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Résumé February 2008 01.02. - 29.02.2008 |
Diplomatic
movements (incomplete list)
The ambassador of the Saharawi Republic in Tanzania and Mauritius,
Habiballah Mohamed Kori, has been appointed Director of Protocole to
the Presidency, he is replaced by Brahim Salem Ould Bousseif (the
former representative in Navarra).
The new Saharawi ambassador in Algiers, Brahim Ghali, is replaced in
Madrid by Bouchraya Hamoudi Beyoun, former Prime Minister. Elhaj Ahmed,
SADR ambassador in Venezuela, is replaced by Emborik Omar. Louchaa
Mohamed, representative in the Canaries, is appointed ambassador to
Angola instead of Ahmed Salama, the new representative for Navarra.
Seniya Ahmed, the representative in Switzerland is appointed ambassador
to Tripoli. Jamal Zerouali, representative in Germany moves to
Brussels. Several new representatives for Spanish regions: Abidine
Bouchraya for Andalucia, Boulahi Tirsal (formerly in Belgium) for
Castilla-La Mancha, Mohamed Moustafá for the Balearic Islands,
and Oualad Moussa (former representative in the Balearic Islands) moves
to Catalonia. [SPS]
01.02.08, recognition
The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and Malawi have decided to
establish diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level. Malawi
recognised SADR on 16.11.1994 but froze its recognition in June 2001. [SPS]
05.02.08, oil
Mhamed Khadad, a member of the National Secretariat of the Polisario
Front, presented in Houston, Texas, in the name of SADR, the second
round of oil licence bids in the presence of representatives of oil
companies and the specialised press. [full statement]
14-17.02.08, Africa
A delegation of the National Union of Saharawi Women took part in
Johannesburg in the proceedings of the 9th Congress of the Pan African
Women's Organisation (PAWO), which expressed its support for the right
of the Saharawi people to self-determination and elected the Saharawi
organisation to represent African women in the United Nations. [more Span.]
22.02.08, letters
The Saharawi Consultative Council (Council of Notables) demanded, in a
message sent to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour,
the publication of the report of the HCHR’s mission in 2006 to
Western Sahara. Another message was sent to the UN Secretary General.
The CC elected a new executive and a new president, Mohamed Mohamed
Mouloud Abba Ali, who succeeds Mbarek Lehbib. [New
bureau of the CC] [Letter
to Ban Ki Moon] [Letter
to UNHCHR]
27.02.08, Tifariti – 32nd anniversary of the proclamation of the
Saharawi Republic
The official celebrations took place in Tifariti, in the liberated
territories. Some days before, the Algerian president, Bouteflika had
sent greetings to his Saharawi counterpart on the occasion of the
national day, expressing the “hope that the fourth round of
negotiations, planned for Manhasset in March 2008, should permit a
political solution to be reached based on the self-determination of the
people of Western Sahara”. [SPS]
The 8th Sahara Marathon brought together 500 athletes of different
nationalities. The Spanish runner Pedro José Hernandez Sanchez
won the race.[SPS] This sporting and humanitarian event raised
US$22,500 towards the construction of a sports centre in the refugee
camps. [UNHCR
report]
The library of the Francophone Cultural Centre in Ausserd, managed by
the Saharawi Association for the promotion of cultural exchange, was
inaugurated in the presence of numerous French and Saharawi
personalities. [SPS]
The new South African Ambassador to SADR, Mzuvukile Maqetuka, presented
his credentials in Tifariti, to the President of the Republic,
Mohamed Abdelaziz. [SPS]
Investiture of the Saharawi parliament: the President of the Saharawi
Republic opened the session of the newly elected Parliament whiich
comprises a third women and many young people. 126 candidates stood for
the 52 seats to be filled. On this occasion, Abdelaziz declared that
the choice of Tifariti as a provisional capital of SADR is a
“reaffirmation of our sovereignty over our liberated territories”. The
parliament re-elected Mahfoud Ali Beïba as its president.
Inaugurations: The Saharawi president opened a sporting complex,
financed by South Africa, comprising a football stadium, a handball and
a volley-ball court, a swimming pool, administrative buildings and
housing as well as a small dam, the town hall, the seat of the
Parliament, a mosque, a hospital, a school and housing for local
inhabitants. The Saharawi authorities have allotted land for building
for Saharawis living in the refugee camps. Mohamed Abdelaziz also
presided over the graduation of 400 students of the military college,
Reaction: The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement,
considers these initiatives as breaking the status quo. He reaffirms
“his clear determination to preserve, by every means, their territorial
integrity over the whole of the Sahara” and threatens Algeria, who,
according to him, is encouraging such developments.
Counter-offensive: On 26.02.08 about a hundred people are said to have
defected to Morocco at the border point of Guerguerat, having escaped
from the Saharawi refugee camps according to the official Moroccan
agency MAP. According to another source, they are Mauritanians and some
Saharawis living in Mauritania. This spectacular action was
orchestrated by Khalihenna ould Rachid, president of CORCAS, and Hamada
ould Darwich, a rich Mauritanian businessman, and former
director-general of the Port of Nouadhibou, former-owner of the BACIM
Bank, unlucky candidate in the 2006 elections in Bir Moghrein and
finally a cousin of Hakim Ibrahim, a former Minister for Foreign
Affairs of SADR, whose real name is Ibrahim ould Darwich.
Demonstrations: In the occupied territories leaflets and flags have
been distributed in El-Ayoun, Dakhla and Smara, despite the very large
police and military deployment trying to stop any gathering. In Smara
several demonstrations nevertheless took place in various quarters,
dispersed, as usual by the police. Similar demonstrations in Tan Tan
and in Moroccan universities have been reported.
Abroad
A solidarity meeting was organised in Algiers, with representatives of
the National Algerian Committee of Solidarity with the Saharawi people,
a parliamentary group, Fraternity Algeria-SADR, the Panafrican Union of
Youth and SADR. The 32nd anniversary was celebrated in different ways
in many other countries. The autonomous parliament in the Balearic
Islands decided on 26.02.08 to set up a coordinating committee to
support the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, composed of
representatives of all the political parties, from the management of
the cooperation and cooperation fund in each island, the Polisario
Front and solidarity associations. The Basque autonomous parliament
unanimously approved a declaration in favour of the exercise of the
right to self-determination of the Saharawi people. [más]
The government of Grand Canaria unanimously approved an urgent motion
in favour of the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people and
the respect of human rights in occupied Western Sahara. Numerous
demonstrations, lectures and various ceremonies took place not only in
Spain, but also in Venezuela (Caracas), in Australia (Melbourne) , in
Switzerland (Geneva), etc.
OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
Arrests,
questionings, intimidations
In Dakhla on 28 January, arrest of Khalihenna Oulad Cheikh Beida and
the next day of Mrabih Taleb Bouya, brother of Hassana Taleb Bouya,
member of the Committee against Torture of Dakhla.
Three former political detainees and two other Saharawi citizens were
questioned on 17 February in El Ayoun, while they were visiting the
Saharawi former political prisoner Sidi Mohamed Alouate. On 22
February, Mohamed Ould Salama Ould Hameya and his daughters were
attacked by a group of police officers, while they were at home
receiving the visit of Najem Ould Mahmoud Ould Hameya and his family,
who had come from Tindouf, within the UNHCR family exchange visit
scheme.
Members of the Committee of Saharawi officials exiled by force to
Morocco met on 7 February outside the Ministry of the Interior in
Rabat, demanding to be returned to their places of origin.
Trial in El-Ayoun
Nafai Sah and Mohamed El-Boussati, arrested between 17 June and 7 July
2007 and accused of having burned a police car, were sentenced on 6
February on appeal to one year of prison. Two Spanish barristers and
one Swiss one attended the trial.
Mohamed Boutabaa was sentenced on 27 February to one year in prison,
accused of having burned the car of a soldier. Two observers attended
the trial, Luis Mangrané, a Spanish barrister and Patrick
Herzig, a Swiss barrister.
09.02.08, corruption
A large proportion of the people encouraged in 1991-1992 by the
Moroccan government to establish themselves in Western Sahara in the
camps called Of Unity, in preparation for the referendum, have returned
to their former homes. Only 5,000 people still live there, while they
numbered 21,000 in 1991. But the absentees still receive food aid from
the government and sell them at a profit. The annual amount spent by
the government is said to be of the order of 640 million DH. Taking
advantage also of this trafficking are high ranking army officers in
the FAR, Saharawi notables and Moroccan government officials. The daily
Assabah publishes a list of 16 names, as well as the quantities of
flour which they have appropriated. [Assabah,
09.02.08, Arabic language Moroccan daily]
14.02.08, El-Ayoun
Destruction of a former interrogation and torture centre in the
Colominas quarter, avenue du 24 novembre. In 2007 the authorities
proceeded to the destruction of a similar centre in a barracks of the
CMI (Compagnies Mobiles d'Intervention) in the Zoco Viejo quarter.
19.02.08, El-Ayoun
A delegation of trades unionists made up of representatives of the CGT
France, CGIL Italy and CCOO Spain travelled to Western Sahara to meet
Saharawi workers and retired workers from the phosphate mine of Boucraa
and the former Spanish administration. There are over 22,000 Saharawi
workers, soldiers, officials etc who worked in the service of Spain
during the colonial period and who are claiming their right to a
retirement pension.
On 19 February, the European delegation met about a hundred workers and
retirees in the home of Sidi Ahmed Eddia, to inform them about the
efforts undertaken to regularise their situation with their former
Spanish employers. This is when the Moroccan police arrested the
European trades unionists as well as the representative of the workers
and retirees of Fos Bucraa, Sidi Ahmed Eddia and his wife. [more Fr]
Spain ceded in 1976 the majority interest in the business Fosbucraa
(65%) to the Moroccan state. The new coloniser immediately broke the
contracts of 721 Saharawi workers. Since 1999 Sidi Ahmed Eddia has
tried again and again without any results to take steps with the
Spanish and Moroccan authorities.
The three unions implicated, as well as the European MP, Jean-Paul
Lecoq, have protested strongly. CSPRON , the Committee of Support for
the UN peace plan and for the protection of the natural resources of
Western Sahara, wrote to the EU President .
25.02.08, Hunger Strike
The Saharawi political detainees in the Black Prison started an
unlimited hunger strike to demand the respect of the right of the
Saharawi people to self-determination and to denounce human rights
abuses in Western Sahara. They also express their solidarity with all
the Saharawi detainees in Morocco and with Moroccan political
detainees, among whom are members of the Moroccan Association of Human
Rights (AMDH). They wrote to the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary
General, van Walsum in the same vein. The Committee of families of
Saharawi political prisoners called for the immediate and unconditional
release of Saharawi political prisoners. Three strikers are
hospitalised at the moment. [Regular news from
ASVDH, FR, ENG, ESP, AR]
26.02.08,
landmine
A young Saharawi, Boushab Boutimit (19 years) was killed by the
explosion of a mine at Areiridh not far from Zak, where he lived and
worked as a nomad. A member of the same family, Fatimetou Boutimit (11
years) was seriously wounded in a landmine explosion last December.
04.03.08, injustice
The Appeal Court reduced to two years the prison sentence of two
members of GUS (Urban Security Group, dissolved in 2006), the officer
Abderrahim Mestioui [Amssaoued], nicknamed Bahja, and deputy Rouchdi
Hassan, sentenced on 20.06.07 to ten years penal internment for the
assassination of Hamdi Lembarki, who died on 31.10.05. The court
considered “the act of provocation in this affair”. The two policemen,
who have been released, enjoyed special conditions in prison, they
moved about freely within the Black Prison, had living quarters, a
mobile telephone and a computer.
The Association of Families of Saharawi Prisoners and Disappeared
(AFAPREDESA) and the Union of Saharawi Lawyers pointed out the desire
of the occupying authorities to hide the crimes perpetrated by their
forces towards the Saharawi civil population and condemned this new
injustice. They demand the re-opening of the procedure for judging
those responsible materially and intellectually for the murder of Hamdi
Lembarki. [communiqué
- comunicado]
The Human Rights Observatory of the lawyers of Badajoz has just
received the prize, PREMIO JUSTICIA 2007
<http://derechoshumanos.icaba.es/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=208>http://derechoshumanos.icaba.es/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=208
of
the Association of Human Rights of Extremadura, equally strongly
condemn this judgment and demand the Moroccan judicial authorities to
incarcerate the two killers, setting them free could lead others to
assassinate innocent people. [comunicado]
The President of the Saharawi Republic on 9 March sent a letter to the
UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, in which he expresses his
surprise and affirms that “justice in Morocco contributes to ensure
cover to crimes and guarantees impunity to the Moroccan repressive
apparatus in Western Sahara”. [AFP]
Sand
Several cargo boats, the West Sky, the Guajira, the Trio Vega, under a
Panamanian flag, the Seisbulk, the Hannes, have been observed
transporting sand from Western Sahara to the Canary Islands. The sand
seems to be destined for building. [more]
Phosphates
Norwatch discovered that a maritime transport company, Jinhui Shipping
and Transportation Limited, registered on the Oslo Stock Exchange, are
carrying out the transport of phosphate from Western Sahara for the New
Zealand business Ballance Agri-Nutrients. This concerns a ship, Jin
Cheng, registered in Hong Kong, which arrived in Newport New Zealand on
6 February .[Statement
by Norwatch]
The cargo ship Dimitris on 10 January 2008 and Maria Oldendorf on 12
February 2008 carried phosphate from Western Sahara destined for the
Colombian fertiliser manufacturer Monomeros.
According to Danwatch, the Saharawi government accused the Danish
maritime transport company, J. Lauritzen, whose cargo ship carried
phosphates, of taking part in the illegal exploitation of the resources
of Western Sahara. [Copenhagen Post,
22.02.2008] [Danwatch,
Danish and English]
Oil
The Office national marocain des hydrocarbures et des mines (ONHYM),
which at present is analysing data from the 2D seismic survey conducted
from 15 September to 26 November 2007, announces on 11.02.08 that
complementary studies will be carried out in the Boujdour basin as part
of the 2008-2012 Development Plan.
Fishing
Replying to a question of the Swedish parliamentarian, Hans Linde, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt declared on 19.02.08, that it
was too late to ask for the annulment of the fishing treaty between the
EU and Morocco, but that it was possible to oppose its renewal. On the
other hand, the Swedish authorities will investigate the situation of
Swedish ships, which are at present fishing in the territorial waters
of Western Sahara and which have recently been identified.
[Norwatch] <http://www.wsrw.org/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=105&art=671>
[texte
original suédois]
04.02.08,
Security Council
The Security Council met to receive the report of Peter van Walsum, the
Personal Envoy of the SG. The president of the Council, Ricardo Alberto
Arias ( Panama), welcomed the latest report of the SG and was pleased
at the continuation of the negotiations in March. [Press
Release]
The Polisario Front representative at the UN, Ahmed Boukhari, pointed
out in a letter to the Security Council, “the lack of progress” in the
negotiation process and the continuing blocking manoeuvres of the
Moroccan party. [SPS]
The Moroccan ambassador at the UN, El Mostafa Sahel, declared that
“Morocco...reaffirms its disposition to enter into serious and
substantial negotiations in order to reach, as quickly as possible, a
settlement..., within respect for Morocco’s sovereignty...”
06-14.02.08, Tour of Peter van Walsum in the region
06-08.02.08, Rabat: Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi received the Personal
Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for the Sahara. “The
meeting took place in a very cordial atmosphere”, van Walsum declared
to the press. “We exchanged our points of view on the best ways to make
the negotiations more substantial as the UN Secretary General asks”, he
added. Contacts took place with representatives of political parties
and with CORCAS.
08-10.02.08, SADR: the UN official declared at the end of his meeting
with the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, that “the
positions of the parties are still very far apart” and that “there is
no new plan for getting out of the impasse”.
11-12.02.08, Algiers: In a press statement, van Walsum noted, after his
meetings with the two parties to the conflict, namely Morocco and the
Polisario Front, that their positions have not changed and are “still
very far apart”. For him, they remain “almost identical to those of two
and a half years ago”.
“I have not yet found a solution”, he said to the press. The UN
diplomat declared “having the hope” to reach a settlement, but that he
did not “want to give false hope and everything would work out in the
fourth round” of the talks. The “principal goal of my tour is to
listen to ideas from various people on the way to make the negotiations
more substantial”, he declared at the end of his meeting with the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mourad Medelci. The head of government,
Mr. Abdelaziz Belkhadem, also received the Dutch diplomat.
13-14.02.08, Nouakchott: The Mauritanian President, Sidi Mohamed ould
Cheikh Abdallahi, received, in Nouakchott, Peter van Walsum on a
working visit of two days in Mauritania. In a declaration to the press,
as he left this meeting, van Walsum declared that he was “not satisfied
with the state of the negotiations”.
19.02.08, Kosovo
The representative of the Polisario Front in Spain, Bouchraya Beyoun,
stated in Madrid that “the example of Kosovo demonstrates clearly that
at the heart of the international community there is the practice of
“double standards” when it is a question of facing up to the
independence process and this follows the whim of the interests of the
world powers”. Neither Morocco nor Algeria have recognised the former
Serbian province.
27.02.08, negotiations
The 4th round of direct negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario
Front, initially planned for 11 March in Manhasset, was put off until
the 16th of the same month, the SADR ambassador to Algeria announced in
Algiers, Brahim Ghali. The decision was taken following a request from
Morocco.
25-29.02.08, Tour of David Welch in the Maghreb
The US Secretary of State responsible for the Middle East, number three
in the department of Foreign Affairs, travelled to three Maghreb
countries. As he left his talks with the Cherifian sovereign, the
American emissary argued for “strong and positive [relations] between
Morocco and Algeria”, despite the “problem of Western Sahara”. In his
press statement, Welch added that the autonomy proposal “was what
started the rounds of negotiations. We consider that it is a very
productive approach and there is reason to examine it”. The deputy US
Secretary of State underlined that the United States hopes that “the
parties will engage in a constructive manner and in good faith” in the
negotiations. In Algiers, on the subject of Western Sahara, the
American official emphasised that “any settlement must respect the
right of the Saharawi people, including their right to have a say in
the solution”. “Beyond that question, we believe that it is important
that all the countries of the Maghreb should have good relations
between themselves, in particular Algeria and Morocco, who are both
good partners of the United States”, he added. [agencies]
06.02.08 arms
The Dutch company Damen Shipyards Group sold three Sigma war corvettes
to Morocco for the sum of 500 million euros, or 1.2 million US$.
11.02.08
Mohamed VI postponed sine die his visit to Mauritania during the second
week of February 2008. A Moroccan delegation composed of the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and the Director General of Studies and
Documentation (DGED) was received on 5 February by the Mauritanian
president.
Manipulations and misinformation
13.02.08: The Moroccan journalist, Ali Lmrabet won his case on appeal
against a correspondent of the Maghreb Press Agency (MAP) in Madrid.
The Madrid court of appeal gave as reasons that the relationship
between MAP and the DGED (Moroccan secret services) was proven. [more Fr + Span]
22.02.08: The
daily, Aujourd'hui le Maroc, publishes a
correction of a NATO spokesperson, who denies an article
published on 24.01.08 by the daily under the title “A classified NATO
document reveals the responsibility of Algeria in the conflict in the
Sahara”. [ALM,
22.02.08] [ALM,
24.01.08]
This was about a falsification by the Moroccan web site, «Polisario
Confidentiel» . This site is one of many propaganda sites run
by Morocco, which have appeared recently on the web: on this subject
see "More
information on Moroccan puppet sites" and other infos on
the blog One hump or
two .
22.02.08: The researcher and North African specialist, Hugh Roberts
asked for a right of reply to MAP, which had seriously distorted his
words in an article on 13 February about a lecture given in Barcelona
on the subject “Western Sahara : the costs of the conflict for the
development of the Maghreb”. [More]
[See also lthe dossier de Sahara Info 29.02.08: Calomnies et mensonges du makhzen,29.02.08] <http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/sahara-info/message/5823>
19.02.08
The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the
Commonwealth, Kim Howells, declared that the United Nations maintain
their decision not to publish the report drawn up in 2006 by the High
Commission of Human Rights on the human rights situation in Western
Sahara. Howells replied to a question by the MP Jeremy Corbyn. (Labour)
[Hansard]
Following an
appeal launched by the Saharawi Red Crescent, the Algerian RC on 5
February made an emergency donation to the Saharawi refugees of 100
tonnes of rice, 160 tonnes of pasta, 250 tonnes of powdered milk. The
Italian ministry of Foreign Affairs also responded on 13 February to
the appeal with a donation of 100,000 euros to the WFP.
The food situation of the Saharawi refugees is “still critical”,
according to the President of the Saharawi Red Crescent (CRS),
questioned by El Watan. Yahia Bouhebeini explains this situation
giving three reasons: the failure to restore the emergency store, which
was consumed in October 2006, the failure of WFP to finalise in a
definite way the aid program for 2008 – 2009 and the problem of
transport for the food aid. According to Bouhebeini, the Saharawi
refugees have had no supplies of milk, pasta and rice for several
months, and are still waiting for flour. The CRS is engaged in
preparing a nutritional survey with NGOs and UN agencies, with finance
from ECHO and the Spanish Agency for international cooperation. This
study is to begin on 9 March. (27.02.08
El Watan)
16-17.02.08,
Eucoco – Algeria
An international meeting on the decolonization of Western Sahara which
launched the 2008 International Year of Solidarity with the Saharawi
People in its struggle for self-determination, took place in Algiers,
organised by the Algerian Committee of Solidarity with the Saharawi
People and the Task Force of the European Coordination of Support for
the Saharawi People. Pierre Galand, President of the Task Force, gave a
lecture to the Political Science Institute in Algiers on “the right of
peoples to decide their future for themselves”, which the Algerian
Prime Minister attended, as well as many Algerian and Saharawi
dignitaries.
Participants in the meeting decided to seize the UN Secretary General
and Security Council members in order to act and make Morocco conform
with international law. They also called, in their final declaration,
on the European Community and the African Union, as well as the UN
Secretary General’s Personal Envoy, to put pressure on Morocco for a
“strict application” of the resolutions of the Security Council. A Task
Force delegation was received by the former president, Ahmed Ben Bella,
who assured his support for the cause of the Saharawi people in their
struggle to recover their sovereignty.
[SPS, revue de
presse Sahara-Info]
17-23.03.08,
COLUMNA DE LOS 1000. «Mil personas uniremos nuestras manos
formando una cadena humana frente al muro de la vergüenza, un muro
de dos mil kilómetros que separa un territorio y divide un
pueblo.» http://voluntadydeterminacion.blog.com/
17-20.04.08, V Sahara International Film Festival: http://www.festivalsahara.com/pdf/Notadeprensa2008.pdf
25-26.04.08, Alger, colloque international de parlementaires sur "l’autodétermination des peuples : facteur de stabilité, de paix et de développement" au siège de l’Assemblée populaire nationale (APN), à l’initiative du Comité de fraternité parlementaire algéro- sahraoui.ANALYSIS
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