|
WEEKLY NEWS |
original french
20.10.-02.11.2002
- SADR
- OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
- NATURAL RESOURCES
- MOROCCO
- FRANCE-MOROCCO
- HUMAN RIGHTS
- HUMANITARIAN AID
- SOLIDARITY
- COMING UP
- INTERNET
- NEW PUBLICATIONS
SADR
25.-30.10.02
Official visit to Italy
ThePresident of the Saharawi republic was received in Rome by Alfredo
Mantica, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who expressed
his country's support for the UN resolutions concerning Western
Sahara and the necessity of resolving the conflict in accordance with
international law. Mohamed Abdelaziz was accompanied by the
Minister for Cooperation, Baba Salek, the President's councillor,
Mohamed Sidati, the MINURSO co-ordinator M'Hamed Khadad and by the
secretaries of UGTSARIO, of NUSW and UJSARIO. The Saharawi
delegation met the local and provincial authorities of Modena and
took part in the 28th European conference of support for the Saharawi
people.
Following his visit to Rome, the Saharawi president was
received by the vice-president of Parliament and by the Senate
Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by Mr Fiorello Provera. He
also met with representatives of several political parties - Left
Democracts (DS), National Alliance (AN), Rifondazione Comunista (RC),
and the Italian Communist Party (PDCI). He further visited the
WFP, where he met the executive director. (SPS)
29.10.02
Valladolid
The University of Valladolid organised a day conference on "Western
Sahara: one people, one nation", facilitated by M'Hamed Khadad,
Saharawi co-ordinator with MINURSO, Brahim Ghali, POLISARIO Front
representative in Spain and Felipe Briones, General Secretary of the
International Union of Saharawi Jurists for Western Sahara.
(agencies)
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
24.10.02
Tamek
judgement
confirmed at appeal
Agadir Appeal Court publicised its judgement in the trial of 17th
October. The sentence was confirmed as 2 years of imprisonment
and a fine of 10000 Dirhams (cUS$1000). Tamek went on hunger
strike from 1st November to protest against his conditions of
detention and to demand to be transferrred to the prison at Sale.
(See week
42
and the press release from Amnesty international:
Free
prisoner of conscience Ali-Salem Tamek, ai-index MDE 29/004/2002,
23/10/2002)
29.10.02
Arrests
Four young Saharawis, attempting to join the refugee camps in
Algeria, were arrested on either 25th or 27th October, according to
sources, in the vicinity of the Moroccan defensive wall, near Oued
Safa. After 2 days of interrogation and torture in Smara, they
were incarcerated in the "black prison" of El Ayoun. According
to sources close to them, the lack of freedom of movement and
repression in the occupied territories prompted the flight of these
young people. They are
(AFAPREDESA, english press release)
30.10.02
Trial deferred
The trial of Nassiri
Ahmed,
human rights activist and member of the Sahara Sectin of the Truth
& Justice Forum, was deferred once again to the 13th November,
due to the absence of witnesses to support the charges (sic).
His lawyers presented a request for him to be temporarily released,
which was refused. Four foreign observers followed the
process.
01.11.02
Protests
Saharawi students at Rabat University organised a peaceful march this
week, in solidarity with Saharawi political detainees. They
published a communique in which they demanded the unconditional
release of Saharawi political detainees, the establishment of the
truth on the fate of the Saharawi Disappeared and the lifting of the
military, security and media quarantine experienced by those parts of
the Western Sahara under Moroccan control. They again denounced
human rights violations in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and in
particular the arrests and unfair trials visited upon Saharawi human
rights activists. (corr.)
NATURAL RESOURCES
23.10.02
Series of Seismic Surveys
France's Compagnie Generale de Geophysique has just completed a major
3D seismic survey on ONAREP's behalf. The survey covered 1,750 km on
Morocco's west coast down to Western Sahara. Further to the south, a
2D seismic campaign that the vessel Northern Access from TGS Nopec
has conducted on the Western Sahara coast has also been completed.
That survey was carried out for ONAREP but also for TotalFinaElf and
Kerr McGee, to which Morocco awarded huge concessions last year south
of Cape Jube, off the disputed territory's coast. (AFRICA ENERGY
INTELLIGENCE N° 332)
MOROCCO
24.10.02
Free officers' letter - follow up to Week
42
According to Maghreb Confidential, the missive was prepared by a
group of 200 junior and senior officers, the majority of which were
stationed in Western Sahara. It was initially going to be sent
to the King on the occasion of the legislative elections. In
reaction, all officers in the Southern Military Zone have been put
under surveillance and policing stepped up. The pro-government
press in Morocco, for its part, accuses the Spanish secret services
of having created the Committee, which they allege is in fact just
one person based in Spain.
FRANCE-MOROCCO
30.10.02
Questioned about the Western Sahara conflict while visiting Morocco,
the French Foreign Minister declared "Western Sahara is very
important for the stability of the whole Maghreb... We think that the
coming months must be used to try and find a lasting and balanced
solution. In our opinion, this solution must be founded on the
base of the Framework Agreement." (Diplomatic
news, French Foreign Affairs
Ministry)
HUMAN RIGHTS
20.10.02
Freedom and Justice for the 526 Saharawi Disappeared
The International Bureau for the Respect of Human Rights in Western
Sahara, BIRDHSO, launches an appeal to to the King of Morocco, to the
Spanish Government and to the UN Commission on Human Rights and is
collceting signatures.(Appeal
and petitions
)
01.11.02
Rafto Symposium
In honour of Mohammed Daddach, Rafto Foundation Human Rights Prize
Laureate 2002, a symposium took place in Bergen (Norway) on the theme
of "Western Sahara - an occupied secret".
In the presence of Daddach, specialists giving talks included: Yahia
M. Mahmoud, Saharawi Researcher at the University of Lund, Department
of Social and Economic Geography, Margot Kessler, Member of the
European Parliament, President of the Intergroup "Peace for the
Saharawi People", Group of the Party of European Socialists, Member
SPD - Germany, Pedro Pinto Leite, Secretary General of the
International Platform of Jurists for East Timor (IPJET) and Member
of Executive Council of the International Association of Jurists for
Western Sahara, Emhamed Khaddad, Chief negotiator with Morocco and
UN, Member of the National Secretariat of Front POLISARIO, the
liberation movement of Western Sahara, Ronny Hansen, Coordinator of
the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara and Executive
Officer for International Affairs, Norwegian Humanist Association
.(Sahara
update
)
The Rafto
Prize Ceremony took place on Sunday November 3rd at 6pm in the
National Theatre of Bergen. Daddach left El Ayoun on 30th October for
Casablanca, with a dozen Saharawi human rights activists waving him
goodbye.... and numerous Moroccan secret service
agents. Although his baggage was checked in, it wasn't put
on the plane at El Ayoun, and Daddach left for Norway without his
baggage... (corr.)
>>
More info
HUMANITARIAN AID
24.10.02
UNHCR
The UN agency renewed its urgent appeal (see UNHCR
News, 29.08.02
) aimed at getting donor countries to finance aid for the
Saharawi refugees. It has only received $1.6million of its
required budget of $4.6 million, from the governments of USA, Japan
and Spain - and the actress Angelina
Jollie. (UNHCR
news 24.10.02)
SOLIDARITY
20.10.02
Switzerland
The Swiss Socialist Party Congress approved a resolution in which it
reiterated its support for the self-determination of the Saharawi
people and demanded access to the occupied territories for
independent observers.
21.10.02
ESIB, The National Unions of Students in Europe, umbrella
organisation of 50 national unions of students from 37
countries, adopted a resolution during its congress in Turku,
Finland, which expressed its solidarity with Western Sahara and
demanded respect for international law and a self-determination
referendum. The resolution called on the international
community to secure humanitarian aid flows sufficient for the
refugees and to promote training that would allow Saharawi
students in the camps and the occupied territories to prepare
themselves for the construction of a democratic and prosperous
society in Western Sahara. (full text
Sahara
update
)
25-26-27.10.02
«Peace and Self-Determination for the Saharawi people»
The 28th European Conference of Coordination of Support for the
Saharawi People, EUCOCO, took place in Modena, Italy with over 350
delegates from 18 countries in attendance. The conference
was hosted by popular associations in Emilia-Romagna and
welcomed by the municipal, provincial and regional authorities of
Emilia-Romagna. In his opening speech, Saharawi President
Mohammed Abdelaziz emphasised the responsibility of the EU
in the implementation of the Settlement Plan, recalling that in
the past, European hesitancy had encouraged Morocco's
instransigence. Abdelaziz felt that the EU could and
should play a decisive role in the solution of the Morocco-Saharawi
conflict and saluted Algeria and Spain's position on the upholding of
international law. Over two days, the participants worked in
workshops on political action, humanitarian aid, human rights,
women's and young people's advancement. Hommage was paid to
Fadel Ismail, the recently deceased Saharawi intellectual and
diplomat, in the presence of his widow and of Ahmed Baba
Miske. This occasion was marked by the presentation of his
post-humously published work "Letter to My Moroccan Brother" (now
available in French).
The conference adopted a plan of campaign with the objective of
securing the implementation of the UN peace plan and the
establishment of a timetable for the Saharawi people to exercise
their right to self-determination as quickly as possible. The
conference denounced human rights violations in Western Sahara and
called for support for the "Freedom & Justice for the 526
Saharawi Disappeared" campaign launched by BIRDHSO. The
conference expressed its concern with the gaps in the supply of food
aid and demanded that sufficient aid be made available and
distributed through the existing experienced channels. Working
with the international jurists association, the conference decided to
pursue and increase its work for the protection and defence of
natural resources. Finally, the conference appealed to Moroccan
democrats to work for the pulling-out of the Moroccan army from
Western Sahara and the Saharawi people's right to
self-determination. (Special
page
)
01.11.02
Declaration
Eleven NGOs from Slovenia and Hungary published a joint declaration
of support for the Saharawi people's right to self-determination and
demanding that the UN swiftly implement its peace plan. The
declaration calls for an end to the exploitation of the natural
resources of the occupied territories by Morocco, and demands that
the EU make a positive engagement in the problem.
(full
text
)
COMING UP...
Albacete,
15.11.0,: Mesa redonda sobre el Sahara Occidental con motivo del 27
Aniversario de los Acuerdos Tripartitos de Madrid.
Ponentes: José Jimenez Morcillo, Maestro de mantenimiento
1973-76 en Fos Bucrá. Pedro Sainz de Baranda Bru, Tte.de
Infanteria en Villa Cisnéros 1974-76. Antonio Manzanares
Palarea, Maestro en Villa Cisnéros 1974-75.
Lugar: Salón de Plenos del Ayuntamiento Viejo (Museo
Municipal) en Albacete a las 19.30 horas. Posteriormente, en los
salones del Hotel Europa de Albacete, se realizará una cena
reunión. Info: Asoc.Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Albacete,
Info: mailto:albacete@ncs.es
Fuenlabrada (Madrid), Ayuntamiento, 22, 23 y 24 de Noviembre 2002: VII CONFERENCIA INTERNACIONAL DE SOLIDARIDAD DE OSPAAAL: ¿Guerra o procesos de paz? Palestina, Colombia, Sáhara, otros ... Info: mailto:ospsolidaridad@urbs.org /mailto:osp@urbs.org
Vuelos charter
04-09.12.02, Vuelo charter Barcelona- Tindouf. Infos: ACAPS-CATALUNYA, secció Vilanova i la Geltru, mailto:afont@pie.xtec.es
05.- 09.12.02, Vuelo charter "ARAGÓN CON EL SÁHARA". Info: As. Um Draiga, mailto:umdraiga@umdraiga.com
24.-29.01.03, Volo charter Pisa -Tindouf. Associazione di Solidarietà con il Popolo Saharawi Ban Slout Larbi, Sesto Fiorentino.Info: mailto:saharawi@libero.it
21.12.02- 04.01.03: Campo di lavoro con bambine e bambini Sahrawi, Associazione "Jaima Sahrawi", via S. Vincenzi 10/a, 42100 Reggio Emilia. E-mail: mailto:jaimasahrawi@libero.it
INTERNET
OPINION
El Karama No 23, oct-déc. 2002, publication du Bureau International pour le Respect des droits de l'Homme au Sahara Occidental, BIRDHSO. (version PDF)
EUCOCO 28: 28ème Conférence européenne du soutien au peuple sahraoui, Modène 25-27.10.02
The maritime jurisdiction of the Western Sahara and the duty of states to preserve Saharan fisheries resources pending self-determination, Jeffrey J. Smith, 25.10.02.
Nuevos textos en Sahara News Papers:
NEW PUBLICATIONS
[External
links to newspapers may not be valid after some days because the
servers are restarted]
Lettre à mon frère marocain, Mohamed-Fadel Ismaïl, introduction de Ahmed Baba Miské, édition @rso, Delémont, Suisse, octobre 2002, 58 p.
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