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WEEKLY NEWS |
original french
13.-19.01.2002
Headlines
Last SG Report
Hunger strike in the El Ayoun prison suspended
Total-Dakar Rally
Repatriation of Moroccan POWs
11.01.02
SG Report S/2002/41
(annexes)
This report includes three annexes, a memorandum from the Polisario
Front of 4 October 2001, commentaries by the Algerian government of 7
October, and observations by Morocco of 10 November, detailing
clarifications of their respective positions concerning the
Framework-Agreement, as agreed during the Pinedale meeting.
(27-29.08.01).
For the Polisario Front, which rejects the Framework-Agreement
categorically, this does not constitute the basis for the settlement
of the problem of Western Sahara or even a means to re-launch
negotiations.
Algeria advances arguments based on international law to show that
"the approach contained in the Framework-Agreement is
unacceptable".
Morocco expresses its disappointment at these refusals to enter into
the substance of the proposal which it was disposed to use as a basis
for negotiations.
The United Nations Security council held on Tuesday a meeting behind-closed-doors to examine the latest interim-report of UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, on the situation in the Sahara. The council chairman, Jagdish Koonjul, told reporters the Council members had "a useful exchange of views".
13.01.02
Total-Dakar Rally
The Saharawi Ministry of Foreign Affairs states on the Total-Dakar
Rally: «The organisers of the Paris-Dakar Rally have fully
respected the agreement made with the Polisario Front. The rally
crossed Saharawi territory during the night of 3 to 4 January
2002. The crossing took place by night, after 22.00 hours. No press
was present.- The race was suspended as the vehicles passed through
in convoy, from the northern border of Western Sahara with
Morocco until it crossed the berm in the Amgala region, escorted by
MINURSO military units. Next year the Rally, according to the
agreement, will not pass across Western
Sahara.»
17.01.02
Hunger
strike
in the El Ayoun prison suspended
(see also weeks 01/02
and 02/02
)
At the end of 24 days of hunger strike, the Saharawi detainees
decided to suspend their action, after having obtained satisfaction
on the following points: access to drinking water and to the prison's
public telephone, easing of the overcrowding in the cells.
In a statement, they declare themselves determined to pursue their
struggle for the liberation of political detainees, the improvement
of prison conditions and the retrial of those sentenced under common
law. They denounce the indifference of the Moroccan government,
political parties and human rights organisations and deplore the fact
that their action was not mentioned in the latest report of the UN
Secretary General on Western Sahara.
The movement of the detainees gained the support of the local
Saharawi population. After several street demonstrations, the
mothers, sisters and wives of the Saharawi hunger strikers published
a statement, in which they supported the demands of the prisoners. A
petition in solidarity collected several hundred signatures in El
Ayoun. Two Saharawi prisoners in Kenitra,and the prisoner Danfour
Mohamed in Agadir as well as a group of Saharawi students from the
University of Agadir fasted for a day in solidarity.
Saharawi human rights defenders, who took action in favour of the
prisoner's movement, are subjected to close surveillance from the
police forces, in particular M. H'mad Hammad (Ahmad Hamad), a civil
servant and former political prisoner, one of the disappeared and a
torture victim in 1997 (see week 30/1997
and 14/2001
). He refused to be transferred to Tarfaya (100 km from El Ayoun), a
measure considered to be repressive and discriminatory. He is watched
and constantly followed by the police. He fears for his life, as
there have several attempts to eliminate him.
Among
the international reactions to the struggle of the prisoners let us
mention the press release of the French Association
Amis de la RASD
and the Association
Française d'Amitié et de Solidarité avec les
Peuples d'Afrique .
The Australian organizations Western Sahara Alliance and Australian
Western Sahara Association will hold a protest and rally on 23
January on the steps of Sydney Town Hall.
The Saharawi Minister delegate to Europe, M. Sidati, addressed an
urgent
appeal
to the European Union «to deploy all efforts to convince the
Moroccan authorities to stop their repressive policies». He
urges «that a mission of observers from the European Union
be sent to El Ayoun in order to see the facts for
themselves».
The Association of Families of Saharawi prisoners and disappeared
(AFAPREDESA) and the Union of Saharawi Jurists (UJS), in
a
joint declaration
on the occasion of the repatriation of the 115 Moroccan prisoners of
war, expressed their concern as to the fate of 526 disappeared
Saharawis and continued serious human rights abuses in the occupied
territories. The two NGOs recalled that dramatic and inhumane
conditions persist in the black prison of El Ayoun, which led 131
detainees to start a hunger strike.
17.01.02
Prisoners of war
The 115 Moroccan prisoners of war liberated by the Polisario were
repatriated to Agadir on board a Swedish plane chartered by the UN.
The prisoners were handed over to the ICRC in the presence of the
president of the Saharawi Red Crescent, representatives of the
Spanish Red Cross and MINURSO. The president of the Saharawi Red
Crescent in a speech, criticised the ICRC, for its "excessive
concern" for the Moroccan prisoners and its "forgetting" about the
fate of the Saharawi prisoners in the hands of Morocco. Humanitarian
justice must always be equitable in its treatment of the same
problems, he added. For Mr Boulahe, "the crisis that the Saharawi
refugee population has been living through for over 26 years as well
as that of civilians in the occupied territories cannot be
ignored."
M'hamed Khaddad, the Saharawi coordinator with MINURSO, emphasised
that the war is not over, and that the respect of the cease-fire is
linked to the implementation of the peace plan. We cannot restrict
ourselves to solving isolated humanitarian problems, he said. Khaddad
pointed out that 226 Saharawi prisoners of war remain in Morocco,
adding that there would be no further liberation of prisoners so long
as Morocco does not investigate their fate.(SPS)
17.01.02
Referendum
The new UN secretary general's special representative for Western
Sahara, Mr William L Swing, was received in Algiers by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs. The statement published at the end of the meeting
indicates that Mr Belkhadem "brought up the general question of
Western Sahara and in particular the ways and means that would best
re-launch the process for implementing the United Nations settlement
plan." (SPS)
INTERNET
New on ARSO:
New site:
Nuevo sul sitio de la Asoc. Umdraiga de Aragon
COMING UP...
23.01.02, Sidney, Australia,1 pm Town Hall steps: Protest to support Saharan hunger strikers. Org: Western Sahara Alliance and Australian Western Sahara Association
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