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NEWS |
original french
25.11.-06.12.2003
20-23.11.03
Cinema
The first international film festival in the Sahara took place in the
wilaya of Smara. Pedro Pérez Rosado, producer of the film
Cuentos de la guerra saharaui screened as a world première,
and the actress Sylvia Munt were behind this project, which received
the support of show business personalities such as Pedro
Almodóvar, Luis García Berlanga and Pilar Bardem.
Financed by public bodies and associations of solidarity the Saharawi
people the festival projected on 35mm, on an outdoor big screen 21
most Spanish films with Arabic sub-titles to an audience fascinated
by the novelty of it. Several Spanish and Latin American producers
and actors had travelled there.
The festival, which aims to be a means of education, leisure and
culture, is only a part of an ambitious project called "Cinema for
the Saharawi people", which expects to be opening videotheques and
audio-visual training workshops in the camps.
The festival finished with awarding "The rose of the desert" to "El
bosque animado" (The animated forest), an animated film by Angel de
la Cruz and Manolo Gomez (Spain 2001), chosen by a jury of some fifty
Saharawi spectators as the best film of the Festival, a jury which
gave a special mention to "El otro lado de la cama", for its "high
cinematographic quality and the quality of the interpretation of all
its actors". In a statement, the organisers and the participants
insisted on the "necessary raising of awareness of the tragic and
unjust situation" in which the Saharawi find themselves for the last
28 years. (SPS, Spanish press) (more in Spanish:
Manifiesto,
Fotos
y más en el sitio de Festival
Sahara
)
03.12.03
Inaugural session of the Saharawi parliament hold in Tifariti,
liberated territories in presence of the President of the
Republic.
26.11.03
European Union
The Maghreb Delegation of the European Parliament received Mohamed
Sidati, Minister Counsellor to the President and member of the
National Secretariat of the Polisario Front, who recalled that "all
the efforts of the International Community to reach a just and
peaceful solution have not been successful because of the blatant
lack of political will on the part of Morocco, which had refused to
this day to implement the pertinent decisions and resolutions of the
UN..." Mr Sidati recalled that "the Polisario Front, by accepting to
explore the Baker Plan on Western Sahara, has taken a gamble on its
future... This is a generous act of courage and lucidity... An act
which says much about our will for peace and reconciliation." Mr
Sidati appealed to the European Union as a matter of urgency to use
its weight with Morocco so that it could choose the route of
international legality and accept the Baker Plan because "Morocco
cannot continue to play games with UN resolutions and defy the
law".
The vice-president of the Maghreb Delegation, Pascualina Nopoletano,
spoke, recalling that it is urgent that Morocco accept and apply the
Baker plan as the Polisario Front has done, to give every chance to a
peaceful and lasting solution. Yasmine Boudjnah, MEP, for her part
referred to the tragedy of the Saharawi people in both its
humanitarian and political dimensions before calling on European
officials to "commit themselves actively in favour of the resolution
of the conflict in Western Sahara by implementing the United Nations
plan as demanded also by the resolution of the European Parliament of
20 November 2003 on EUROMED." (SPS)
29.11.03
Italy
On a visit to Italy, the Coordinator with MINURSO, M'hamed Khaddad,
asked for a "firmer" commitment by Europe to put an end to the
conflict in Western Sahara on the basis of "respect for the
resolutions of the United Nations". He emphasised that Morocco cannot
"indefinitely block all the avenues to peace with impunity". The
Saharawi diplomat was received by the Presidents of the Parliament,
the Foreign Affairs Committee and Human Rights Committee as well as
members of the Italian-Saharawi parliamentary intergroup, which
brings together all Italian political groups. The Saharawi delegation
also met the President of the Democrats of the Left (Democratici di
Sinistra), Massimo D'Alema, those responsible for external relations
of Forza Italia, and the National Alliance and different political
figures from Italian society. (SPS)
04.12.03
Italy - Parliament
The Foreign Affairs Committee adopted a resolution on Western Sahara
(n.
7-00336 Cima)
which asks the government to support the United Nations, in
particular to press Morocco to accept the new Baker Plan. It calls
for support for humanitarian aid programs of ECHO, the UNHCR and WFP,
in addition to its own aid going to the refugees and to work for the
implementation of the resolutions of the Security Council.
Shuttle Diplomacy
Spain-Algeria
26-27.11.03
Visit of the President of the Spanish government
The Algerian and Spanish heads of state issued a joint statement
reaffirming their attachment to a just and definitive solution to the
conflict in Western Sahara, within the framework of UN Security
Council resolution 1495. During a press conference in Algiers Aznar
reiterated the "forceful position" of Spain with regard to the
question of Western Sahara: "Spain supports the efforts of the UN
secretary general to find a solution to this conflict which would be
accepted by both parties (Morocco and the Polisario Front), in
accordance with the UN peace plan", he pointed out. Adding "no
settlement plan is dead". (aps)
Portugal -
Algeria
02.12.03
President Bouteflika on Tuesday proposing a toast in honour of the
President of Portugal, Jorge Fernando Branca de Sampaio, on an
official visit to Algeria, emphasised that this question presents
itself as "a problem of unfinished decolonisation", and should find
its solution "in the context of a referendum of self-determination of
the Saharawi people, in conformity with the United Nations Peace
Plan".
USA -
Maghreb
02-03.12.03
The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, accompanied by Mr
William Burns, Deputy Secretary of State responsible for the Middle
East and Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary of State responsible for
public affairs carried out a brief tour of the Maghreb: on arrival on
02 in Tunis, he met the King of Morocco in Marrakech and President
Bouteflika in Algiers the next day.
Press
briefing
Marrakech 03.12.03
"With regard to the Western Sahara, we look to the parties to find a
political solution through negotiations. We support Secretary Jim
Baker's efforts to assist the parties in finding a solution and, of
course, the United States would not be interested in imposing a
solution on the parties. The parties have to find the right answer
through negotiations on the basis of the Baker Plan."
Press
biefing
Alger 03.12.03
"As I did earlier today in my meeting with King Mohammed, I
emphasized this evening to President Bouteflika our interest in a
political solution to the problem of the Western Sahara. The United
States continues to support the efforts of the U.N. Secretary
General's Special Envoy, former Secretary of State Jim Baker. We do
not seek to impose a solution on any party. I encouraged President
Bouteflika, as I urged King Mohammed this morning, to continue their
bilateral dialogue on this issue and on ways Algeria and Morocco can
work together. "
Appeal to the
United States
The Saharawi Minister of foreign affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek
launched an appeal to "make Morocco conform with international law"
in order to put an end to the occupation of Western Sahara. He
underlined that "the sabotage of the 1991 settlement plan and the
refusal of the peace plan for the self-determination of the people of
Western Sahara, presented by Mr James Baker and unanimously supported
by the Security Council, remains the principal hindrance to peace,
harmony and development of the region". (APS)
Tunis, First
Euro-Maghreb summit, "5+5"
5.-6.12.03
This summit devoted to security and cooperation in the Mediterranean,
christened "Dialogue 5+5" from the name of the countries present -
Spain, Italy, France, Malta, Portugal for Southern Europe and
Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia for the Maghreb -,
assembles the leaders of these countries and on the agenda,
reinforcing the political relations and economic cooperation between
these states. During the opening President J Chirac "made a solemn
appeal" to the countries of the Maghreb to "lift the obstacles to
their rapprochement and to put everything to work especially towards
reaching a settlement of conflicts which could still exist", making
allusion to the conflict in Western Sahara.
The King of Morocco and the Algerian president, who followed each
other at the rostrum, likewise made allusions to Western Sahara, the
principal obstacle to the realisation of the Union of the Arab
Maghreb (UMA): For Moahmed VI, it is imperative to find a peaceful
settlement which is negotiated, consensual and lasting to this
"artificial" conflict, a settlement which should be seen in the
context of "international legality and which would ensure
"sovereignty, national unity" and "the territorial integrity of the
Kingdom of Morocco". He warned that "this dispute makes the biggest
threat to security of the region worse and even constitutes fertile
ground for terrorism".
To that Bouteflika replied that the UMA should be concerned with what
belongs to the UMA and the UN with what belongs to the UN, after
expressing the hope that the first meeting of the Arab Maghreb Union
for nearly 10 years, expected before the end of December in Algiers,
should take place and provide a new impulse to the process of
regional integration.
In a message
addressed to the European and Maghreb heads of state participating in
this conference, Mr Abdelaziz reaffirmed that the question of Western
Sahara is "a business of decolonisation" and underlined that "the
imperative necessity is a solution on the basis of self-determination
of the Saharawi people as stipulated in UN resolutions".
He also indicated that the agreement of the Polisario Front with the
new plan of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara,
presented by Mr James Baker "is an act of generosity towards the
people of the Maghreb and it's for them", "the proof of the lucid
vision that the Polisario Front has of its duties and obligations
towards the people of the Maghreb and its conviction in the community
that fate binds them within." (APS)
Finally and on the contrary of the expectations of some european diplomats, no meeting was schedule between the Moroccan King and the Algerian president.
And it
continues...
A Moroccan-Spanish summit should be co-chaired, on 8 and 9 December
in Rabat, by the Prime Minister, Driss Jettou, and his Spanish
counterpart, José Maria Aznar which will be accompanied by 7
ministers. Aznar will be received by King Mohamed VI in Marrakech.
(agencies)
AFAPREDESA publishes a letter from King Juan Carlos of Spain, co-signed by a collective of human rights defenders in Western Sahara, the Union of Saharawi Lawyers, the National Union of Saharawi Women, the Union of Saharawi Workers and the Union of Saharawi Youth. On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Universal Charter of Human Rights and the International Day of human rights from 10 December 2003, these Saharawi associations recall to the sovereign his promise of 2 November 1975 in El Ayoun : "We want to protect the legitimate rights of the Saharawi civil population, as our mission and our history demand ".
27.11.03
Political prisoners
Political prisoners, Ali Salem Tamek and Ahmed Nassiri publish a
statement on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human rights in which they denounce the violations of
human rights in Morocco. (texte complet en français)
30.11.03
Disappearances
The preparatory committee of Saharawi victims of forced disappearance
and arbitrary detention survivors from secret Moroccan detention
centres comment in a statement on recommendations adopted by the
Consultative Council of Human Rights concerning the creation of "the
body of equity and reconciliation" as an official approach aiming to
turn the page on serious human rights abuses. (see news
45-47
)
pointing out certain positive aspects it denounces the limits and
weaknesses. (complete text français
)
01.12.03
Appeal
Facing the exhaustion of stocks of foodstuffs the Saharawi Red
Crescent (CRS) launched a distress call aimed at international
organisations, NGOs and countries so as to avoid "the acute crisis
which threatens the life of thousands of Saharawi refugees, depending
totally on humanitarian aid". It announces that they have started
distributing the emergency back-up food stocks.
(SPS)
27.11.03
Premio
Entrega del III Premio de Narrativa Juvenil Alandar (Grupo Editorial
Luis Vives).
El premio se entregó a Ricardo Gómez por su obra 'El
cazador de estrellas', un libro que cuenta la historia de un muchacho
enfermo recluido en una jaima de un campamento de refugiados
saharauis. Gracias a las charlas que mantiene con un anciano a
través de la lona de su jaima descubre la historia de su
pueblo y desvela el sentido de su dolor. (Poemario por un Sahara
libre)
04.12.03
10 years of twinning
The town of Gonfreville l'Orcher celebrated its twinning with the
town of J'Réfia in Western Sahara in the presence of a
Saharawi delegation of about twenty led by the Minister of the
Occupied Territories Djalil Sid M'Hamed accompanied by the Minister
of Culture Mariem Salek, the Wali of Dakhla Salem Lebsir.
05.12.03
29th EUCOCO
Opening in Paris-Nanterre of the 29th European Conference of
Solidarity with the Saharawi people, EUCOCO.
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information
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