Polisario's ninth congress met from 19.8. to 26.8. at its main
base in the Tindouf region of southwest Algeria. The ninth congress
has reasserted its desire to continue with the peace process. A new
leadership was elected. Veteran leader Mohamed Abdelaziz was
re-elected as its head for four more years. The main recommendation
was to settle the conflict between Western Sahara and Morocco by
peaceful means, and to appeal to the international community to
ensure that Morocco respects the UN-OAU peace plan.
Firstly, the Polisario Front reasserts its desire to continue with
a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the region, in line with the
UN plan. However, the international community must take the right
steps, and above all face up to its responsibilities. An appeal was
made to this end. Getting Morocco to improve its behaviour is an
essential prerequisite: more than 600 Moroccan cease-fire violations
have been registered so far, and tens of thousands of Moroccans have
been transferred to the Western Sahara with the aim of making the UN
peace process fail.
Secondly, the Moroccan gamble to try to take advantage of the
regional situation was already lost before it was made: instead of
being changed, positions of principle were reaffirmed. The attendance
of a large Algerian ministerial delegation at the opening of the
congress is a perfect illustration of this. The recognition of the
SADR, the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, by South Africa and
Malawi, is another tangible proof.
Thirdly, and lastly, the Saharan people have to prepare themselves
for every eventuality. The failure of the peace process is still a
possibility. The military effort must be maintained. A resolution to
this effect was signed, stipulating among other things, the need to
support the Saharan population in the occupied territories. The new
leadership of the Polisario Front has been mandated by the congress
to take whatever decisions are made necessary by the development of
the situation nationally, regionally and internationally.
The Saharan president, Mr Mohamed Abdelaziz, has stressed that the
new Saharan leadership will seek to carry out the resolutions taken
by the ninth congress of the Polisario Front, which shows the
relationship between the Polisario Front and the Saharan people.
Delivering the final speech to the participants, Mr Mohamed Abdelaziz
said that the ninth congress of the Polisario Front was considered as
one of the most important Saharan national events crowned with
success. He blamed Morocco for obstructing the UN sponsored peace
process, which consists in organizing a referendum in the Western
Sahara, and he expressed the hope that there would not be a return to
war with Morocco. In conclusion, Mr Abdelaziz called on the Saharan
people to ensure that their names were registered in electoral lists
in preparation for the referendum due to be held next year.
A press release of the SADR Ministry of Information quoted a letter of President Nelson Mandela to President Mohamed Abdelaziz, in which the South African President wrote in June:"With a view to consolidating the relationship and deepening the friendship between our peoples I have issued instructions for steps to be taken immediately to establish diplomatic relations between South Africa and the Sahrawi Republic."
According to recent declarations of the Moroccan Interior Minister
Driss Basri Morocco has handed to United Nations lists of 271'000
"potentially eligible" Western Saharans. The Minister said, 40 voter
identification offices would be opened next week in Western Sahara,
and 27 in the Moroccan cities of Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakesh and
Agadir, others in Moroccan embassies abroad. At present there are 12
identification offices under U.N. control, and 48'000 Western
Saharans had been registered to vote since the process began 2 years
ago. The U.N. Peace Plan is based on the
Spanish census of 1974, which includes 74'000 Western Saharans. The
Polisario Front accuses Morocco of trying to rig the poll by flooding
electoral lists.
David Beresford, in The Guardian ( Johannesburg), reveals
that the Polisario Front has complained to the parliamentary foreign
affairs committee about delays after President Nelson Mandela's
promise to grant diplomatic recognition to the Sahrawi Arab
Democratic Republic. There is suspicion that the delays are due to
pressure on Thabo Mbeki, Mr Mandela's deputy and heir-apparent, from
the Moroccan government - which is believed to have made substantial
donations to African National Congress funds.
Manifestations took place in some spanish cities, so in Madrid,
Bilbao, Barcelona and Sevilla, organized by the Association of the
Friends of the Saharawi People. In Madrid some 200 people came
together in front of the Moroccan embassy. The manifestants protested
against the Moroccan repression toward the
civilian population in Western Sahara.
On the occasion of the first african tour of the french president,
who will visit Morocco from 19th to 21st July, the POLISARIO Front
has accused France of partiality towards Rabat.
The European Parliament, in a resolution, calls for the
unconditional release of the eight saharawi students, who were
recently sentenced, and on the Moroccan government to respect
international human rights conventions. The resolution also calls on
EU representatives to put pressure on Morocco to comply with the UN
peace plan for Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front has decided to resume participation in the
U.N.-backed peace process in Western Sahara.
The front said it changed its mind after the U.N. Security Council
renewed on June 30 the mandate of the U.N. mission in the Sahara and
Polisario received the backing of several African countries to its
demand for a firm action to salvage the plan. "In this spirit the
Polisario Front has decided to carry on with its participation in the
identifiacation commission works. The Polisario decision requires
that the United Nations confirm its authority over the territory and
take up entirely all its responsibilities entrusted by the Plan
settlement and especially the borders of the territory and the
transparency during all the stages of the process".
Moroccan King Hassan has ordered that the prison sentences of
eight Saharawi students, jailed for up to 20 years, be reduced to one
year . The king acted after receiving a plea from the parents of the
youths. The sentencing of the students for taking part in a demonstration
last May in support of the Polisario Front had drawn criticism from
the United States and human rights groups in Morocco. It also led to
Polisario Front deciding to suspend its participation in preparations
for a referendum in the Western Sahara. The students, all in their
20s, were sentenced by a military court on June 21 on charges of
threatening state security. They denied being members of the
Polisario Front. The Moroccan human rights minister told the U.S.
ambassador, who expressed his government's surprise over the
sentences, that the military court had been incompetent and that the
supreme court was likely to reverse the verdicts.
The sentences handed down to the eight young Saharawis are
particularly harsh and are totally out of proportion with the charges
laid against them: that is what the OMDH, the Moroccan Organization
of Human Rights, says in a communique released 4 July. The OMDH
requests that the Supreme Court, with which an appeal has been
lodged, should take a stance on this appeal quickly and make an
independent ruling in accordance with the law. See also previous
manifestations and Rabat process
In a statement the Saharawi Information Ministry pointed out that
in many quarters of the occupied Western Sahara capital, El-Ayoun,
flags of the SADR were unfurled on 29 June. The Moroccan occupation
authorities carried out, as usual, a series of arrests, particularly
among the ranks of youths. The statement mentioned that this fierce
campaign came one week after the Rabat authorities had unjustly
sentenced eight Saharans for taking part in a peaceful demonstration
demanding the release of political prisoners, and the strict
implementation of the settlement plan in Western Sahara.