SPS SADR/SPAIN A Spanish delegation denounces the "situation of genocide" the Saharawi people are subjected to          26.10.06

 

  

Madrid, 26/10/2006 (SPS) The delegation of the Spanish autonomous community of Galicia (North-West Spain), which succeeded in entering the occupied capital of the Western Sahara, El Aaiun, last weekend, denounced on Wednesday "the situation of genocide" to which the Saharawi people are subjected to and called on the international community to intervene.

 

During a press conference, animated at the seat of the Galician regional Parliament, Duarte Correa, Member of the National Council of the Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG), declared that the delegation noted, via "proofs" and "testimonies" the members of the delegation were able to collect,  "the genocide like practices" the Moroccan authorities are subjecting the Saharawi population to.

 

Mr. Correa stressed the "real situation of military occupation" lived in El Aaiun and the "total and direct harassment" to which the Saharawi citizens are submitted to. He noted, in this respect, that the delegation observed "the police and armed military presence in all corners of the streets" in this city.

 

He further denounced the "sequestrations" and the practice of "torture" in the police stations, stressing that the delegation had had access to photos showing Saharawis who were for example, "damped with benzene and set in fire".

 

On another hand, Mr. Correa denounced the fact that the members of the delegation were treated as "terrorists" by the Moroccan police in the airport in El Aaiun before they embarked, on Monday, to fly back to Spain. He declared that he is planning to raise this subject in the Galician Parliament and in the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

 

The Spanish newspaper "La Voz de Galicia", in fact, indicated in its Tuesday edition that the delegation was interpellated by the Moroccan police on Monday in the El Aaiun’s airport and confiscated some documents containing testimonies of some Saharawis the delegation collected during its visit.

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The Deputy-President of the Municipal Council of Féné (La Corogne), Member of the Galician Fund of Cooperation, José Maria Permuy, called on the international community to "raise its voice" so as to defend Saharawi people’s human rights.

 

The Deputy- President of the Galician Association o solidarity with the Saharawi people, José Maria Andrade, declared to be "impressed" by the "the neglect" of which the Saharawis are victims, and called on Spanish Medias and political parties to work so as to help change this situation.

 

On her side, the Journalist Maria Villar, who was also a member to the delegation, said she is anxious about the Saharawis the delegation met with, and who may be targets to "reprisals".

 

BNG Parliamentarian, José Ramon Paz, underlined the urgency of implementing the UN’s resolutions regarding the Western Sahara and the organisation o a self-determination referendum for the oppressed Saharawis.

 

The delegation was composed of the Deputy-President of the Galician Association of Solidarity with the Saharawi people, Mrs. Maria José Andrade, Journalist Maria Villar, Galician Nationalist Bloc’s (BNG) National Councillor, Duarte Correa, and a representative of the Galician Fund of Cooperation, José Maria Permuy.

More than fifteen Spanish and international delegation, composed of parliamentarian, journalists and members of associations were not allowed to visit the occupied territories of the Western Sahara since the starting of the Saharawi Intifada last May 2005. (SPS)

 

020/090/700/TRD 261025 Oct 06 SPS

 

 

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SPS SADR/MOROCCO The persistence of the status quo in Western Sahara implicates serious consequences (Saharawi official)

 
 

London, 26/10/ 2006 (SPS) The persistence of the status quo in the Western Sahara implicates serious risks on the stability of the region, though Saharawis has conceded huge sacrifice to avoid such possibility, declared Polisario Front’s Representative in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Mr. Mohamed Omar Sidi, on Wednesday in an interview broadcasted by the BBC.

 

The Saharawi official, who was invited to the BBC radio programme, "Focus on Africa", affirmed that the debate that took place on Tuesday with the British House of Commons in the United Kingdom, reflects the determination to put an end to the Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara and to the human rights violations in the occupied territories.

 

During the debate, in which the Parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn, took part, Mr. Mohamed Omar Sidi underlined that the debate in the House of Commons reflects the concern of the British Parliamentarians and the populations they are representing about the  need to put an end to the Moroccan plundering of the natural resources of the Western Sahara and the necessity, for the international community, to put an end to its incapacity in implementing the peace plan and to compel Morocco respect its obligations in the holding of a self-determination referendum for the Saharawi people.

 

The Saharawi official estimated that the prorogation, by the Un Security Council of the mandate of the UN Mission for the organisation of a referendum in the Western Sahara has always been motivated by the Moroccan refusal to respect its engagements vis-à-vis the Security Council.

 

He added that the international community is completely aware that the Moroccan rejection to resort to a referendum is due to Morocco’s fears from a democratic resolution that grant the Saharawi people their right to self-determination in freedom, democracy and transparency.

 

On his part, M. Jeremy Corbyn reiterated the positions expressed on Tuesday before the UK House of Commons, in which he declared to be disappointed because of the failure of the international community to organise a self-determination referendum, while the UN has promised to hold it more than 13 years ago, before he recalled the UN’s resolution that recommends the organisation of a referendum in "the last colony of Africa".

 

"The United Kingdom has a vital role to play in resolving the dispute, which has gone on far too long. It has a legal responsibility under the UN charter as a permanent member of the Security Council to protect the people of Western Sahara from continuing Moroccan oppression", Mr. Corbyn said. (SPS)

 

020/090/700/TRD 261000 Oct 06 SPS

 

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