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WEEKS 11-12 : 13.03. - 26.03.2005 |
14-15.03.05,
Seminar
The key personnel of the Polisario Front and SADR government hold
their traditional seminar "on the evaluation of the crucial stage the
Saharawi people are traversing in their struggle to recover their
rights to freedom and independence". A message is sent to UN SG Kofi
Annan, on the blockage of the United Nations referendum in Western
Sahara and human rights abuses in the occupied territories.
[SPS]
21.03.05,
Namibia
At the invitation of the government of Namibia, a SADR delegation led
by Malainine Sadik, Minister Counselor to the President, participates
in Windhoek in festivities marking the XVth anniversary of Namibia's
independence and in the ceremony of handing over of power between the
founding president of the Republic of Namibia, Sam Nujoma, and the
new president, Mr. Hifikepunye Pohamba.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
10.03.05,
Reprisals
At 8 o'clock in the morning the authorities of the commune of
Dcheira, surrounded by 12 agents from the auxiliary forces under the
orders of the pacha of El Ayoun, attack the house of a Saharawi human
rights activist, Sidi Ahmed Eddia Moussa, representative of the
Saharawi workers of Phosboucraa. They destroy the wall around his
farm, plants, trees and mistreat members of the family who try to
prevent the destruction. They seize farm materials and search the
house from top to bottom. [statement]
10.03.05,
Demonstrations, continued
The Saharawi students from the Institute of Applied Technology in
Smara organise a sit-in within their school as a sign of solidarity
with the Saharawi students mistreated by the Moroccan forces in Rabat
[see weeks
09-10/ 2005].
"The committee for victims of the Smara events" expresses its
solidarity with the Saharawi students of Rabat, Saharawi students in
France do the same. Mohamed Sidati, Minister delegate for Europe,
addresses on 15 March the European Union and the Council of
Europe. [letter]
On 24.03.05 the President of the Saharawi Republic himself asks the UN SG, Kofi Annan, to protect the Saharawis, because "over 23 people have been injured, last week, during different demonstrations" in Western Sahara and in Morocco. [SPS]
Finally, the "Dakhla Committee against torture " calls the international community and the international committee against torture to intervene to protect Saharawi citizens in the occupied zones and to force Morocco to respect human rights. [SPS]
12.03.05,
Testimony
Miss Faddah Aghlamenhoum, a member of the committee of support for
the international campaign to protect human rights defenders in
Western Sahara and a former disappeared Saharawi, gives testimony at
the alternative public hearings organised by AMDH in Rabat.
[témoignage]
12.03.05
Controversial trip
José Segura, a member of the Canary Islands government, goes
to occupied Western Sahara at the head of a delegation of 60 people,
mostly involved in economic activity. It is the first high-level
Spanish official to go to the Sahara since 1976. The visit took place
on the occasion of the inaugural trip of a new weekly airline flight
from the Canaries to El Ayoun. It has unleashed a political crisis in
Spain. The Polisario Front representative in Spain protests strongly
against this gesture which he calls a "hostile act" towards the
Saharawi people. The Front will demand explanations from the
central government. The Coordinadora Estatal de Amigos del
Sáhara describes the presence of a government delegate as an
"inacceptable provocation". It regards the explanations as
"unsatisfactory" both those given by José Segura, and the
central government and recalls that the exploitation of Saharawi
natural resources cannot happen without the consent of the Saharawi
people". The Popular Party (opposition) demands the resignation of
Segura. The government considers that it it is only an
"administrative action without political implications".
11-12.03.05,
IXth Conference of Parliamentary intergroups in Spain "Peace and
Freedom in the Sahara", Palma de Majorque
The Spanish parliamentary intergroups "Peace and Freedom in the
Sahara" sign a "Pact for the decolonisation of Western Sahara". This
text concluded because of the continuing historical responsibility of
Spain towards the Sahara and regards the Madrid Accords of 1975 as
without legal value. The deputies ask the Spanish government to
pursue the process of decolonisation interrupted in 1975 and to do
everything to allow the implementation of the referendum of
self-determination, so as to achieve the independence of the Saharawi
people.
In the final resolution the deputies demand further from the Moroccan
government to open the occupied territories to journalists, lawyers
and international observers, and to stop attacks on human rights.
They launch an appeal for an increase in humanitarian aid to the
Saharawi refugees. They address themselves also to the French
government to ask it to abstain from intervening in this conflict, in
keeping with its policy towards the Iraq conflict. Finally, they
condemn the Moroccan wall of shame which they call the wall of
apartheid.[ Nota de prensa] [Resolución
final] [Pacto inter parlamentario para la
descolonización del Sahara Occidental ]
16.03.05,
Declaration
Taking the floor at the Parliament, the secretary for Foreign
Affairs, Bernardino León affirms that self-determination
constitutes the basic principle for a solution to the conflict. The
Baker plan is an "essential element to arrive at a solution to the
conflict", adding (in the face of criticism) that the policy of the
government is "active, impartial, coherant and solid".
15.03.05,
Survey
According to a survey carried out by Barómetro del Real
Instituto Elcano (Madrid) on 1,200 people, 60% were in favour of
independence for the Saharawi people and 20% for autonomy under
Moroccan sovereignty. [enquesta]
22-23.03.05 Arab League &endash; 17th ordinary summit in Algiers
21.03.05,
Before the summit : message to Zapatero
La Coordinadora Estatal de Amigos del Sáhara (Espagne)
expresses its concern at the attempts by France and Spain to "try to
modify the Baker plan" and ask Zapatero who is attending the summit
as an invited guest, to defend the Baker plan "without
ambiguity".
22-23.03.05
Numerous Arab heads of state travel to Algiers, including Mohamed VI.
Among the guests: the President of Spain, Rodriguez Zapatero, the
senior representative of the EU for external policy and security,
Solana, the head of French diplomacy, Barnier, German, Japanese, and
Brazilian ministers of foreign affairs, the deputy Prime Minister of
Italy, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and the executive
president of the African Union, Alpha Omar Konaré.
The head of the Spanish government Zapatero was the only one to
allude to Western Sahara, a conflict which never figured on the
agenda of Arab summits. "... The conflict in Western Sahara is one of
the principle obstacles to the process of regional integration in the
Maghreb and for full development of the Union of the Arab Maghreb.
From the outset, my government has wished to approach this question
with the greatest sense of political responsibility, hoping to
contribute actively in the search for a just and lasting solution to
a problem which has lasted for 30 years and which has become the
principal obstacle to full stability and development of the region.
The Spanish government intends to apply its capacity for dialogue
with the parties, with the neighbouring states and which other
countries with legitimate interest in a peaceful and consensual
solution to the conflict, in order to bring the positions together
and to make it possible to reach agreement between the parties which
is so greatly desired, within the respect for international law and
the context of the United Nations." [>>
oficial
site of the Summit]
22.03.05 First
encounter between the Algerian and King of Morocco
On the question of Western Sahara, the Algerian minister for Foreign
Affairs, Belkhadem emphasises to the press that this question "is
following its course within the UN Fourth Commission on
Decolonization and the UN peace plan" ... "Whatever the parties to
the conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, agree to will have the
support and blessing of Algeria"
22.03.05 The ministers of foreign affairs from the five member countries of the Maghreb Arab Union (UMA) hold a meeting in the course of which they decide to hold a UMA summit in mid-June 2005.
24.03.05 Talks for two hours one to one between Mohamed VI and President Bouteflika of Algeria.
Lies,
calumnies, defamation. The official Moroccan press agency (MAP)
distinguishes itself once more.
17.03.05, MAP publishes a dispatch according to which the Algerian
gendarmerie is alleged to have recently dismantled a network of
traffickers in human organs of patients coming from the camps in
Tindouf. According to a so-called investigation on the ground, some
six hundred patients from a hospital in Tindouf, mainly children and
women from the refugee camps, had undergone organ theft and allegedly
had been declared dead by the authorities of this establishment.
These horrors are attributed to the Polisario Front and various
mouthpieces of the Moroccan press are still running versions of the
story. An Algerian journalist Karima Bennour makes inquiries with the
Algerian gendarmerie, who reject the allegations.
[La
Nouvelle République,
Alger, 18.03.05]
Mohamed Sidati, Saharawi minister responsible for Europe, asks the
Spanish agency, Europa Press, which took up the MAP dispatch without
any verification, to publish immediately a correction.
[other reactions see Sahara-Info spécial
français
- español]
19.03.05, MAP tells of a so-called "hysterical attack", of which the alleged victim was a Swiss woman of Moroccan origin, during an international conference on the "wall of shame" and anti-personnel mines in Western Sahara which took place in Geneva (see below). MAP invents injuries, the intervention of a doctor and the interruption of the conference by the police...
21.03.05, MAP reports statements allegedly from an official of the UN High Commission for Refugees based in Mauritania to the agency: the Polisario Front is said to have bartered international aid received from international humanitarian organisations for narcotics, alcoholic drinks and contraband cigarettes. The Polisario Front representation in Switzerland writes to the UNHCR, which issues a formal denial and asks MAP to publish it. [statement]
It should be noted that MAP is still pursuing its defamatory campaign against the journalist Ali Lmrabet, with the goal of preventing him from launching his new papers in Morocco. Calling him a "traitor" after his visit to Algeria and to the Saharawi refugee camps, [see week 05-06/2005], they now try to disqualify his inquiries on the implications of Morocco in the terrorist attacks in Spain and his words on the shady role of MAP correspondents abroad by falsifying his declarations.
61st session of the Human Rights Commission, Geneva
18.03.05,
Debate on the right of peoples to self-determination
Mr. Idriss Jazairy (Algeria) emphasised that the situation of the
last non-self-governing territory of Africa, namely Western Sahara,
is still pending, despite over 51 resolutions; despite a United
Nations plan, called the Baker plan, amended 15 times; and despite
around fifty reports produced by three successive Secretaries General
of the United Nations... It is incumbant upon the Human Rights
Commission to recognise that the principle of the right to
self-determination proclaimed by the United Nations in their
resolution 1514 is indivisible ... [press
release]
24.03.05,
Debate on human rights abuses
During the debate on human rights abuses, Oubbi Bouchraya, in the
name of the International Union of Socialist Youth, said the
international community should pay attention to the situation of
human rights in Western Sahara where grave violations of human rights
continued, without the international community taking any action. The
Saharan people had undergone foreign domination for the last 121
years, and over the last 30 by Morocco which had invaded the
territory and continued to deny the people their right to
self-determination and independence. In the occupied territories,
human rights defenders had suffered intimidation and threats of
reprisal against themselves and their families.
18.03.05,
Hunger strike
A Saharawi political detainee, Aâgdadi Ali starts, in Boulmharz
prison in Marrakech, an unlimited hunger strike from Tuesday 22 March
2005, to protest against the inhumane treatment he has suffered at
the hands of the prison administration. He demands an improvement in
his conditions and to be moved to a prison closer to his family.
Aâgdadi has already observed various preemptive hunger strikes
in vain. He has been sentenced to five years in prison.
14.03.05,
Appeal
The Saharawi human rights activist, Sidi Mohamed Daddach, sends an
appeal to all human rights organisations for the "release of the
political prisoner, Abdallah Lakhfaouni, who has been conducting an
unlimited hunger strike since 2 March, in the central prison of
Kenitra". [SPS]
The committee for the protection of Saharawi detainees in the "Black Prison" of El Ayoun has expressed solidarity with Abdallah Lakhfawni and asks for pressure to be put on the Moroccan state and its Minister of Justice. (25.03.05)
08-10.03.05,
Great Britain, Scarborough (Yorkshire)
A delegation of the Union of Saharawi Women takes part in the
proceedings of the International Day of Women in the United Kingdom
at the invitation of the Fire Brigades Union. The SG, Fatma Mehdi,
has the opportunity of meeting various union leaders, including
Harriet Eisner and Nick Sigler international relations officers of
AMICUS and UNISON.
18.03.05, Geneva, International demonstration for the self-determination of the Saharawi people and respect for human rights in Western Sahara and Conference on the "Wall of shame" and the problem of anti-personnel mines. [>> report, photos]
18.03.05, At the invitation of the Western Sahara Campaign UK and the Students' Union of the School for Oriental and African Studies in London, Mr. Malainine Sadik, Minister Counselor to the SADR President, gave a lecture entitled: What does the future hold for Western Sahara?
18.03.05, Khalili Lecture theatre, London, «What does the future hold for Western Sahara?» special guest speaker: mr Malainine Sadik Bachir, the minister counsellor of the saharawi government, former ambassador to India, Algeria and South Africa.
19.03.05, La Plataforma por la Democracia y la Globalización Social de Balears, que aglutina algunos partidos políticos, asociaciones y sindicatos, ha organizado una concentración en la Plaza del Olivar de Palma para protestar contra las ocupaciones militares de Irak, Palestina y Sáhara.
24.03.05,
Statement from the Swedish Western Sahara Committee, annual meeting
2005:
Western Sahara treachery demonstrates the need of UN renewal
For thirty years Morocco has been allowed to occupy and oppress a big
part of Western Sahara in contravention of international law. The
territory is divided by a 1,800 km Morocco-mined wall. Fifteen years
ago the UN negotiated a ceasefire and referendum agreement. The
Security Council has afterwards repeatedly decided upon realization
of peace plans including referendum. Morocco has delayed and refused.
The UN is paralysed with US-interest of keeping in with the Moroccan
dictatorship and the French regional interest. Morocco can calmly
continue to oppress the Saharawis in the occupied area and to prevent
the retreat from Algerian territory camps. We call for a renewed and
reinforced UN. The Security Council must become broader and more
democratic. The General Assembly must be able to make superior
decisions. The UN must be given the power to realize decisions by
peaceful means.
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