April 2018

New York, April 30, 2018 (SPS) - The resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) by six months represents a turning point in the handling of the Sahrawi issue by the Security Council, said M’Hamed Khedad, the Sahrawi coordinator with MINURSO.
“It is a turning point in terms of the interest attached by the Security Council and international community to the solution of the conflict,” Kheddad told APS.

Madrid, April 30, 2018 (SPS) - The Coordination of Solidarity Associations with the Sahara (CEAS-Sahara) has expressed in a statement "its utmost concern regarding the situation of the French citizen Claude Mangin Asfari, who belongs to the French Association of Friendship with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and wife of one of the Saharawi political prisoners of the Gdeim Izik group."

New York, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - The United Nations Security Council adopted, in a debate Friday on the issue of Western Sahara, a resolution which reaffirms the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and calls on the two parties to the conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, to hold negotiations “without prerequisites and in good faith,” under the auspices of UN Secretary General.

Algiers, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - Algeria “notes with satisfaction” the new resolution on the issue of Western Sahara that the United Nations Security Council adopted Friday and underlines that this resolution reaffirms that there is no other solution to the conflict but that which enables the Saharawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, said the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Abdelaziz Benali Cherif in a statement following the adoption of the UN resolution.

New York, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - The United Nations Security Council adopted Friday, in New York, a draft resolution extending by six months, until 31 October, the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Holding of a Referendum in Western Sahara.
By 12 voices in favor and three abstentions (Russia, China and Ethiopia), the Security Council adopted a resolution which calls the two parties in conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, to resume negotiations, at standstill since 2012, without pre-conditions and in good faith.

Stockholm, April 28, 2018 (SPS) - Representatives of Swedish political parties called Thursday on their government to implement the recommendation that had been approved by the Swedish Parliament calling for recognition of the Saharawi State, during a debate on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.

New York, April 27, 2018 (SPS) -  The UN Security Council called on the parties to the conflict, Morocco and Western Sahara to resume direct negotiations, dubbing "unacceptable" the status quo resulting from the stalled peace process.
In its draft resolution on the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to be voted Friday night, the Security Council has affirmed that the progress in the negotiations is necessary for improving the life of the Sahrawi people.

New York, April 27, 2018 (SPS) – The United Nations Security Council will vote Friday on the draft resolution on six-month extension of the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The draft resolution provides for six-month extension of the MINURSO's mandate until 31 October 2018 instead of one year and calls on the two parties to the conflict, Polisario Front and Morocco, to resume direct talks without preconditions.

New York, April 27, 2018 (SPS) - Negotiations about the draft resolution on occupied Western Sahara, continue Thursday in Security Council where member countries demanded a text oriented towards the political settlement of the conflict.
The text presented by the U.S. has not got any consensus within this UN body.
The US delegation is working on a third version that is likely to be the last one, and details of which will be known this afternoon, sources close to the question told APS.

New York (United Nations), April 2018 (SPS) – The United States on Tuesday asked for the postponement of a draft resolution prolonging Minurso mandate in Western Sahara following important divergences about its content, while the negotiations within the Security Council on a new version continue.
On Tuesday, the US mission to the United Nations justified its request for postponement by the need to grant the United States more time to examine all the proposals that emerged from the Security Council meeting on Monday.

London, April 26, 2018 (SPS) - More than 1.5 million tonnes of phosphate of the occupied Western Sahara, worth over USD142 million, were illegally exported by Morocco in 2017, according to a new annual report of the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), published on Wednesday.
The 5th report of WSRW on Western Sahara phosphate underlines a “total exported volume from Western Sahara in 2017 of 1.59 million tonnes, illegal shipped in 27 bulk vessels.”

Tanzania, April 25, 2018 (SPS) - the Tanzania Saharawi Solidarity committee (TASSC)  has strongly condemned the systematic violation of human rights of the Gdiem Izik group political prisoners, calling on all the human rights defender to do the same, in press release o copy of which received by SPS

Madrid, April 23, 2018 (SPS) - The parliament of Navarre (Spain) passed an institutional statement in which it reiterated its solidarity with the Sahrawi political prisoners in the Moroccan prisons and called for their immediate release, said Monday this institution, while denouncing all the legal proceedings as well as all the political trials conducted by the Moroccan authorities against the Sahrawi population.

El-Aaiun (Occupied Territories), April 23, 2018 (SPS) - Two Sahrawi journalists, Mohammed Salem Miyara, RASD Radio and Television correspondent, and Mohammed al-Jumayi, a photography and installation technician, on Monday appeared before the so-called investigating judge at the Court of Appeal in the occupied city of El-Aaiun.

Addis Ababa, April 22, 2018 (SPS) - A delegation of the Ministry of National Defense has taken part in the 8th meeting of North African experts on April 22-24, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian.
The delegation is led by Brahim Moulay Ahmed Al-Laili, accompanied by Mohamed Fadel Didi and Najem Al-Daya, alongside delegations from Algeria, Egypt and Libya.

Bir Lehlou, 21 April 2018 - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the POLISARIO Front, Brahim Ghali, has sent a congratulatory message to President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli, on the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the founding of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Oslo, April 22, 2018 (SPS) - Norwegian Foreign Minister Marie Eriksen stressed on Thursday that all the United Nations missions should monitor and report on human rights, including its mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Bir Lehlou, April 21, 2018 (SPS) President of the Republic; Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Ibrahim Ghali, on Friday congratulated Miguel Diaz-Canel on his election as the new President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba.
In his congratulatory message to the new Cuban president, the President of the Republic confirmed that his election reflected his ability to continue the path set by the leaders of the Cuban Revolution, such as Castro and Raul.

New York (UN), April 21, 2018 (SPS) - The United Nations has emphasized Thursday, in York, that the liberated Sahrawi territories of Bir Lahlou are Tifariti do not fall within the buffer zone of El Guergarat as falsely claimed by Morocco.
"I can say that neither Bir Lahlou nor Tifariti fall within the buffer strip," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary General, said in his daily press briefing of April 19.

Paris, April 21, 2018 (SPS) - More than 100 international academics and researchers called on President Emmanuel Macron to reconsider France's position regarding Western Sahara conflict, insofar as France has "heavy responsibility" in the non-decolonization of this territory, occupied by Morocco.