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WEEKLY NEWS |
original french
14.-20.04.2002
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13.04.02
Palestine
"We are very concerned and preoccupied by the serious situation in
the Middle East where our fraternal Palestinian people suffer a
martyrdom after the re-occupation of their territories by Israeli
forces", the President of the Republic declared before the 3rd
promotion of reservists of the Saharawi Popular Army of Liberation at
the military base of Chahid El Wali. As a sign of solidarity with the
Palestinian people in these difficult times, marches and meetings of
support were organised in different Saharawi wilayas.
(SPS)
13.04.02
Cape Verde Islands
On the occasion of an official visit by the Algerian Minister for
African Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel to Cape Verde, Algeria and
Cape Verde expressed their common outlook on this question and
reiterated their support for the United Nations settlement plan and
the Houston Agreement.(APS)
14.04.02
Venezuela
The Saharawi President sent a message of congratulations to his
Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez, after the abortive coup
d'état which he reversed in 48 hours. "The awareness and
maturity which the Venezuelan people showed for the return of their
valued symbol, President Hugo Chavez, is an exemplary testimony that
peoples are not only the holders of national sovereignty but above
all the impregnable rampart protecting democratic governments and
constitutions", the President said. (SPS)
17.04.02
East Timor
President Abdelaziz congratulated Xanana Guzmao on his election as
President of East Timor.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
12.04.02
In a statement, a group of human rights defenders from the "territory
of Western Sahara under Moroccan control" denounce the recent
intimidations towards members of the human rights organisations after
the actions carried out for the release of political prisoners:
threats of reprisals against Saharawi families, refusal of granting a
passport, refusal to leave the country, as well as travel by
militants to Morocco. Human rights defenders reiterate their desire
to pursue their struggle to establish the truth on the fate of the
disappeared, for the release of political prisoners, compensation of
injured parties, bringing to justice of those guilty of human rights
abuses. They demand protection of the population faced with the
dangers represented by anti-personnel mines, lifting the military
patrol as well as giving access to the territory for press and
observers. (Communiqué
)
16.04.02
Recent acts
Last week Tamek Ali Salem and Mohamed Adbaddayem, two employees of
the commune of Assa-Zak, received orders to leave Assa to go,
respectively to Meknès and Taounate.
The authorities refused to issue a passport to Tamek, former
political prisoner, also local secretary of the CDT trades union and
member of the national council. As the civil registration of the name
of his daughter, Atthawra (revolution), was disallowed because this
name does not figure on the official list of Moroccan names, Tamek
does not receive a family allowance for his daughter.
The traditional dyeworks of El Hadaoui M'barek in Assa was ransacked and pillaged by the Moroccan secret police. El Hadaoui is accused of being a friend of the former Saharawi political prisoner, Sidi Mohamed Deddach.
The authorities forbade Ismaili Brahim from attending the Euromed Forum, being held in Valencia, Spain from 12-14 April 2002.
A sit-in, organised a week ago in Dakhla by Saharawi unemployed demanding jobs, is continuing in front of the administration offices of the Moroccan occupier. (SPS, corr.)
14.04.02
Natural resources
Western Sahara has immense dunes 8 to 10 km wide and stretching 250
km south of Tarfaya. The sand is quarried and the major part exported
by sea from the port of El Ayoun, to the Canary Islands in sand
boats. In 1988, when this industry started, 4,450 t were exported. In
1998, the quantity exported rose to 596,522 t and in 2001 it reached
754,579 t, while the quantity destined for the internal market was
around 30,000t. (press)
REFERENDUM
16.04.02
Italy
The Assembly of Regional Councils unanimously adopted a
declaration
in which it invites the Italian government and the European Union to
strengthen their support of the Peace Plan, to reject any other
solution not having the agreement of the parties or not conforming
with international law. It calls also for the respect of human rights
and the release of prisoners of war on both sides.
12-14.04.02,
Euro-mediterranean Civil Forum Valencia
Sidati's Statement
Speaking in the context of the Euro-mediterranean Civil Forum 2002 in
Valencia, Spain, the minister counselor to the Presidency, Mohamed
Sidati, declared that the Saharawi people do not agree with partition
of the territory of Western Sahara. Criticising the multiple
manoeuvres attempting to prevent the decolonisation of the territory,
he asked the international community to show greater interest in the
question in order to avoid a return to hostilities.
Report
of the Working Group on the resolution of conflicts
The Forum noted that the conflict in Western Sahara is a problem of
unfinished decolonisation, which could not be resolved by UN
resolutions. It explicitly condemned the attitude of Morocco
postponing the referendum and favouring the illegal exploitation of
Saharawi natural wealth. The Forum launched an appeal for free access
to the occupied zones, the implementation of resolutions ensuring the
right to self-determination of the Saharawi people and the
appointment of a special representative for the Sahara in the
EU.
18.04.02
European Parliament
Mrs Margot Kessler, President of the European Parliamentary
Intergroup "Peace for the Saharawi people" in a press
statement
expressed her "categorical rejection of the contents and the
conclusions" of the report of the mission of Mrs Lalumière,
President of the ad hoc delegation of the EP on Western Sahara.
Kessler points out that, in defiance of any objectivity and
impartiality, she defends the Moroccan position in the conflict. The
report does not reflect, she says, the opinions of all the members of
the delegation and does not respect her initial mandate, which was to
deliver observations.
19.04.02
UN Secretary General's report on Western Sahara
In his report Kofi Annan limits himself to recalling that he is
waiting for the decision of the Security Council on the four options.
He states that his personal envoy, Mr Baker, is still ready to
undertake the activities required by the option that the Council will
choose. At the end of the month, the Council must decide on an
extension of the mandate of MINURSO, it will not yet pronounce on an
option.
MOROCCO
17.04.02
Citizen Initiative
A group of 13 Moroccan citizens have formed a collective with the aim
of thinking through and starting a discussion on the question of the
Sahara. The collective has defined its principles and objectives in a
charter, the exact contents of which are not yet known. (to be
continued). (Le
Matin du Sahara et du Maghreb,
L'Economiste)
HUMAN RIGHTS
58th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights , Geneva 19.03.-26.04.02
11.04.02
Item 5, Right to self-determination
The Organisation of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and
Latin America, OSPAAL, as well as a coalition of 15 Norwegian NGOs,
NGO Forum for Human Rights, spoke in favour of the right to
self-determination of Western Sahara.
12.04.02
The Commission adopted by consensus a resolution (E.CN.4/2002/L.6),
under the heading of the right of peoples to determine themselves,
which invites the two parties in the conflict to implement the
agreements which they have concluded on the settlement plan. It
encourages the parties to pursue discussions already begun and to
implement all the measures proposed for the identification of voters
and the appeals procedure. It reaffirms the responsibility of the UN
towards the Saharawi people, as defined in the Settlement Plan. It
asks the parties instantly to "settle the problem of disappeared
people and exhorts them to honour the obligation incumbent upon them
in virtue of international humanitarian law, to release all persons
held since the beginning of the conflict."
14.04.02
The Union of Saharawi Jurists sent a letter
to the President
of the 58th session of the United Nations Commission of Human Rights,
and a "Memorandum
on the human rights situation in the occupied territory of Western
Sahara".
16.04.02
Item 11: Civil and political rights
Abba Salek El Haissen, in the name of the American Association of
Lawyers, appealed
for the creation of a committee of inquiry on forced disappearances,
abductions and other human rights abuses perpetrated on Saharawis in
Western Sahara by the forces of occupation. The NGO LIberation as
well as the International Movement Against All Forms of
Discrimination IMADR called for the setting up of adequate mechanisms
able to warn and protect the Saharawi civil population in Western
Sahara.
16.04.02
Mr Diégo Garcia Sayan (Peru), chair of a Working Group on
forced or involuntary disappearances notes in his report that of the
249 cases concerning people of Saharawi origin disappeared in the
territories controlled by Moroccan forces because they or members of
their family were known to be or suspected of being members of the
Polisario Front, the group has elucidated 143 cases. No new
information has been received from the Moroccan government on the
subject of 115 suspended cases whose fate remains very worrying. The
group reminds the Moroccan government of the obligation incumbent on
it, in virtue of article 13 of the declaration, to continue
proceeding with inquiries so long as nothing is known on the fate of
Saharawi victims of disappearance or the place where they
are.
HUMANITARIAN AID
13.04.02
The WFP grants aid to Saharawi refugees
Dr.Tareq Chaya, regional coordinator of the United Nations World Food
Program (WFP) gave a press conference after his visit to the Saharawi
refugee camps. He announced that the WFP will continue to supply
humanitarian assistance to the refugees with the support of
international donors, explaining that the next program covering a
period of two years starting in September 2002, has an allocation of
30 million dollars for food aid estimated at 68,000 tonnes, for
155,000 persons. This program will be put before the Administration
Council next month.
The 2000-2002 program currently under way, which will finish at the
end of August, allocated 27 million dollars, provides for the
delivery of 64,000 tonnes of foodstuffs (cereals - usually flour,
legumes - generally lentils, oil, sugar and salt). It is the total
quantity for two years that the WFP should deliver before the end of
August. But the actual cover in terms of confirmed contributions of
this program is at present 50% of the budget and the quantities,
whereas the representative of WFP believes the supply to cover 80%.
"We will continue to offer assistance to reach the result of 100%, Mr
Chaya declared, who recalled that the WFP has been supplying
humanitarian aid since 1986 at the request of the Algerian
government. During a debate, the WFP official, replying to a question
on the conditions of life in the camps, is said to have emphasised
that he had concerns about malnutrition of women and children. "We
have seen some children in the hospitals suffering from
malnutrition", Mr Chaya said.
Needs for basic foodstuffs for 155,000 people represent 65,083.2
tonnes over 2 years, the duration of the WFP program. Monthly ration
per person : cereals: 13.5kg, legumes: 2kg, oil: 1kg, sugar
0.9kg.
SOLIDARITY
Support
committee for Western Sahara in
Scotland
On the occasion of the 105th STUC congress (Perth, from 15 to 17
April 2002), the following trade unions agreed to set up a Scottish
Support Committee for Western Sahara: AMICUS-MSF, RMTS, PCS, FBU,
GPMU, NUJ, UNISON, ASOLEF.
12-16.04.02
Sweden
Different demonstrations of support for a referendum of
self-determination in Western Sahara took place in Sweden: on 12
April a demonstration in Stockholm, handing in hundreds of signatures
on a petition to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the 15th
a seminar organised by Emmaus Björkå and on the 16th a
meeting organised by "Föreningen Västsahara" with the
participation of a student group "Jakobsbergs Folkhöskola"
("Morocco
out of Western Sahara",
Press Statement of the Polisario Front Office to the Nordic
Countries).
Nueva
Asociación de apoyo al Pueblo Saharaui: Asociación
Cantabria por el Sáhara (constituida el pasado 27 de febrero
de 2002),
General Dávila 294 - Barrio San Francisco 19, 5º dcha,
39007 SANTANDER - CANTABRIA,
Telf: 942 331 767 / 942 558 351, e-mail:mahbes@nodo50.org
COMING UP...
23.04.02, UK: Over 40 people from all walks of life (students, pensioners, police, engineers, TV producers, academics) forming the Rainbow Rover convoy will travel in about 20 Land Rovers, buses and lorries, carrying such diverse items as spare parts, medical equipment, textbooks and children's toys out to the Saharawis. They leave the UK on 23 April and will drive through Spain and Algeria to Tindouf. This "Chris Winchilsea Memorial convoy", commemorates the Liberal peer who started the convoys in the 1980s, and did much to spread awareness of the Saharawis' plight in Britain and further afield. The vehicles and everything in them will be left for the Saharawis and the participants will fly home at the beginning of May.
25.04.02, New York: The Security Council intends to hold consultations on Western Sahara.
21-22.05.02, Marriott Champ-Elysées, Paris, France: "Sanctioned Oil States 2002" conference. Focus on Sanctioned Oil States worldwide and issues for investment, exploration, oil and gas venture, production, competition, negotiations and contracts, players and competitors, US policies, political risks, Government policies, strategies, contagion, investments and energy finance. Key impacted countries covered include inter alia: Western Sahara.
24.05.02, Brussels: International Conference on rights and duties relating to the protection of the natural resources of the occupied territories of Western Sahara. Programme and reply formulary Contact : sahraoui.comite@oxfamsol.be
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