|
WEEKS 09 - 10 : 27.02.-12.03.2005 |
29th anniversary of SADR
26.02.05,
Visits
The President of the Republic receives the Ministers of the Interior
and of Agriculture and Fishing from the Basque Country and gives a
lunch in honour of delegations from the Balearic Islands, Italy and
Algeria, in the course of which he calls on Spain to play a more
active role in the decolonisation of Western Sahara on the model of
Portugal in the case of East Timor.
27.02.05,
Human Rights situation in Western Sahara
The SADR Minister of Occupied Territories and the Saharawi Community
Abroad, Khalil Sidi M'Hamed, attends a reception marking the 29th
anniversary of the proclamation of SADR, organised jointly by the
Polisario Front representation and the Swiss Committee for Support of
the Saharawi People, on 25 February in Geneva. In a speech he
declares that the human rights situation in the occupied territories
of Western Sahara runs the risk of leading to "an escalation with
unforeseeable consequences for the region". Assessing the human
rights situation he estimates that "over 3,500 persons have gone
missing since 31 October 1975, the date of the Moroccan invasion of
Western Sahara, among them 526 civilians and 150 Saharawi combatants
whose fate remains unknown". Over 15,000 persons have been subjected
to arbitrary detention, over 20,000 persons victim to torture and
other physical and mental cruelty, 250 victims of unfair sentences by
Moroccan military and civil courts, 115 persons have been
assassinated and over 15,000 person deported from the occupied
territories to places inside Morocco and over 200,000 persons exiled
to neighbouring countries.
28.02.05,
Marathon
Over three hundred athletes take part in the fifth Sahara Marathon,
coming from Italy, Germany, England, Canada, Norway, Australia,
Ethiopia, Algeria, Spain, and the United States of America, alongside
several hundred Saharawis. The Italian, Castelleno Villenzo wins the
race between the wilayas of El Ayoun and Smara in 3 hours 3 minutes,
followed by two of his compatriots and a Saharawi in fourth place.
The Spanish woman, Leire Elosegui wins the women's race, her
compatriot Juan José takes the half-marathon, followed by two
Saharawis, Mohamed Lamine Oumar and Boujamaa Deihan. Boutalha
Bujari, a Saharawi, is the fastest over 10 km, followed by his
compatriots, Oumar Najem and Sid Ahmed Mohamed, while the Spanish
woman, Jaione Pene took the trophy for the women.
01.03.05,
Sahara Press Service
SPS launches its information service in Arabic: http://www.spsrasd.info/main3a.html
03.03.05,
Luanda
The Secretary General of the National Union of Saharawi Women (UNSW),
Fatma Mehdi, during the 4th Congress of Angolan Women, called on her
African counterparts to "support the legitimate right of the Saharawi
people to self-determination and independence".
[SPS]
03-07.03.05,
Parliamentary delegations
A delegation of eight members from the European Parliament visited
the Saharawi refugee camps, made up of José Javier Pomes Ruiz,
Spain, from the European Popular Party (Christian-Democrat) and from
the Democrats, Mrs Karin Scheele, Austria, Ana Maria Gomes, Portugal,
and Iratxe Garcia Perez, Spain, from the Socialist group, Miguel
Portas, Portugal, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Spain, and Willy Meyer
Pleite, Spain, from the Group European United Left / Nordic Green
Left. A delegation of six MPs from the Spanish Parliament were also
visiting the camps at the same time. [SPS]
03-06.03.05,
Sahara International Film Festival
17 films from Spain, India, Denmark, Mauritania and Senegal were
screened during this festival, in which over 280 foreign visitors
took part including Spanish stars. As well as nightly screenings,
workshops on film-making techniques are organised as well as round
table discussions between the public, specialists and actors from the
films shown. A videotheque is set up at Ausserd wilaya, taking its
turn after Smara last year, as a present from the organisers. The
"World Cinema" prize was awarded to the Senegalese film-maker, Moussa
Sene Absa for his film "Madame Brouette"
(Sénégal-Canada-France, 2004). Interviewed on his
impressions, Mr Absa declared that "the Senegalese people are with
the Saharawis"(...) "people are not affected by the positions taken
by their government" (...) "For myself, I want all peoples to achieve
self-determination, to be independent, living in their own territory,
with a flag, a national anthem and a national culture and getting the
benefit of the wealth of their land."
06.03.05,
Sit-in at Ausserd
The Union of Saharawi Writers and Journalists (UPES), the Association
of families of Saharawi prisoners and disappeared (AFAPREDESA) and
the Union of Saharawi Jurists (UJS) organise a sit-in on the last day
of the festival, and circulate a petition. This calls on European
governments, civil society and community institutions and
"principally Spain", to "support the just cause of the Saharawi
people". MEPs and Spanish MPs, as well as numerous artists and
intellectuals, present at the festival, sign the petition, which
condemns the "Moroccan media campaigns, which spread lies and
counter-truths about the Saharawi refugees".
[Petition
of solidarity UPES, AFAPREDESA and
UJS]
08.03.05,
International Women's Day
On the occasion of International Women's Day, the National Union of
Saharawi Women pays tribute to "all the women of the world who are
fighting for equality, social justice and peace". The External
Relations Officer for the Union, Zahra Ramdan, takes part in
conferences and debates in Tenerife and in Madrid.
[Spanish]
09.03.05,
Prisoners of war
Speaking on Algerian radio's Channel II, the Saharawi President,
Mohamed Abdelaziz, declares that only dialogue can settle the
question of the detainees "which has been dragging on for years". He
welcomes the fact that "the Moroccan government recognises finally
the existence of the prisoners of war and thereby the adverse party".
[L'Expression, Alger]
11.03.05,
Prisoners of war
The Ambassador of the Polisario in Algiers, Yslem Baysat, makes a
statement to Ach-Charq Al-Awsat that the Polisario Front "is disposed
to release the Moroccan prisoners on condition that Rabat undertakes
to release Saharawi prisoners held in Moroccan prisons".
27.02.05,
Shareholder focus of campaign to end Kerr-McGee's involvement in
occupied Western Sahara. New Stage
Western Sahara Resource Watch - WSRW, which embraces about twenty
organisations on four continents, has written to the biggest
shareholders in Kerr-McGee, the last company still active on the
ground. The activity of KMG violates international law and prolongs
the conflict. Involvement in a conflict zone represents a risk for
investors. Shareholders were invited to put pressure on the company,
not to renew its contract which runs out in May.
[Press
release, 27.02.05 - Letter to shareholders - Background Report
[PDF] etc ]
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
28.02.05,
Saharawi political prisoners
Urgent appeal by the wife of Saharawi prisoner, Mustafa Afilal, Mrs
Elbatoul Elmoutawakil (in
Arabic).
Report on the dramatic situation of the Saharawi prisoner, Mustafa Afilal (in Arabic)
02.03.05,
Saharawi political prisoners
Statement by the Saharawi political prisoner Lakhfaouni Abdallahi
(in
Arabic)
02-11.03.05
"Dignity for the prisoners of the Black Prison"
International campaign for the improvement of the situation of
Saharawi prisoners
Participants in this campaign include the El Ayoun Committee for the
protection of Saharawi prisoners, the Dakhla Committee against
torture and the Committee for victims of events in Smara, in
collaboration with the French Association for friendship and
solidarity with African peoples AFASPA. Collection of signatures and
sending of numerous letters to international organisations, to
Moroccan officials and human rights organisations are being planned.
The Saharawi prisoners of the Moroccan prisons of Kenitra, Settat,
Boulmhars in Marrakech, Ait Melloul, Tiznit are planning 24 hour
fasts, a protest takes place outside the black prison on 8 March, as
well as a peaceful protest action in Dakhla on 10 March.
[communiqué
+ photos]
05.03.05, Ali
Salem Tamek
According to a Moroccan weekly, "the Saharawi activist Ali Salem
Tamek returned mid-week to Morocco... His different medical
examinations confirm, however, that his state of health has worsened.
In Belgium, the young opponent had a meeting with officials from
Amnesty International..." [Telquel 165]
05.03.05,
Women's Sit-in at El Ayoun
Over 600 Saharawis take part in a sit-in outside Hotel Nagjir in El
Ayoun on International Women's Day, but also women from the Moroccan
campaign on "Moroccans imprisoned by the Polisario Front in the camps
of Tindouf". The demonstrators demand improvement in the conditions
of Saharawi women, truth on Saharawi disappeared, that Moroccan
torturers should be brought to justice, respect for human rights in
Western Sahara and a free and fair referendum. Moroccan forces of
repression tried to prevent the meeting, in which the following
speakers addressed the crowd, Aminatou Haidar, Saharawi former
disappeared, Sidi Mohammed Daddach, the senior Saharawi prisoner and
Rafto prizewinner, Ali Salem Tamek, Saharawi former prisoner of
conscience, and Ghalia Id Jimmi, former disappeared Saharawi.
[Info]
+ [Photos]
08.03.05,
Rabat
Demonstration of Saharawi students in Rabat
About a hundred male and female students gather on the "Al Irfane"
university campus in Rabat on International Women's Day. The students
demand the right to self-determination for the Saharawi people and
the release of Saharawi prisoners and political detainees in Morocco.
The anti-riot police intervene brutally to disperse the
demonstrators, and pursue them through various campuses to their
rooms. Many are wounded and some are hospitalised. The Saharawi
Minister for the Occupied Territories publishes a list comprising 22
students and 7 injured students. [Rapport
et liste des blessés - en
arabe]
[Photos]
09-10-11.03.05,
Chain reactions
Reacting to the attitude of the Moroccan authorities, Saharawi
students in Marrakech and Agadir organise a demonstration of
solidarity with their compatriots in Rabat. Various human rights
organisations in the occupied zones likewise express their solidarity
with the students in Rabat. The next day in Smara, hundreds of
citizens organise a sit-in outside the offices of the Moroccan
colonial administration. Students from the "Saguiet El Hamra" high
school from the same town hold a strike for several hours. In
Tan-Tan, the police disperse violently a gathering in favour of
Saharawi students in Rabat, six are wounded, including mothers with
families. Four persons are arrested. On 11 March, Saharawi students
from Smara, Marrakech and Agadir get mobilised again, this time in
favour of the victims in Tan-Tan. [Photos
of the demonstration in
Marrakech]
[Communiqué
AARASD,
11.03.05]
Several solidarity press releases in arabic:
[PR
of activists and militants of HR in Western
Sahara,
08.03.05] [PR
of Ali Salem Tamek
09.03.05] [PR
of Saharawi Women,
09.03.05] [PR
of the Movement of saharawi students
09.03.05]
[PR
from Tantan, 10.03.05]
[PR
from Assa
, 11.03.05]
10.03.05,
Saharawi political prisoners
Ali Salem Tamek, Saharawi former prisoner of conscience, launches an
appeal for Saharawi detainees, in particular, Lakhfaouni Abdallahi,
who started a hunger strike on 2 March 2005.
10.03.05,
aggression of a Human Rights and trade union militant
The Saharawi jurist and coordinator of the Phosbucraâ workers
(phosphates) Mr Eddia Sidi Ahmed Moussa was victime of a brutal et
arbitrary aggression at his home near El Ayoun. Agents of the
auxiliary forces and policemen of the regional police have sacked his
factory and home and rubbed some objects.
[communiqué]
01.03.05,
UK
A long animated debate in London took place between a Moroccan
parliamentary delegation, led by Radi, President of the Parliament,
and members of the Western Sahara Campaign UK. The Moroccan MPs were
in England at the invitation of the British branch of the
Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU). [Western
Sahara Campaign UK meet Moroccan MPS to discuss Western
Sahara,
Press release 01.03.05]
07.03.05,
USA
Under-secretary of State, John Bolton, is appointed US Ambassador
with the United Nations. Bolton is familiar with the question of the
Sahara, he took part between 1997 and 2000 at James Baker's side in
the development of his peace plan and in several meetings between
Moroccans and Saharawis.
08-10.03.05
Madrid, "International summit on terrorism, democracy and
security"
On the occasion of this conference organised by the Club of Madrid,
meetings are planned between the President of the Spanish government,
the UN Secretary General, the head of the Algerian government and the
King of Morocco, arriving in Madrid on 10 March to take part the next
day in the anniversary of the Madrid bombings. Annan and Rodriguez
Zapatero, during their meeting are believed to have agreed that the
solution to the conflict in the Sahara must "go through
negotiation".
The CEAS, la Coordinadora estatal de asociaciones solidarias con el Sáhara, expressed their concern at the prospect of abandonment by Spain of its responsibilities on the question of the Sahara. The Polisario Front representative in Spain, for his part, asked the president of the government to "play a more active role" with Annan and Mohamed VI.
11.03.05,
Germany
The Deputy Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Kerstin
Müller, replying to a written question from a member, underlines
that the German federal government "continues, as before, to support
all the efforts of the United Nations aimed at finding a peaceful
solution to the conflict based on all the resolutions adopted by the
Security Council on the subject of this conflict." She adds also that
her country, "will continue to be involved and particularly in the
humanitarian domain".
06-07.03.05, Visit of the King of Morocco to Mauritania
06.03.05,
March in Rabat
Organised by an NGO created a few weeks ago, Our Homeland
(Watanouna), this "national march" was to express the "national
unanimity" in favour of the release of Moroccan prisoners of war held
by the Polisario Front, long denied and ignored, then marginalised on
their return. The organisers widened their demand to include the
"Moroccans detained in the camps of Tindouf", terms which designate
the refugee Saharawi population.
"A real
fiasco".
The Association for the "Moroccan Sahara", favourable to the
integration of the Sahara to Morocco, considers that the march was a
"real fiasco"... "Over a million people turned out for earlier
marches of solidarity with the Palestinian people or the Iraqis",
they continue, while for the "national cause, between 15,000 and
20,000" assembled, "especially as to ensure its success, considerable
human and financial means were put to use as well as the entire
logistics of a country."
In a statement, the Saharawi government deplored that Morocco, at a moment when it is organising "a mascarade of a demonstration" in Rabat, still refuses to give the least information on the Saharawi prisoners of war.
11.03.05,
Human rights
The Body, Equity and Reconciliation announces the organisation on 16
March in Marrakech, the 27 March in Al Hoceima and in El Ayoun
at a date yet to be fixed, a new series of sessions of public
hearings on human rights abuses committed during the period from 1956
to 1999. The stages at Casablanca, Tan-Tan, Smara, Fès and
Tétouan have been cancelled.
MOROCCO-EUROPEAN UNION-NETHERLANDS
27.01.05,
European Union
The MEP Erik Meijer demands, in a written question to the Commission,
explanations on the subject of an exhibition, "Morocco, 5,000 years
of culture", which is being held at Amsterdam until April, in which a
map includes Western Sahara as part of Morocco. He inveighs against
the presence of objects coming from the occupied territories. He asks
the Commission to warn member countries to resist Moroccan pressure
and to conform with international law. [Written
questions by Erik Meijer (Socialist
Party, NL - Group European United Left / Nordic Green Left) to
European Commission on Morocco exposition and pressure of Moroccan
government].
Associazione
Fadel Ismail, Mantova: "Per una soluzione giusta e non violenta nel
Sahara Occidentale".
Dal 10 al 20 Marzo presso il circolo Arci "Immagina", esposizione di
fotografie scattate nei campi profughi sahrawi da Paolo Cattani, dal
titolo: "Il coraggio è vivere per la libertà"
Giovedì 17 Marzo Ore 21, presso il Cinema Mignon Via Benzoni,
22 &endash; Mantova, Venerdì 18 Marzo Ore 21, presso Comune di
S.Giacomo delle Segnate : Proiezione del film di Mario Martone "Una
storia sahrawi" (30') Seguirà relazione di Umberto Romano,
poeta e scrittore, autore di libri sul popolo sahrawi sul tema "La
cultura per la libertà dei popoli: Sahrawi, un popolo in
esilio".
15.03. Opening of the 61th session of the UN Human Rights Commision, Geneva
18 mars -
Geneva
International Action Day
30
years are enough ! Self-determination for the Saharawi people.
Referendum now !
10h - 12h : Meeting on Place des Nations
13h - 15h: Conference: The Morrocan "Wall of Shame" and the problem
of landmines (speachers: Carlos Ruiz Miguel, Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey,
Oubbi Bouchraya, Jean Lamore), at Centre de l'Organisation
Météorologique Mondiale. Info: Comité Suisse de
soutien au peuple sahraoui NouvellesSahraouies@arso.org
22-23.03.05, Meeting of the head of State of the Arab Ligue in Algiers, Mohamed VI will participate.
30.04.05, End of MINURSO mandate.
RASD TV,
website of Saharawi Television
New videos realised from the new Rabouni studio in the camps ( news
and a message from Mohamed Abdelaziz} to see at http://www.rasd-tv.com/
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