Our attachment to a democratic solution in the Sahara is in no way a
reaction against an authority that has entailed a heavy tribute to our
militants (disappeared, tortures, sentences of imprisonment amounting
to 17 years). Our position on the Sahara is predicated on the respect
for our principles and the interests of the working classes that have
suffered a lot because of the question of the Sahara. The contradictory
proposals of the State regarding the question of the Sahara reveal the
contradiction between the fundamentally antidemocrat nature of the
power and the dominant classes and in particular their hard core: the
mafia of the majzen that deep down opposes all forms of
self-determination and the intents of presenting an image of the State
as democratic and honouring of its commitments towards international
community and legality.
- For you, there is no solution to the
problem of the Sahara without democracy. Why?
- During more than thirty years, the establishment of a democratic
State has been held hostage to “the unanimity” on the Sahara considered
as the priority of all priorities. On the contrary, if the priority of
all priorities is democracy, this will lead to the weakening of the
mafia of the majzen and will open the way for a democratic solution in
Sahara. This needs a democratic struggle, without concessions, and in
particular to combat the impunity of the economic political crimes.
(SPS)
SAHARA
PRESS SERVICE