SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

Houston, 26/08/2004 (SPS): Former U.S. Secretary of State, James A. Baker III, has confirmed last Thursday that Morocco " will never receive the imprimatur of international legitimacy for her occupation of the territory" of Western Sahara, blaming Rabat for causing the failure of all peaceful attempts to resolve the conflict and criticising the lack of firmness of Security Council in front of Moroccan intransigence.

In an interview Realised by Mrs. Mishal Husain in American TV PBS, the former Personal Envoy of the U.N. Secretary General to Western Sahara, James Baker, asserted that Morocco " will never receive the imprimatur of international legitimacy" to its illegal occupation of the territory, estimating that it is "very much in Morocco's interest to find a way to work this thing out ", because, he added, no "country in the world that as a matter of international law, international recognition, recognizes Morocco's claim to the Sahara ".

"You will not get the economic development in the Maghreb that you would get if there were a settlement of the Western Sahara issue ", he put, exhorting Morocco to comply with international legality for the sake of the region.

On another hand, Morocco is the cause of the failure of all efforts paid for a peaceful settlement of the problem, said Mr. Baker, underlining that Rabat fears from the possible result of Saharawi people exercise of their right to self-determination.

In 1991 Javier Perez de Cuellar, then U.N. Secretary General, "put something on the table called the settlement plan to which both the Sahrawi's POLISARIO Front and Morocco agreed, which called for a vote based on a Spanish census of 1975 or 1976. The closer we got to implementing the settlement plan - and we got quite close, in fact, we got a code of conduct for the election agreed to right here in Houston at the Baker Institute, we got the Houston accords agreed to. The closer we got, the more nervous I think the Moroccans got about whether they might not win that referendum".

After exposing the many efforts and plans UN elaborated for the settlement of the dispute, and which failed because of the delaying attitude of Morocco, Mr. Baker considered twice that the lack of firmness from the Security Council is another reason for the failure of his efforts.

The problem would be settled if the Security Council move "from Chapter 6, that is consensus, to Chapter 7 where they can ask the parties, force the parties, one or both of them, to do something they don't want to do ", otherwise, he said.

On another hand, Mr. Baker agreed that the Saharawis have a "sophisticated society actually. They're living in refugee camps but they have 95 percent literacy. They have a democratic form of government. And the role of women is very prominent", underlining that “they have never resorted to terror “during their armed struggle for independence. (SPS)

060/090/000 261519 August 04 SPS

SPS
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES/REPRESSION
Two Saharawi NGOs denounce human rights situation in occupied territories of Western Sahara

Chahid El Hafed, 26/08/2004 (SPS) The Association of Families of Saharawi Prisoners and Disappeareds (AFAPREDESA) and the Union of Sahrawi Jurists (UJS) expressed Wednesday their "deep preoccupation" about the human rights situation in occupied territories of Western Sahara, as a result to a verdict of 8 years imprisonment and 5.000 dirhams imposed on a Saharawi young man, Mahmud Mustafa Haddad, has indicated a joint communiqué of the two NGOs.

The NGOs denounced this ''new violation of human rights in occupied territories of Western Sahara", perpetrated in El Aaiun against this young man, who was tortured by Moroccan police and removed to the Carcela Negra (Black Jail) before been judged to a iniquitous trial Monday for having raised the flag of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) instead of a Moroccan one.

This act, estimated the NGOs, "irritated Moroccan authorities of occupation, which ordered the intervention of a group of its agents to brutally enter to the house of Mahmud insulting the members of his family, who were ill-treated, beaten, and tortured", emphasised the communiqué.

''As usual, the 22 years old Saharawi detainee, was subjected to this judgement without defence and was accused of having aggressed a police agent and offended sacred symbols of Moroccan Kingdom", added the same source.

AFAPREDESA and UJS had finally called all governmental and nongovernmental organisations to intervene near Morocco to push it respect human rights in Western Sahara and start a judicial investigation against the responsible of the torture of the Saharawi young man.

Haddad was held for more than 72 hours in the station of the criminal police, which is frequently used for interrogations and torture. He underwent all kinds of "physical torture, ill-treatment and aggression including been burned with cigarettes, as it was obvious on his body" before been transferred to the Carcela Negra in El Aaiun.

On another hand, Saharawi Union of Jurists (UJS), denounced Tuesday the brutal intervention of Moroccan authorities of occupation against Saharawi family of Mr. Bachir Seiciri, expressing its preoccupation about the alarming situation of human rights in occupied territories of Western Sahara. (SPS)

020/090/000/TRD 261430 August 04 SPS