Paris, 28/05/2006 (SPS) A conference debate was organised on Saturday evening by the Algerian Committee of solidarity with the Western Sahara in Europe (CNASPS-E), on the occasion of the day of Africa in the Algerian Cultural Centre (CCA) in Paris, as a signal of solidarity with the Saharawi people, whose courage and civil resistance were hailed by the different speakers in the conference, reported Algerian Press Agency, APS.

In his intervention, Mr. Boughalem Nacer, President of the CNASPS-E stressed that the African Union "plays an important role for the settlement of the Western Sahara conflict, because it understood the fairness of the Saharawi people’s struggle and contributed in the search of a solution to the conflict based on the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination".

Hailing the civil resistance "of the Saharawi brothers and sisters" in the face of such a repression that is striking the Saharawi population for the last year to force the peaceful demonstrations, which is advocating independence, to end, Mrs. Régine Villement, Secretary General of the French Association of the Friends of the Saharawi Republic (AARASD), gave an idea about the actions of her association that "aims at making possible the existence of the Saharawi struggle in France".

"Despite the difficulty of been heard by the French people, especially the French Medias, we are trying to introduce the Saharawi people’s struggle to the French society thanks to actions that are undertaken through a network of Committees and friends in different cities", she explained.

The Mayor of Gonfreville l'Orcher (North of France), Jean-Paul Lecoq, underlined that in addition "to the support to the Saharawi just cause, it is a matter of defending the humanitarian values, human rights and the right of the peoples to freedom".

In this respect, he said, his mayoralty is planning to organise a cultural week to present "the struggle of this glorious people".

The Saharawi resistance was also put forwards by Mr. Asfari Ennaâma, who witnessed on the "violence and human rights violation to which the Saharawi people who are leading, for the last year, a civil and peaceful resistance, an Intifada, so as to obtain their independence", he said.

"This civil peaceful resistance is a turning point in the history of the Saharawi people’s struggle. It is the resistance of a generation that underwent repression, discrimination and all aspects of colonisation", he added.

Polisario Front’s Representative in France, Mr. Sadafa Bahia, hailed the role played by the AU, noting that without the "Africans, the Saharawi cause would have been ignored and the Saharawi Republic would not have achieved all the progress it did so far". "The Saharawi Republic is recognised by the majority of the African members of the AU and is currently in a comfortable position within the African Union", he affirmed.

Mr. Yahia Zoubir, Expert in International relations and especially in the question of the Western Sahara, evoked the blockage of this dossier because of the "support Morocco have from some countries such as France and the USA".

In this respect, he estimated that the struggle of the Saharawi people "is not only against the Moroccan occupier, but also against other powers such as France, the USA and the European Union".

"All the relevant texts of the international law recognise that the Saharawi people must be granted their independence and freedom, whereas the support of these external powers to Morocco constitutes a source of blockage. Whenever it is a question of the Saharawi question, it is the realolitik that prevails over the international law", he stressed.

To this scholar, the only fair and lasting solution to this conflict is "the implementation of the international law, that is to say the self-determination of the Saharawi people, a courageous and proud people". (SPS)

010/090/700/TRD 281743 mai 06 SPS

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