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original french
12.10.75 - 12.10.00
Saharawi national unity
It was on 12 October 1975, at the moment when Spain was getting ready
to cede Western Sahara to Morocco, that the represenatives of the
Saharawi people, of all tendencies, gathered together under the
banner of the Polisario Front to decide on pursuing the struggle for
national liberation against the new colonial power. Festivities
marking this anniversary which took place from 12-19 October in the
four wilayas of the refugee camps, were the occasion for big
meetings, followed by campaigns of community work such as cleaning
the surroundings of the camps. Ceremonies also took place in the
liberated territories. They ended with military manoeuvres in
Mheiriz, in which motorised battalions and heavy artillery and the
DCA took part, and which were attended by observers from MINURSO. An
offensive against a portion of the Moroccan defensive wall was
simulated. (SPS)
14-15.10.00
Switzerland
A Saharawi delegation consisting of the Polisario Front
representative in Switzerland, Senia Ahmed, and the General Secretary
of the Union of Saharawi Jurists, Abba Salek, took part in a congress
of the Swiss socialist party in Lugano. During their speeches in a
plenary session and through many contacts with the officers of the
party and other foreign delegations present, the Saharawis explained
the present situation regarding the settlement plan and invited their
audience to visit the Moroccan occupied territories to take note of
the repression experienced by the local population and to give their
help and protection to them. (corr.)
15.10.00
Sentences
The Moroccan gendarmerie arrested the two brothers, Toufah and
Lehbib, on 11 October for setting on fire a vehicle belonging to the
gendarmerie with a gas cannister (week 41), as well as four other people suspected of
being their accomplices. Three people were sentenced to eight months
in prison and a fine of 5,500 dirhams (about 550 US dollars). The
three others accused were acquitted and freed. (SPS, AFAPREDESA)
The magistrates' court in El Ayoun condemned eight young Saharawis for attempting to join the Polisario Front. These young people had been arrested on 6 October (week 40) near Guelta Zemmour. Four other Saharawis are still on the run. (SPS, AFAPREDESA)
16.10.00
Mauritania
The Mauritanian President received Mr William Eagleton, the UN
Secretary General's Special representative for Western Sahara.
17.10.00
European Parliament
For the first time a committee of the European Parliament devoted an
official meeting to Western Sahara. The interparliamentary delegation
for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb invited
the Moroccan Ambassador to the EU and Mohamed Sidati, SADR minister
counsellor. (See Sidati's
speech)
In the debate which followed, several MEPs appealed to the Council of
Ministers of the Union to take up a position for common action. "The
Council cannot remain deaf to our appeals and commit itself to
silence", they stressed. Deputy Canero deplored the paradoxical talk
of Morocco which affirms that it is living through a democratic
transition when the entire conflict in Western Sahara remains.
Another speaker, Mr Poos, emphasised that the solution can only go
one way : the implementation of the international resolutions on the
subject. "Right must prevail", he affirmed. Yasmin Boudjenah made
reference to the attitude of France with respect to the conflict.
This attitude "does not serve the interests of the Saharawi people,
nor those of Morocco and still less those of the Maghreb," she
pointed out. (SPS,
aps)
17.10.00
Referendum
The Algerian President and his Vietnamese counterpart, Mr Tran Duc
Luong, reiterated their "support" for the United Nations settlement
plan for the organisation of a referendum in Western Sahara and for
the self-determination of the Saharawi people.
17.10.00
Referendum
The President of South Africa, Mr Thabo M'Beki, receiving in Pretoria
the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, reaffirmed the support of
his country for the right of the Saharawi people for
self-determination and independence. Mr Thabo M'Beki stressed that
the settlement plan remains the only peaceful way to settle the
conflict. The South African Minister for Foreign Affairs, accompanied
by his Nigerian counterpart, conveyed the position of his country to
the King of Morocco during a meeting in Casablanca on 16.10.00.
(SPS, PANA)
18.10.00
Hunger strike
Saharawi unemployed graduates from El Ayoun have been on hunger
strike since 14 October. They organised a indefinite sit-in to
commemorate the bloody events of El Ayoun in September 1999. The
strikers demand the government to honour promises made a year ago and
proper respect for human rights in the occupied territories of
Western Sahara. (AFAPREDESA). According to a correspondent on the
ground, hunger strikers have been taken to hospital following the
deterioration in their state of health.
18-19.10.00
Occupied territories
A German delegation, consisting of Messrs Eberhard Brecht and
Christoph Moosbauer (SPD), members of the Foreign Affairs committee
of their parliament, accompanied by the German Ambassador in Rabat,
Mr Scheel, travelled to El Ayoun "on a fact-finding mission". Mr
Brecht, former Chair of the Foreign Affairs committee and author of a
motion in 1996 asking Germany to intensify its efforts for progress
in the peace plan, has visited the region on several
occasions.
19.10.00
UN
The United Nations Secretary General received the President of SADR,
Mohamed Abdelaziz, for talks at the seat of the UN in New York. The
Saharawi leader then spoke at a special session of the Security
Council. He informed the Council of the constant position of the
Polisario Front insisting on the necessity of the faithful and
integral implementation of the peace plan which must be preserved
from attempts to make it drift or deviate. Abdelaziz was accompanied
by M'Hamed Khaddad, coordinator with MINURSO, Ahmed Boukhari,
Polisario Front representative to the United Nations and Mouloud
Said, representative in the USA. Other talks in the UN are planned,
among others with the president of the Security Council. The mandate
of MINURSO will end on 31 October next and a report of the SG on the
situation is imminent. The Security Council will meet on 27.10 to
take a decision.
INTERNET
- Sitio Avanzar
en la Solidaridad con el Pueblo saharaui - Avançar en la
Solidaritat amb el Poble saharauí
Barcelona , 28.10.00 una Asamblea de reflexion sobre la Solidaridad con el Pueblo saharaui - la Solidaritat amb el Poble saharauí. Contact asps80@hotmail.es
CHARTER FLIGHTS
- Murcia
Vuelo charter a los campamentos de Tindouf desde Alicante del 02 de diciembre a las 19h20 al 08 de diciembre 2000 a las 19h25. Informacion: Federacion de amig@s del pueblo saharaui, Pedro Cobacho: 968/192092, 968/192093, 609368902. http://www.accesosis.es/~sahara/viaje.htm, E-mail: pedroj@accesosis.es - Barcelona
Vol xàrter als campaments de Tinduf del 5 al 10 de desembre de 2000, ACAPS, seccións Montmelo- La Llagosta: tels. 677 01 13 02, 606 77 63 93, 667 98 40 53, 616 73 94 05.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
[External links to newspapers
may not be valid after some days because the servers are
restarted]
English
- Saving the Referendum before it is to late, Yahiaoui Lamine, Chief-representative of the Polisario Front, Nordic Countries, 18.10.00.
- Statement by M. Sidati before the Arab Maghreb delegation of the European Parliament, Brussels, 17.10.00
Français
- La " Troisième voie " au Sahara Occidental: voie royale d'une reprise du conflit?, Yahia H. Zoubir, adaptation de l'article paru dans El Khabar, Alger, 12.09.00.
- Déclaration de M. Mohamed Sidati devant la délégation du Parlement européen pour les relations avec le Maghreb,Bruxelles, 17.10.00
Castellano
- Revista de la prensa española de la semana: http://www.nodo50.org/fpolisario/Prensa.htm
- A las personas interesadas en la libertad del Sáhara, Fernando Guijarro Arcas, Granada, 08.10.00.
- Intervención de Mohamed Sidati ante la Delegación Magreb del Parlamento europeo, Bruxelles,17.10.00.
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