London, 28/10/2006 (SPS) The British diplomacy expressed, four times in this month, the United Kingdom’s attachment to "a just and negotiated solution that provides for the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination" as a formula to put an end to the conflict in the Western Sahara between Morocco and Polisario Front.

The last occasion was last Tuesday at the UK House of Commons, preceded by another debate a week before in the same House within the framework of questions sessions, to which the British Minister of State for Middle East and North Africa, Mr. Kim Howells, frankly answered.

On another hand, Great Britain has voted lately in favour of a resolution on the Western Sahara adopted by the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee on Decolonisation. A vote that coincided with the publication of the British Foreign Affairs’ annual report on human rights, which has clearly declare the UK support to the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination.

These positions also coincided with the bi-annual debate, within the UN Security Council, on the prolongation of the mandate of the UN’s Mission for the organisation of a self-determination referendum in the Western Sahara (Minurso), which has provoked the anger of the Moroccan regime.

The British Minister for the Middle East, Dr. Kim Howells, declared on Tuesday that the United Kingdom supports the UN’s efforts to achieve a " just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara".

Answering the questions of labour’s deputies on Tuesday during a historical debate on the Western Sahara’s question in the UK House of Commons, Dr. Kim Howells also recalled that the UK has voted in favour of the UN’s General Assembly Fourth Commission’s resolution that "restated past UN resolutions, including support for the Baker plan".

M. Howels further stressed that "the Security Council will discuss MINURSO tomorrow, and we will play an active role in those discussions. We support the extension of MINURSO’s mandate for a further six months", before he underlined that the "status of Western Sahara has been undetermined for more than 30 years. Resolving that would have a positive benefit for the region and its people".

 

"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 281020 Oct 06 SPS

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Brussels, 28/10/2006 (SPS) Netherlands’s Institute for Social Studies organised, Friday and Saturday in The Hague, an important conference on the Western Sahara’s question in the international law.

Organised in collaboration with the platform of Jurists for East Timor, some 30 speakers will tackle the history of the Saharawi conflict, human rights, especially the right to self-determination and the sovereignty on the natural resources of the Western Sahara.

The "academic" seminar will also discuss the status of the Saharawi territory as far as the international law is concerned, and the implications of the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination.

The conference is attended by Universities professors of international law, historians and European Parliamentarians as well as the Saharawi human rights activist, Mrs. Aminetou Haidar.

Besides the notable participation of the British experts (7 experts, one writer, one economist), the USA is presented by some jurists, the "Western Sahara Resource Watch" delegated a Representative and Congressman Joseph Pits delegated one of his Councillors.

The conference was also attended by experts from Spain, Finland, East Timor, Netherlands, Scheck Republic, Norway, France as well as the Austrian European Parliamentarian, Karin Scheele, President of the European Parliament’s intergroup “Peace for the Saharawi People”. (SPS)

020/090/700/TRD 281010 Oct 06 SPS

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