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16.03.01
Canary Islands
60 Saharawi officials, on a study programme in the Canaries, were
received in the parliament by its president, Mr José Miguel
Bravo. In his speech Mr Bravo pointed out that this visit is
"additional proof of the collaboration and the sympathy that the
archipeligo entertains with SADR". He also expressed his "concern"
with the difficulties which are still hampering the implementation of
the settlement plan. The Saharawi officials, who have been in the
Canary Islands for four months, will finish their programmes of study
at the end of March. This group is the second of its kind to stay in
the Canaries in less than two years. (SPS)
19.03.01
Arab Maghreb Union
The 18th Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of UMA met in
Algiers. The conference was preceded by a statement by the Moroccan
Minister of Foreign Affairs given to the daily "Ach-Charq Al-Awsat", in which he reaffirmed the impossibility of
dissociating cooperation with the states of the Maghreb from the
question of the Sahara, "which is an affair of territorial unity and
of sovereignty of a member country of this union." This preliminary
statement by Mr Benaïssa, who had himself represented at
the meeting in Algiers, made any progress impossible, and the
ministers present limited themselves to declarations of intention.
(agencies).
19.03.01
UN Commission of Human Rights, 57th session
From the opening session, Morocco and Algeria were opposed in their
positions concerning Western Sahara. The Moroccan Minister of Human
Rights in his speech described the Saharawi refugees in the Tindouf
camps as "Moroccans held against their will", which drew an immediate
response from the Algerian Ambassador to the UN.
On point 5, several NGOs intervened on the right to self-determination:
- with written submissions from the Society for peoples in danger, from the American Association of Jurists and the Spanish Federation of Associations for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights, as well as the Liga Española Pro-Derechos Humanos.
-with interventions of this same Federation, of the NGOs International Educational Development, USA, Pax Romana and World Federation of Democratic Youth, the latter through the voice of Abba Salek Elhaissen, general secretary of the Union of Saharawi Lawyers. All the NGOs intervened to recall the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people and to denounce the obstacles to the process.
20.03.01
Seville
In the course of days at the University of Seville entitled "The
Saharawi People, 25 years on", the Nobel prize winner in Literature,
José Saramago expressed "his unconditional solidarity" with
the Saharawi people, who risk being victims of a war due to "the
complicity of the governments, the impotence of the UN and the
indifference of public opinion in Spain". He asked the latter to
become active so that the government would abandon its indifference
towards the conflict. He reproached the King of Spain "for calling
the King of Morocco cousin or brother", knowing that Moroccan
policies constitute the principal obstacle to the resolution of the
Moroccan-Saharawi conflict, adding that "if there are brothers that
the Spanish could choose, I think that they are the
Saharawis."
21.03.01
France
The Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs had talks with Hubert
Védrine, French Foreign Minister. Mr Benaïssa came
from New York, where he had met the UN Secretary General. According
to Ach-Chark
al-Awsat (Saudian) the
question of Western Sahara should have been top of the agenda for
these talks. Paris once again affirmed its attachment to "regional
stability", believing that finding an acceptable solution to the
problem of Western Sahara constitutes "an essential element for
ensuring security and contributing to economic development".
21.03.01
Mauritania
The Mauritanian President received the personal envoy of the Saharawi
President, Omar Mansour, Minister of Health, who conveyed to him a
message from Mohamed Abdelaziz on the situation in the region and the
latest developments on the question of Western Sahara.
(agencies)
23.03.01
SADR
90 people, representatives of the autonomous government of the
Canaries, of municipalities, of various institutions and journalists,
arrived in the refugee camps to renew their solidarity with the
Saharawis. (SPS).
23-24.03.01
Morocco - Human rights
Families of the disappeared and victims of forced disappearance in
Morocco and Western Sahara started a hunger strike. About sixty
people took part, including many mothers of the disappeared. During a
meeting with a representative of the Forum Vérité et
Justice, the Moroccan authorities affirmed that there were no longer
any survivors. For the defenders of human rights, either the Moroccan
authorities are continuing to treat the families of the disappeared
with complete scorn, or the State is continuing to kill, torture and
assassinate while looking after their image.
24.03.01
Morocco - Human Rights II
Two members or the Western Sahara section of the Human Rights defense
organisation Forum Vérité et Justice, Noumri Brahim and
Elhamed Mahmoud, have been arrested at the Casablanca airport while
leaving for Geneva to assist to the 57th session of the UN Commission
of Human Rights. The were released after sequetration of their
passports and all documents. The inviting, Geneva based , Bureau
Européen pour le Respect des Droits de l'Homme au Sahara
Occidental, denounces in a communiqué this violation of freedom of movement and
appeals for protests.
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