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Résumé April 01.04. - 30.04.2008 |
12.04.08,
European Union
The European Commissioner for external relations and neighbourhood
policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, affirmed in an interview to the French
daily "La Croix", published on 10 April, that the agreement on granting
to Morocco “advanced status” could be finalised under the French
presidency of the EU, which will begin in July 2008. “Advanced status”
defines relations between the EU and frontier countries, within the
context of the new European policy of neighbourhood, installing a
closer cooperation between the EU and the countries of the southern
Mediterranean and the former Soviet Union. The Polisario Front
considers that such a status should require the respect of human rights
and international law, from which Morocco is far from attaining.[SPS]
On a visit to Morocco on 17 and 18 April, the French Prime Minister
declared that France is determined to help Morocco obtain “advanced
status”.[Politique
européenne de voisinage, Maroc] [Plan
d'action UE/Maroc,
09.12.04] [Rapport
de suivi Maroc, 03.04.08]
26.04.08, Algeria
The president of the Saharawi Parliament, Mahfoud Ali Beïba, was
received by the president of the National Popular Assembly (lower
house), Abdelaziz Ziari, as well as by the president of the Algerian
Council of the Nation (upper house) Abdelkader.Bensalah. [SPS]
29.04.08, Mauritania
The special envoy of the Saharawi President, El-Khalil Sidi Mohamed,
Saharawi Minister responsible for the occupied territories and Saharawi
communities abroad, was received in an audience with the President of
the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, (RIM), Sidi Mohamed ould Cheikh
Abdallahi. [AMI]
30.04.08, SADR
The Government Council has prepared draft laws regulating the relations
between the parliament and the government. He also reviewed drafts
relating to building and development in the liberated territories. [SPS]
OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
Demonstrations,
arrests, repression
A sit-in for self-determination, organised on 27 March 2008 by a group
of young Saharawis in the Almatar quarter in El-Ayoun, was
violently dispersed. Bullahi Mohamed Bachri, a student born in 1990,
was tortured for four hours before being released. He gives a detailed
description of the methods used. [ASVDH, 04.04.08]
04.04.08, Madrid
Abdalahi Zoubeir, a Saharawi of 55 years, who has held various posts in
the administration of El Ayoun, announced in Madrid that he sought
political asylum in Spain because of the repression in the occupied
territories. Zoubeir defected to Morocco in 1989 after having lived in
the refugee camps near Tindouf. For several years the Moroccan
authorities gradually released him from his duties, giving him no
reason to have confidence.[ACN
Press]
08.04.08, El-Ayoun
The police forces stopped a meeting of trades union members of the
workers of the National Promotion (job-seekers) by mishandling and
arresting several people. 15 people were wounded and 5 arrested. The
Saharawi president, Mohamed Abdelaziz, on 10 April drew to the
attention of Ban Ki-Moon, “his grave concerns”. [SPS]
18.04.08, El-Ayoun, Tan Tan
The police arrested Omar Lafkir, a student of 22 years, who went to a
police station in El Ayoun to collect some documents. He was taken to
Tan Tan on the pretext that they were searching for him in that
locality. According to his relatives, the arrest was in relation to the
demonstrations of 26 February and the death of a Moroccan policeman.
Omar is the brother of Lahsen
Lafkir,
in prison in Inzegane. [CODESA] [more]
19-20.04.08,
El-Ayoun - disillusion
The inhabitants of Al-Wahda camp protested during the visit of a
delegation presided over by the Moroccan minister of the interior,
which had come to supervise the allocation of the first plots of land.
They asked for a revision to increase the promised allocation and
enough time to construct their new dwelling, whereas the authorities
wanted to demolish the shanty town immediately. This population,
brought from southern Morocco at the time of the promised referendum in
1991, has been sheltered for 17 years in insalubrious sheds. The
demonstration on 19 was tolerated, that on 20 was brutally dispersed by
the police.
In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, the Saharawi
president denounced the “savage intervention perpetrated by the
Moroccan forces of repression against Saharawi citizens”. [SPS] [Telquel, Maroc, no 321]
Moroccan
Universities
For a long time the Moroccan authorities have been trying to stop
Saharawi students in Morocco from demonstrating in favour of
self-determination and independence, such as in Agadir in 2007,
bringing in a militia made up of Moroccan students and criminals. These
confrontations have been described in the Moroccan media at the time as
confrontations between Berber and Saharawi students.
The same procedures are happening again. Since 6 April armed militias
have been attacking Saharawi students in the Qadi Ayyad University in
Marrakech under the leadership of a member of the DST (General
Direction of Surveillance of the territory) of Saharawi origin, Mohamed
Mahdi Tayar, in charge of surveillance on Saharawi students. Several
students have been attacked in university precincts or buildings, in
their own lodgings or in the street and injured. A Saharawi student,
Khalihina Abu Alhassan, arrested on 13 April, is still in prison. The
students organised a sit-in from 22 to 24 April to call for his
release. During the sit-in, students were again attacked and one of
them seriously wounded. Another student, Baihada Loujaj, known for his
pro-independence activism, was arrested on 25 April as he was getting
out of a train coming from Setat, where he studies. He was coming to
join the action of Saharawi students. [corr.]
The Moroccan press presents these events as being a war between two
groups of Saharawi students in favour of independence, one close to the
Polisario Front and the other following the opposition of the
liberation movement.
13.04.08, Another arrest for Naama Asfari
Naama Asfari, Saharawi human rights defender and co-president of
CORELSO (Committee for the respect of liberties and human rights in
Western Sahara) was arrested in Marrakech by plain clothes policemen.
Blindfolded and handcuffed he was undressed and beaten before being
incarcerated in Boulemharez prison, accused of hitting and causing
injury during a dispute with another driver, drunken behaviour and
possession of a firearm. [see the
numerous protests]
A first hearing in the court of Marrakech took place on 21 April in the
presence of observers from the AIJD (International Association of
democratic lawyers), from Droit et Solidarité (Law and
Solidarity), OSSIN (Osservatorio Internazionale, ONLUS), AAA (American
Association of Attorneys) and ACAT-France (Action of Christians for the
Abolition of Torture), the verdict is postponed until 28.
A French group comprising Claude Mangin, the wife of Naama Asfari,
Frédérique Lellouche, responsible for the Maghreb in
ACAT, Mireille Brun and Pierre-Alain Roussen, who attended the trial
were arrested and driven to Agadir to be expelled by plane to France on
the accusation of “disturbing public order”. New protests.
[communiqué ACAT-France, AIJD, Droit et
Solidarité, OSSIN, AAJ du 25.04.08]
[amnesty
international ] [more]
Quotation: the spokesman of the French Minister for Foreign Affairs:
“they are charged with no penal offence and we hope they will be
rapidly released. If there is to be expulsion, that is a sovereign
decision of the Moroccan authorities”.[minAE
France]
28.04.08: Naama Asfari was sentenced to 2 months in prison and a fine
of 3000 DH (265 euros). No proof, blood alcohol test, or arm were
presented. His two lawyers will appeal. The French lawyers, France Weyl
and Aline Chanu, four Spanish barristers and two observers from
Moroccan human rights associations attended the hearing. [Report] <http://asvdh.net/english/?p=367>
Trial in El-Ayoun
On 7April, Said Mohamed Lamine Lahnani, born in 1983, and Mohamed
Elmokhtar Alouate, born in 1986, arrested in Smara on 1 March 2008,
sentenced in the Magistrate’s court on 10 March 2008 to six months in
prison for attacking, wounding and insulting an officer in the course
of his duty, were sentenced on appeal to three months in prison. [ASVDH]
On 15 April, Nafai Sah and Abdallah Elboussati, sentenced to one year
in prison on 6 February 2008, arrested on 8 July 2007 and accused
of having burnt a police car, were sentenced on appeal to ten months in
prison. [ASVDH]
On 21 April, Elmokhtar Akhnibila and his son Mohamed appeared before
the court of appeal, which sentenced them to three months in prison.
They had previously been sentenced to ten months’ prison on 31 March
2008. [ASVDH]
On 30 April 2008, Saharawi political detainees, Omar Khnibila, Bachir
Khadda, Mohamed Bachiri, Abdessalam Loumadi and Hassan Dah were
sentenced to ten months’ prison in the Magistrate’s Court for
“attacking and insulting an officer of the state in the course of his
duties”. The accusation of having burnt two trucks was abandoned. Dah
and Bachiri were arrested on 10 October 2007, Khnibila, training at the
Institute of Applied Technologies in El Ayoun, on 17 October 2007,
Khadda, also a trainee in the same institute, on 14 November and
Loumadi on 15 October 2007. The latter had been sentenced on 20 March
2007 to 18 months’ prison, reduced to 12 months on 15 May 2007. Loumadi
was released on 24 August 2007 after serving his sentence.
Political Prisoners
24.04.08, Rabat
Said Elbaillal, transferred to the civil prison of Berchid, south of
Casablanca, four days before his release, in order to avoid any
demonstration at his liberation, left prison on 28 April and was
greeted like a hero in Rabat. [ASVDH]
The Committee of coordination of the campaign for the release of Brahim
Sabbar and all the Saharawi political prisoners launched an appeal for
demonstrations outside Moroccan embassies and representations abroad.
The appeal was followed in Seville, the Balearic Islands, the Canary
Islands, Valencia, Algesiras and Turin (Italy). The parliament of the
autonomous region of Galicia unanimously approved on 23 April a motion
calling for the central government to intervene for the release of all
the Saharawi political detainees.
The Saharawi President on 29 April and 1 May questioned the UN
SG, Ban Ki-moon, concerning Ennaama Asfari and other Saharawi political
prisoners asking for their release and the end to repression in Western
Sahara, as well as a widening of MINURSO’s prerogatives to monitor the
respect of human rights. [SPS]
Oil
The company, San Leon (Morocco) obtained from ONHYM a 12 month
extension for its exploration permit in the Zag basin starting from
24.12.07. The partners in this joint venture are San Leon Limited
(50%), the operator; GB Oil and Gas Ventures Limited
(registered in Jersey, 30%) and Island Oil & Gas plc
(Ireland, 20%).
[Oil
Voice, 02.04.08]
The first contract dated from December 2006. WSRW warned the company
about the illegality of the contract.[Infos
and Open letter to Island Oil & Gas
plc by Western Sahara Resource Watch, 13.12.06]
In November 2007, Island Oil & Gas plc announced that its Moroccan
branch, Island International Exploration Morocco, IIEM, had just signed
with ONHYM, seven exploration contracts in the on-shore region of
Tarfaya, valid for 8 years. IIEM joined up with the operators,
Longreach Oil and Gas Ventures Limited (30%) and San Leon Limited
(Morocco, 30%). [San
Leon-Zag] [Annual
report 2007]
These contracts were approved on 11 April 2008 by the Energy Minister,
they took effect on 14 January 2008.[Press
release Island Oil & Gas
plc,11.04.08] [San
Leon-Tarfaya]
Fishing
The new partnership agreement on fishing (APP) between Morocco and the
European Union, which took effect in March 2007, was at the centre of
talks between the Minister for Agriculture and Maritime Fishing, Aziz
Akhenouch and the European Commissioner in charge of Fishing and
Maritime Affairs, Joe Borg. During this meeting the two officials ...
reviewed the ways and means of promoting a closer cooperation between
the EU and Morocco in the fishing sector.... Borg invited Morocco to
participate in the EuroMed conference on an integrated maritime policy,
planned for June 2008 in Slovenia .... [Le
Matin, Rabat, 05.04.2008]
03.04.08
The Japan-Sahara friendship association published letters to the
Japanese Ministers of Finance and Trade concerning the importation to
Japan of products from occupied Western Sahara. [Letter
1] [letter
2]
Last minute: Open
letter (also by the Japan-Sahara friendship association) to Japanese Minister of
Foreign Affairs against the exclusion of SADR, AU member state, from
TICAD IV (Tokyo International Conference for African Development) on
28-30 May 2008, despite its main themes including "peace
consolidation", "human security" and "African ownership". [Letter]
Tourism
Following the intervention of representatives of WSRW, the Canary
Island agency, La Caja Tours, a service of La Caja de Canarias, a
financial institution of a social nature, stopped promoting trips to
occupied Western Sahara. [Telde
actualidad 26.04.08] [more ]
Phosphate
19.04.08
A demonstration, organised by the Federación Andaluza de
Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sahara (Fandas), la Federación
Provincial de Huelva de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sahara and WSRW
to denounce the importation of Saharawi phosphate by FMC Foret and
Ership SA brought together over 300 people in Huelva . It is the
first time that a demonstration has been organised against the illegal
exploitation of the natural wealth of occupied Western Sahara.[ver
videos] [comunicado]
28.04.08
A ship, Cake, IMO registration number: 9353216, belonging to Geden
Lines (Turquie), flying a Maltese flag, took on phosphate at El Ayoun
on 24 April. It is en route for Lyttleton, New Zealand. [WSRW]
11-13.04.08,
Copenhagen
Mohamed Sidati, Minister delegate for Europe, accompanied by Abba
Malainin, Polisario Front representative in Denmark, took part in the
congress of the Danish popular socialist Party (SF), formation of the
opposition bringing together socialists and ecologists and bringing
together 23 seats in the parliament. The Saharawi delegation was also
received in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. [corr.]
12-13.04.08,
Spain
the 12th conference of parliamentary intergroups “Peace and Freedom for
the Saharawi people” took place in Santiago de Compostella, with the
participation of over 60 members of autonomous parliaments. In a
“Declaration Santiago” the intergroups ask for the implementation of
the referendum of self-determination and the end of repression in the
occupied territories. [Declaración
de Santiago]
14.04.08,
Secretary General’s report S/2008/251
The report recalls the events, activities of the Personal Envoy and the
activities on the ground (military activities, anti-mine work,
assistance to the refugees, confidence-building measures, human rights,
administration of the Mission, acts of vandalism on rock paintings)
since 19 October 2007. To be pointed out, even though MINURSO has no
mandate on the area of human rights, the Secretary General mentions the
reports of the human rights NGOs concerning the various attacks on
human rights in the occupied territories. He writes that “the UN
recognizes its duty to uphold human rights standards in all its
operations”. He launched an appeal to donors to contribute to the
program of assistance for the refugees, in order to render tolerable
their conditions of life, as well as for the confidence-building
measures, the continuance of which “risks being compromised in the
absence of new funding”.
The Secretary General considers that it is necessary to “find the means
of getting out of the current political impasse by showing realism and
a spirit of compromise”. “The consolidation of the status quo is not
acceptable”, he writes, Morocco and the Polisario Front must “engage in
a more intense phase of negotiations and bearing more on the basic
questions” “without any preconditions”. He asks to renew the mandate of
the mission for six months, namely until 31 October 2008.
Comment
M'hamed Khadad, Polisario coordinator with MINURSO, warned against any
delay which would give Morocco more time to “establish the plan for the
annexation of Western Sahara”. Khadad considers that “it is
indispensable to widen the prerogatives of MINURSO to include in its
mission responsibility for the observance of human rights and to make a
timetable for the organisation of a just and fair referendum. [Wall
Street Journal, 17.04.08]
Ahmed Boukhari, POLISARIO Front representative at the UN, in a
declaration published by AWSA on 18 April, declares that the PF has
noted with satisfaction the latest report and the recommendations of
the SG [AWSA, Australia].
The Saharawi ambassador in Algiers, Brahim Ghali, believes “it is a
balanced report, an advance in comparison with previous reports.
Morocco ”notes
with interest” the report of the Secretary General on the Sahara and
reiterates “its support for the UN Secretary General as well as for his
Personal Envoy”. The permanent representative of Morocco with the
United Nations, El Mostafa Sahel, communicated on 17 April to the UN
Secretary General “elements of information on the human rights
situation in his country and in the Sahara region”. [L'Observateur, Maroc]
17-18.04.08, France
The French Prime Minister, François Fillon, on a visit to
Morocco to implement the undertakings made in October by Nicolas
Sarkozy, reiterated in Rabat France’s support for the Moroccan autonomy
proposal.
The Saharawi Minister for Europe, Mohamed Sidati called Fillon’s words
“regrettable not to say, unfortunate, of a nature to aggravate the
conflict and prolong the ordeal for the whole region”.[communiqué
officiel]
21.04.08, UN,
Security Council
The Security Council met in closed session to discuss the Secretary
General’s report on Western Sahara. Peter van Walsum, Personal Envoy of
the Secretary General, spoke to a document setting forward his personal
position, which differs from that put forward by the Secretary General.
He considers that in the absence of “pressure on Morocco to abandon its
claim to sovereignty” an “independent Western Sahara is not a realistic
proposition”. He judges it necessary to make a compromise between the
“political reality”, favourable to Morocco and “international law”
claimed by the Polisario Front.
Omar Mansour, Polisario Front representative in France, denounced van
Walsum’s declarations on 22 April. Mansour reaffirmed that “nobody can
substitute themselves for the Saharawi people in the choice of its
future destiny in complete freedom and democracy”, questioning “in the
name of what right the independence of Kosovo could be defended and
then, performing acrobatics to justify the Morocco’s illegal occupation
of Western Sahara”.
Van Walsum’s words “don’t commit anybody except himself”, Ahmed
Boukhari explains, the representative of the Polisario Front in the UN,
according to whom the UN envoy has “himself put in doubt the basic
neutrality which should guide any mediator". [Extraits
de l'allocution de van Walsum,
Jeune Afrique/Liberté, 22.04.08]
The president of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz
indicated that the declarations of Peter Van Walsum, "in violation of
international law”, “disqualify him automatically as a mediator and
encourage the return to hostilities”, in a declaration to the Spanish
press agency, EFE. [plus-
more - mas]
24.04.08, Spain
The regional parliament of Galicia unanimously pronounced itself in
favour of the “legitimate right of the Saharawi people to
self-determination through the organisation of a referendum” in order
to reach an “urgent, fair and lasting solution” to the conflict in
Western Sahara. The Galician members of parliament called also for the
Spanish government to “intensify” its foreign policy to make
“international law respected and implement the different resolutions of
the United Nations Security Council”.
26-27.04.08, Algiers
An international parliamentary colloquium on “Self-determination of
peoples, vector of peace and development”, was organised in the seat of
the National Popular Assembly on the initiative of the parliamentary
group of friendship and fraternity between Algeria and Western Sahara.
About fifteen foreign delegations from Europe, Latin America and above
all Africa, as well as members of Algerian civil society want to draw
up a “strategy with practical steps” of support for the Saharawi people
to “go beyond statements of principle”. An African interparliamentary
group of solidarity with the Saharawi people was created and a
“founding declaration” was signed by parliamentarians from Algeria,
South Africa, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia and Niger. The group
wrote to the Security Council to ask it to organise a referendum of
self-determination.[SPS]
27.04.08
Negotiation within the context of the UN “remains the key to a
political solution” to the conflict in Western Sahara, “notwithstanding
the circumstances”, the President of the Saharawi Parliament, Mahfoudh
Ali Beïba, stated. Realism “is to see things as they are, not as
one wishes they might be”, he retorted, making allusion to the
statements of van Walsum.[SPS]
29.04.08, Australia
Lyn Allison, leader of the Australian Democrats Party, expressed her
“great concern” about the human rights situation in the Saharawi
occupied territories in a letter which she sent to the Moroccan embassy
in Australia. The Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) sent a
similar letter to the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, calling for
the release of Saharawi political prisoners.
30.04.08, Security Council Resolution S/RES/1813
(2008)
The resolution takes up the recommendations of the Secretary General’s
report and those of the last two resolutions. The Council renews the
mandate for a year, although the Secretary General had recommended six
months. But behind the words there are hidden disagreements. There is
no unanimity. The resolution was concocted by the “group of friends of
WS” and imposed on the other members of the Security Council. There was
no will to arrive at a consensus, according to Kumalo, South African
president of Security Council for April.
The amendments presented by South Africa and Costa Rica on human rights
and the respect of the international context were not accepted. The
opposition was led by France, but the Russian representative threatened
to use his technical veto at the least mention of human rights in the
draft resolution, Costa Rica revealed.
The notion of “realism” was refused by South Africa, Costa Rica and
Panama, “because it’s in the name of this very principle that one
should say to the Palestinians to accept the situation in the Middle
East and to the Serbs to recognise Kosovo. We must take care that this
realism is not imposed...to the detriment of the Polisario Front and to
the advantage of Morocco”. “Nobody can deny the right to
self-determination of the Saharawi people”...”To call for realism gives
the impression that might is right”, the South African Ambassador to
the UN observed.
In a spirit of compromise, South Africa, Panama and Costa Rica did not
oppose the resolution, which was adopted unanimously. [plus
- more - mas]
In a statement Mhamed Khadad “welcomed the fact that the Security
Council had decided, once again, to confirm and endorse international
law concerning the question of Western Sahara”. He exhorted Morocco to
show “realism” and a “sense of compromise”, based on the fact of the
“incontrovertible national reality” of Western Sahara “carried by a
people sure of their right” to self-determination. The only way
consists in “the free and democratic exercise by the Saharawi people of
their inalienable right to self-determination and independence through
a regular referendum respectful of the doctrine and practice of the
United Nations concerning decolonisation,” he explained. “That is the
realistic way. Any other way would be a real denial of justice which
would reward the aggressor and perpetuate the conflict with all the
unfortunate consequences that such a situation implies”, he concluded.
For Morocco, the new resolution “constitutes a new and important stage
which endorses the turn already taken since last year in the
development of the negotiations around the “Moroccan-ness of the
Sahara”, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Taib Fassi
Fihri affirmed.
Algeria welcomed the “constancy of the Security Council’s position” of
the UN on the nature of the conflict in Western Sahara and the
conditions of its settlement, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs pointed out.
The representative of the USA declared after the adoption that “an
independent Saharawi state not being a realistic solution for this
conflict, the next cycles of negotiation should concentrate on the
autonomy proposal. Morocco presented a plan and if the Polisario Front
does not agree, it is invited also to present one.” During a press
conference of the North American Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
spokesman said that “The United States welcomes the unanimous adoption
of Resolution 1813. In our view, some form of autonomy under Moroccan
sovereignty is the only realistic way forward to resolve this
longstanding conflict. We urge the parties to focus future discussions
on a mutually-acceptable autonomy regime that is consistent with the
aspirations of the people of Western Sahara. The United States will
support these efforts.” [Daily
Press briefing]
16.04.08,
Spain-Morocco
Spain’s aid for development to Morocco is now ten times larger than
under the former government of Aznar. It has passed from 13.5 million
euros in 2003 to 104 million for 2008, according to El Economista. [El
Economista]
09.04.08,
Proposal for a Union for the Mediterranean
The proposal of the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy for the promotion
of a Euro-Mediterranean partnership (Euromed) into a Union for the
Mediterranean neglects the “illegal annexation” of Western Sahara by
Morocco, M'hamed Khadad, underlined, member of the National Secretariat
of the Polisario Front, in an analysis published by the weekly,
European
voice .
07-18.04.08,
first session of the Universal Periodic Review or UPR ) by the Human
Rights Council
A press conference on the topic: “Will the UN finally bring to an end
over quarter of a century of injustice and human rights abuses in
Western Sahara?” was organised on 4 April in the Palais des Nations in
Geneva, in anticipation of the examination by the UN Human Rights
Council of the situation in Morocco within the context of the Universal
Periodic Review. [more]
08.04.08: Universal
Periodic Review, Morocco: see special page: http://www.arso.org/EPU040408.htm
[Document of the Human Rights Council
A/HRC/WG.6/1/MAR/4: REPORT OF THE
WORKING GROUP ON THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW, Morocco,10.04.08 (conclusions/report)]
[Sahara Occidental : Torture
and forced disappearance remain a current practice. Report presented to
the principal mandate-holders having adopted the report on Morocco
after its examination by the Council, Polisario Front, 16 April 2008, French]
09.04.08, critical voices
The President of the Association of Moroccan Women, Saida Drissi
Amrany, stated that “when Arab and African countries agreed to
congratulate each other...it is an insult to intelligence of the
peoples that they are supposed to represent”. Same remark on the part of
El Hassan Aharrath, of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights AMDH,
who declared that friendly countries “ally themselves together to make
sure that the real questions are never put”. [Reuters]
01.04.08,
The WFP revised programme for food aid to the Saharawi refugees
was approved. A new “letter of understanding” was signed by the
secretary general of the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Madjid Bougerra, and the representative of the WFP in Algeria,
Richard Hayes Dalrymple Jr, in the presence of the deputy UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, M. Craig Johnstone, on a visit to Algiers
and to the Saharawi refugee camps. [SPS]
The Spanish Agency of international cooperation decided to support this
programme with a sum of 2 million euros.
At the request of the Spanish Agency and ECHO, the WFP accepted to
include programmes of supplementary nutrition in the new PRRO
10172.2 for pregnant and nursing women as well as for small children. [02.04.08 APPA
esp.] [WFP
budget revision] [WFP
PRRO 10172.2 2007/2008]
01.04.08, Belgium
Meeting in Brussels, immigrants of Algerian origin decided to create an
Algerian-Belgian association of support for the Saharawi people.
08-20.04.08, Mexico
Exposición pictórica de Fadel Jalife en la sede de la
Cámara legislativa del Estado de Morelos, México: http://www.lajornadamorelos.com/noticias/cultura/61764?task=view
08-09.04.08, Brussels
At the seat of European institutions, a large delegation of European
civile society met Patrick Child, head of the cabinet of the
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Michel Koehler, head of the
deputy-cabinet of the Commissioner Joe Borg , as well as desk officials
of Morocco, Western Sahara, Human Rights in the European Commission. In
the European Parliament, the delegation was received by the Presidents
or Vice-Presidents of the PPE-ED, PSE, GUE, and the Greens, as
well as by the Presidents or Vice-Presidents of the Committees for
Foreign Affairs, Fishing, the sub-committee on Human Rights, the ad-hoc
Delegation for Western Sahara and the parliamentary intergroup “Peace
for the Saharawi people”. Ioannis Kasoulides, MEP, announced that he
would take the “offensive” to accomplish the fact-finding mission of
the European Parliament on the human rights situation in the Saharawi
territories, blocked by Rabat for three years. [SPS]
10.04.08, Paris
The club "Nation et République", a discussion group directed by
the UMP member of parliament Jacques Myard, debated within the French
National Assembly the Saharawi question. The debate began with the
showing of a documentary film by Jean Lamore, who was present at the
debate. His film shows images of “wide-scale repression” of the forces
of the Moroccan police against the Saharawi people. [SPS]
15.04.08, Santander
Conferencia-coloquio a cargo de Hmad Hammad, Vicepresidente del
Comité Saharaui de Apoyo a la Autodeterminación del
Sáhara Occidental y activista de Derechos Humanos en los
Territorios Ocupados por Marruecos. http://poemariosahara.blogspot.com/search/label/Hmad%20Hamad
[entrevista Hmad] http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/20080416/cantabria/silencio-peor-enemigo-derechos-20080416.html
15.04.08, Madrid
Demonstration of support to the Saharawi people of about a hundred
people outside the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid called
by CEAS, la Coordinadora estatal de asociaciones solidarias con el
Sahara, on the occasion of the investiture of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. [EFE] http://poemariosahara.blogspot.com/2008/04/concentracin-frente-al-ministerio-de.html
15.04.08, Barcelona
A hundred people met to protest about the declarations of Jose
Montilla, president of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Catalonian
autonomous government, called by AISAC (Associació d'Immigrants
Sahrauis a Catalunya). Montilla had spoken in favour of the Moroccan
autonomy proposal. http://sahararesiste.blogspot.com/2008/04/15-de-abril-barcelona-concentracin-de.html
- http://sahararesiste.blogspot.com/2008/04/xito-de-la-concentracin-en-barcelona.html
17-20.04.08 The Ve international film festival Fisahara 08 was very
successful. Some figures: 26 films competed, over 300 professionals of
the 7th art, producers, actors, camermen from the entire world
attended, at the forefront, the star, Javier Bardem, Oscar winner
in 2007.
Numerous side activities included round table discussions, workshops
for the youth, camel racing and a closing concert by Manu Chao took
place on the fringe of the festival. Finally the cinema professionals
called for the creation of an association of film-makers in solidarity
with the cause of the Saharawi Republic. [Sahara-Info
especial]
21.04.08, France
A caravan from the Association of Friends of SADR brought school
equipment to Saharawi children in the refugee camps. The caravan was
organised in three French towns, Le Mans, Albi and Nantes, in order to
“express their support for the just cause of the Saharawi people".[SPS]
21.04.08,
Valladolid
La representante de Relaciones Exteriores de la U.N.M.S., Suelma Beirut
participó en la Universidad de Valladolid en un coloquio sobre
la mujer saharaui organizado por Ingeniería sin Fronteras y
dentro del Curso "Desarrollo, ¿cuestión de
Género?." Por otra parte en el apartado de "Proyectos de
Cooperación con perspectiva de Género", Suelma Beiruk
habló del proyecto "Casas de Mujer", recordando que el mismo
comenzó ha desarrollarse hace cinco años para fomentar la
participación y la emancipación de la mujer saharaui. En
la actualidad están funcionando en todas las wilayas de los
campamentos.
22.04.08, Rome
Presentation of the project, Digital Bridge, mandated by the region of
Latium and coordinated by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale which plans to
set up technological collaboration with the camps.
23.04.08, Malaga.
In the context of international conferences Voces de Mujeres 2008
(Women’s Voices) organised by ASPA (Asociacion solidaridad y paz
andaluza), the Saharawi human rights defender and member of CODESA,
Aminatou Haidar gave a lecture on “the Saharawi woman and Moroccan
repression”, as well as a press conference.
24.04.08, Madrid
Conferencia sobre la situación del Sahara en la Universidad
Carlos III (Getafe), con Bucharaya Beyun, Delegado de la
República Árabe Saharaui para España, Fernando
Mariño Menéndez, Presidente del Comité contra la
Tortura de la ONU, Catedrático de Derecho Internacional
Público de la UC3M, José Taboada Valdés,
Presidente de la Coordinadora Estatal de Asociaciones Solidarias con el
Sáhara (CEAS-Sáhara).
30.04.08, Copenhagen
The Representation of the Polisario Front in Denmark organised in
cooperation with the Danish Centre for World Cultures two exhibitions
of photos on Western Sahara. The film of the American director, Carlos
Gonzalez, “Children of the Clouds”, filmed in the occupied territories,
was screened. Abba Malainin, deputy representative of the Polisario
Front in Denmark, spoke about the hisotry of the Saharawi cause: http://www.kulturhus.kk.dk/verdenskulturcentret/arrangementer/vest-sahara
08-11.05.08,
Caceres: Mariam Hassan y 24 artistas de medio mundo llenarán de
ritmo y color todos los rincones del centro histórico de la
ciudad de Cáceres entre los próximos días 8 al 11
de mayo, con motivo de la decimoséptima edición del
festival Womad Cáceres.
09.05.08, Madrid: El genocidio del pueblo saharaui y la responsabilidad
del gobierno español, conferencia por Carmelo Ramírez,
presidente de la Federación estatal de instituciones solidarias
con el sáhara (fedissah).
9-10.05.08 Barcelone: II SEMINARI SOBRE LES DIMENSIONS LEGALS DEL
CONFLICTE DEL SAHARA OCCIDENTAL. ILTRE. COL.LEGI DZADVOCATS DE
BARCELONA: scaps_scaps@hotmail.com
9,10,11 de mayo, Alcala de Henares: V Jornadas sobre cultura saharaui: http://storico.blogspot.com/2008/05/v-jornadas-sobre-cultura-saharaui-en.html
New Zealand: WESTERN SAHARA, AFRICA’S LAST COLONY, USA 2007, Director
JoMarie Fecci & Shantha Bloemen, 57 minutes, presented at the Human
Rights Film Festival Aotearoa New Zealand 2008 (Wellington 12 and 14
May, Auckland 19 and 21 May, Christchurch 26 and 28 May, Dunedin 2 and
4 June): http://www.humanrightsfilmfest.net.nz/schedules.asp/
Analysis
Human Rights
New blogs
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English
>> English publications on Sahara Update mailinglist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update/messages
New Book:
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DVD
Para pedidos,
contactar con: Asociación de Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de
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Documental
Italiano
Attualità in italiano: El Ouali Bologna: http://www.saharawi.org/saharawi.htm
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