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WEEKLY NEWS |
original french
07-13.07.2002
SADR
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
REFERENDUM
MOROCCO
SPAIN-MOROCCO
SOLIDARITY
COMING UP
INTERNET
NEW PUBLICATIONS
SADR
07.07.02
Prisoners of War
A hundred and one Moroccan prisoners of war were handed over to
representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) during a ceremony in which United Nations representatives and
the German ambassador in Algiers took part. The Minister of Defence,
Mohamed Lamine Bouhali, indicated during a press conference that this
measure testifies to the "good will of the Saharawi government to
respond favourably to international opinion." For his part, the
German ambassador in Algiers stated that "we must not forget the
Saharawi prisoners and disappeared, whose number approaches 1250
people, according to the regional Red Cross."
The Saharawi minister of defence handed to the ICRC a list of 151
Saharawi prisoners, whose "fate remains unknown. The majority of them
were arrested between 1975 and 1976 and they await the intervention
of the international Red Cross", the minister declared during a press
conference. He affirmed that "the majority of the Saharawi prisoners
of war were executed by the Moroccan government after the first year
of the invasion except for 66 who were released a few years ago."
(SPS,
inc. list)
08.07.02
Council of Europe
A report on the situation of women in the Maghreb was submitted to
the Council of Europe during its summer session from 24 to 28 June in
Strasbourg. This study illustrating the situation of women in
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, as well as that of immigrants in Europe
made no reference to the extremely difficult situation of the
Saharawi women. Eva Zetterberg, a Swedish member of parliament, a
substitute member of the Council, proposed amendments
of which only one was accepted excluding the term "occupied
territories". (see Resolution
1293 (2002))
11.07.02
Afghanistan
According to Moroccan sources, Abdullah Abdullah, the Afghan foreign
minister, announced in Rabat that his government had decided no
longer to recognise SADR. This recognition, dating from May 1979,
"was decided by an illegitimate government", the minister
explained.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
10.07.02
El Ayoun
The trial of the human rights activist Enasiri (see week 26), due on
10 July, was postponed until the 24th of the same month, at the
request of his lawyers.
10.07.02
Economy
Western Sahara has been divided administratively into three provinces
by the Moroccan occupier. The region of Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia
El Hamra (north-west) has a population of about 280,000 inhabitants,
the average density is 126 inhabitants per Km2. 35% of the population
is aged under 15 years and 61% from 15 to 59 years.
The principle activities are stock rearing, fishing and phosphate
mining.
The tertiary sector employs 64% of the active population. The useful
agricultural area does not exceed 7500 ha, of which 50 ha are
irrigated and 1000 could be irrigated. The stock numbers over 89,500
head of camels and over 200,000 head of goats. The region has three
ports in Laâyoune, El Marsa and Boujdour, with a total annual
catch of 310,207 tonnes valued at 40 million euros, and a fleet of
over 700 fishing boats.
The Bou-Craa mine produced over the course of 1997 1,860,000 tonnes,
or 2% of the national production of phosphates. It has 2500
employees. This production is exported to the USA (45%) and to
southern Europe (20%). The region produces around 20,000 tonnes of
salt a year, extracted from sabkhats (salt lakes) of Tazgha, Oum
Dbaâ, Tislatine and Tisfourine. 76,630 tonnes of sand were
exported to the Canary Islands in 1998 and this figure has increased.
There are 18 industrial units for freezing fish and making fish meal
and oil which only employ 3000 to 3500 people. There are no more than
a thousand artisans. (Le Matin du Sahara)
REFERENDUM
06.07.02
OAU
The OAU Council of Ministers adopted the report of its secretary
general and reiterated "the support of the OAU for the implementation
of the settlement plan accepted by Morocco and the Polisario Front
and approved by the United Nations Security Council as a mechanism
for settling the dispute over Western Sahara". The OAU appealed to
the international community "to continue giving support to the search
for an acceptable peaceful solution to the conflict as well as
assistance for dealing with the obvious humanitarian problems in the
region". The report recalls that the "Polisario Front launched an
appeal to the international community to apply pressure on Morocco to
clarify the situation of disappeared Saharawis and to release all
Saharawis detained in El Ayoun and Smara following various
demonstrations organised around the territory."
09.07.02
AFRICAN UNION
On the occasion of the proclamation of the African Union, which is
succeeding the OAU, forty heads of state and government, took part in
the inaugural ceremony of the new pan-African organisation in a
stadium in Durban, South Africa. Among the five heads of state who
spoke for the different African regions, Mohamed Abdelaziz spoke for
North Africa. The Saharawi president affirmed that the UN-OAU
settlement plan the most appropriate framework on an international
level. It constitutes, he said, the only legal framework capable of
ensuring the establishment of peace and stability based on truth and
justice. The Saharawi President, stating that the launching of the UA
was a great day, paid homage to the founding fathers and the long
struggle of the OAU. He declared that the birth of the AU
strengthened the Saharawi cause, because the "AU will support our
aspirations and it will co-ordinate with the UN to call for the
referendum." President Mohamed Abdelaziz also gave a warm tribute to
Algeria which has succeeded in emerging victor from many attempts at
destabilisation over recent years.
SADR was appointed member of the executive and becomes one of the five vice-presidents of the AU, and President Abdelaziz was elected from the three North African representatives to the future "Council of Peace and Security" of the AU with 15 members.
12.07.02
Canary Islands
52,000 people of the Canary Islands voted in favour of the speedy
holding of a referendum of self-determination in Western Sahara, on
the occasion of the consultation organised by the Association of
Solidarity with the Saharawi people. Only 123 people voted against
the referendum. The consultation was organised in 56 communes of the
Canary Islands from 12 to 30 June.
MOROCCO
07.07.02
In a statement to the newspaper Ech-Charq El-Awsat, the former
Moroccan minister Ahmed Osman considered that the question of borders
between Rabat and Algiers "is not yet closed". "Sooner or later, this
question will be re-opened", he added, explaining that the Ifran
accords of 1972 signed by the two countries, have never been ratified
by the Moroccan parliament. Mr Osman made it understood that the
territorial claims by Morocco concerning the region of Tindouf "are
still on the agenda", while the question of Western Sahara, by
contrast, was settled "definitively in 1975".(Le
Quotidien d'Oran)
10.07.02
Fishing
The chamber of commerce with Spain in Tangiers and the Mediterranean
chamber of fishing organised in Tangiers a Spanish-Moroccan day of
discussions on artisanal fishing, in order to study the advantages
and disadvantages of cooperating on fishing matters. Members of the
Moroccan government and of the Andalusian Federation of fishing
associations took part in the day. Governmental fishing agreements
between Spain and Morocco having not been renewed, Morocco is looking
for direct agreements with the fishermen themselves.
SPAIN-MOROCCO
11.07.02
Bid for power
A detachment of a dozen Moroccan soldiers landed on the tiny island
Perijil (parsley) or Leïla and raised two Moroccan flags. They
refused to obey the commands of the Spanish civil guard which arrived
on the scene soon afterwards. The Spanish government condemned the
act, demanding Rabat to respect the Treaty of friendship, good
neighbourliness and cooperation of 1991 and the status quo, and so to
revert to the prior situation. Spain sent two patrol boats to the
area. Spain considers that the islet is under its sovereignty, that
this violation of it constitutes an extremely serious act.
The uninhabited islet called Perijil (parsley) by the Spanish (or Leïla by the Moroccans), with an area of 13,5 hectares, is only a few hundred metres from the coast, and about 10 km from Ceuta and 40 km to the east of Tangiers. Its status is not clear. It does not belong administratively to any Spanish community, and Mariano Rajoy, spokesman for the government, asked several times by journalists wishing to know if Madrid considered that Parsley islet was under Spanish sovereignty, declined to reply. He simply emphasised that the island has benefited for the last 40 years from a "status accepted by Morocco and Spain in terms of which neither the Spanish government, nor the Moroccan government would occupy the island. This status quo has been respected until now. In a unilateral manner, Morocco decided to break it", he said.
According to the Moroccan authorities quoted by AFP, Morocco decided to install a surveillance post, a decision which "was part of a campaign against terrorism and illegal immigration carried out by the Moroccan authorities, in the Straits of Gibraltar". For Rabat, the territory is situated in Moroccan territorial waters and under Moroccan sovereignty. Moroccan soldiers have "every right" to be there for simple "reasons of circumstance". The decision of Morocco in no way constitutes "either a provocation or a threat to Spain".
A spokesman for the European Commission considered that the presence of Moroccan soldiers on the islet was a "violation of Spanish territorial integrity" and a "question of sovereignty". NATO considers that the Moroccan occupation is "a bilateral affair".
12.07.02
The Polisario Front qualified as "an act of provocation" the
occupation of the "Spanish Parsley island", in a statement by the
representative in the Madrid area. "It is a rash act to distract
Moroccan public opinion away from the negative results of the new
king's policies, as Hassan II did by invading Western Sahara. The aim
of Morocco is to bring pressure to bear on Spain to make it change
its position on Western Sahara." "The open crisis with Spain (...) is
an explicit message on the part of the Moroccan army about Western
Sahara. Spain should understand that the "Moroccanness" of the Sahara
cannot be called into question", wrote Ahmed Benani. For the Moroccan
political scientist "the Moroccan occupation of islet Leila signifies
that the decision is not that of the king and even less that of the
government of Youssoufi. Moroccan security and surveillance forces,
the army and the gendarmerie which all go through the DST, are
preparing in their own way for the September elections, or even
looking ahead to a time after Mohamed VI." Reacting to the presence
of a Moroccan boat near another Spanish island near Morocco, Madrid
decided to reinforce the military strength of all permanent Spanish
units on these islands.
SOLIDARITY
December
2001
After three years' training as part of a project of the French NGO
Enfants réfugiés du monde (ERM or Refugee children of
the world), 23 young women from the refugee camp of Dakhla received
their leader's diploma. They will welcome children in seven activity
centres in the camp. Meanwhile, different stages of the ERM health
programme (training nurses and midwives) are continuing successfully.
(ERM Nos 33/34, janv.-juin 2002)
INTERNET
Poemario por
un Sahara libre, ha cambiado su día de emisión a los
Sábados de 7 a 8 de la tarde en Radio Resistencia, 101 FM,
emisora libertaria de Madrid. Recordamos que se puede descargar el
programa en la pagina de Radio
Resistencia:
http://www.radioresistencia.cjb.net
Ademas de las noticias esta semana contamos con una entrevista con el
periodista y escritor saharaui Mahayub Salek y con miembros de la
Asociacion de amigos del pueblo saharaui de Calasparra
(Murcia).
OPINION
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