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WEEKS 39 - 40 : 25.09.-08.10.2005 |
16-23.09.05,
SADR
A Venezuelan delegation is carrying out a working visit in the
Saharawi Republic, in the context of bi-lateral agreements signed in
October 2004. The delegation led by the general director of the
administrative management of the Ministry for Health, Dr Alberto
Randon, will evaluate needs in the areas of health and training. "I
come bearing a message of support and solidarity from the President
Hugo Chavez and all the people in the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela to the Saharawi people and their heroic struggle for
self-determination and independence", Mr Randon declared during a
reception. [SPS]
01.10.05,
SADR
The National Conference for developing good governance finishes its
session with the adoption of a series of measures which should allow
greater participation of the population in the management of their
own affairs.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
Following the publication of photos of the inside of the black prison and the wave of indignation and protests it provoked, the Moroccan authorities take steps. Repressive ones towards those presumed guilty and cosmetic in regard to prison management.
22.09.05,
investigation
Mohamed Lididi, secretary general of the Ministry of Justice visits
the Black Prison "in the context of actions undertaken to improve the
conditions of detention", in the company of television crews. He
declares that "the situation of the detainees in El Ayoun's prison
does not differ from that in other prisons of the kingdom, there is
no reason for concern about El Ayoun". The inquiry of the Royal
Public Prosecutor to the El Ayoun court of appeal reveals a so-called
"montage" created from whole cloth". Three common law detainees are
designated by name as guilty of having brought in a camera and set up
the photos. The three accused are tortured, one of them placed in
isolation.
23.09.05
Moroccan television broadcasts reports on the Black Prison. A
delegation from AMDH, FVJ and the national prison watch asks to be
received by the minister for Justice, to check the state of health of
the hunger strikers. The Minister is absent. A delegation from the
CCDH led by Assia el Ouadie, visits the black prison and meets Haidar
and Hamad.
24.09.05
The prison population of the Black Prison is progressively reduced:
over 80 detainees are released before time, 72 are transferred to
Aït Melloul. In Aït Melloul 40 detainees are transferred to
Tiznit, 30 to Taroudant, including many Saharawis. The walls of the
black prison are whitewashed and painted.
26.09.-02.10.05,
visit
A group of Spanish journalists from the written press, radio and
television, invited to Morocco, travels to El Ayoun on 27 and 28
September. A visit of the Black Prison is forbidden. Certain
journalists succeed in meeting Saharawi human rights activists.
[-->
see articles under publications]
23.09.05,
Morocco appeals to UN
The permanent representative of Morocco with the United Nations,
Mohamed Bennouna, hands a letter to the president of the Security
Council to denounce the recent popular revolt in Western Sahara,
which he calls an "enterprise of diversion and propaganda carried out
in the Moroccan Sahara" by means of "violent criminal acts".
Morocco conformed " with the rule of law and procedures
guaranteeing a fair trial", he claims... [Texte
intégral
en français] The Algerian ambassador answers on
26.09.05. [full
text]
23-24.09.05,
El Ayoun
In the course of two nights SADR flags in various formats are hung in
the principal streets and avenues of El Ayoun, including on electric
poles. Several people are arrested and interrogated.
24.09.05,
declaration
In the name of the Saharawi political prisoners, their spokesman, Ali
Salem Tamek denounces the hypocrisy of the Moroccan
authorities.[statement]
[Communiqué]
[comuncado]
26.09.05,
Assa
On the occasion of the 50th day of hunger strike, hundreds of
Saharawi citizens organise, in "Mohamed El Moutawakil" boulevard, a
demonstration of solidarity with the Saharawi political prisoners,
calling for their immediate release and condemning the indifference
of Rabat in the face of this tragedy. [photos]
26.09.05,
European Union
A member of the European Parliament, Marta Vincenzi, PSE (Italy),
expresses before the European Parliament in a plenary session on 26
September in Strasbourg, her indignation at the Moroccan human rights
abuses against the Saharawi people. She calls for the release of
Saharawi political prisoners and the recognition of the Saharawi
Republic.[full
text fr es it]
28.09.05, El
Ayoun
Lehsen Zraiguinat, on temporary release, is presented to the court,
who postpone their deliberations until 26 October, despite the
request of the accused to be tried immediately. He is asking to be
accused of a concrete act, declaring that the police who arrested him
accuse him of having tried to kill the governor, while the
instructing magistrate presumes him guilty of destruction of public
property.
29.09.05
According to the official agency MAP, a six-person multi-disciplinary
medical commission, under a Moroccan Red Crescent mandate, is said to
have carried out medical examinations of the detainees of the Black
Prison. Their state of health did not arouse anxiety, according to a
member of the delegation. The commission is alleged to have had talks
with the detainees who presented their demands (improvement in prison
conditions, adequate medical care, family visits), it is claimed. The
commission will pay regular visits to the detainees.
29.09.05,
hunger strike suspended
After 51 days on hunger strike, the Saharawi political prisoners
decide on a "provisional" end to the strike, in response to an appeal
by their families, fearing serious consequences for their health.
They maintain their "strong" attachment to the Saharawi people's
right to self-determination and call on the UN to implement it
urgently. They pay tribute to the wide movement of solidarity which
has developed around the world and call for the lifting of the
security and media blockade imposed on the towns of Western Sahara
and to open the territory to observers. [statement]
[communiqué]
[comunicado]
The prisoners'
hunger strike has had significant repercussions in Western Sahara, in
Morocco and on the international level. Finally parliaments,
governments and international bodies, the UN, UNHCR, EU have taken up
the problem, after numerous popular demonstrations principally in
Spain, without forgetting the interventions of Amnesty
International., the World Committee against Torture (OMCT) etc...
If the worst has been avoided, there are still dozens of innocent
people in prison for over 4 months, including some who are still
awaiting trial or sentencing.
28.09.05,
Spain
Demonstrations took place simultaneously on Wednesday in Madrid,
Malaga, Almeria, Cordoba, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Sopela, Santander in
solidarity with the 37 Saharawi political prisoners and on the
occasion of a high level meeting between Spain and Morocco which was
opening on Wednesday in Cordoba and continuing until Thursday in
Seville between the Head of the Spanish government and his Moroccan
counterpart. On 01.10.05 a solidarity fast in Palma de Majorca
followed, and on the 8th in Valencia.
28.09.05,
France
A "Committee for the respect of human rights and liberties in
Morocco" is created in Paris to alert French and international
opinion. Four associations organise 8 hours of solidarity with the
Saharawi people and the political prisoners on hunger strike on
Wednesday 5 October in Paris.
30.09.05,
SADR
The Saharawi president congratulates the 37 hunger strikers, saying
that they have achieved the basic objectives of the strike: the
revelation of the repressive nature of the Moroccan regime, winning
the solidarity of the Moroccan people and international
support.[full
text SPS]
01.10.05,
SADR
The Human Rights department at the SADR presidency calls for an
international inquiry into human rights abuses in Western Sahara.
[Full
text SPS]
03.10.05,
Saharawi students arrested in Casablanca
Saharawi students were attacked inside the university residential
city of Casablanca by employees of the city on the instructions of
the director who ransacked their rooms, destroyed documents,
computers and other personal belongings. The police made over 45
arrests. The Saharawi students who had been arrested were released
after having been interrogated for 24 hours.
The incidents apparently began when the Saharawi students defended a
sit-in by Amazigh students outside the campus, and were attacked by
agents of the city. An event on the same scale had already taken
place on 22 June this year in the same university. The director was
dismissed.
03.10.05, El
Ayoun
A demonstration of parents of Saharawi political prisoners outside
the black prison was rapidly and violently dispersed, the
demonstrators then met outside MINURSO's headquarters. The deplored
as ever the injuries and the questioning. [photos]
04.10.05,
Marrakech
Appearance before the court of first instance of 11 students accused
after the May demonstrations and let go into temporary freedom. The
trial was postponed until 8 November.
05.10.05,
Goulimin
Three young Saharawi trades unionists, members of the UMT, Khadija
Moutik, transferred against her will on 12 September last, Bouda
Aziza mint Mohamed El Bouda and Attifa S'ghayar (Esghir) are
arrested. They took part in the sit-in organised by the provincial
branch of the UMT to protest against involuntary transfers. This
sit-in, brutally dispersed, took place when the King of Morocco
visited Goulimin.
05.10.05
European Day of Solidarity with the Saharawi political prisoners
Demonstrations, fasts of solidarity, sit-ins and motions of support
marked this action in various towns of Italy, France, the Netherlands
and Spain.
07.10.05
Saharawi human rights defenders incarcerated in the prisons of
Aït Melloul and Oukacha in Casablanca are transferred to the
Black Prison in El Ayoun.
27.09.05,
Norway
The Norwegian Committee for Western Sahara recommends, in a letter to
the three parties needing to form a new government, that they
should develop a more active policy on Western Sahara, founded on the
efforts of the United Nations and international law. This new policy
should include wider support for the right to self-determination and
the rights of Saharawis in the occupied territories, as well as
recognition and an increase in humanitarian aid. The committee also
asks for the immediate end to imports coming from Western Sahara and
that of investment in the region.[statement]
26-27.09.05,
France &endash; Morocco
The French Prime Minister made his first visit to Morocco since his
appointment on 31 May last. On this occasion the Socialist Youth
Movement (MJS) asks the French government in a statement to intervene
with Rabat to release the 37 Saharawi political prisoners.
During an interview with MAP before his departure, de Villepin calls
for "direct dialogue" between Morocco and Algeria to settle the
question of the Sahara, "a key element in the integration of the
Maghreb". "I believe in the virtues of direct dialogue", he affirmed.
On the other hand he declares that "France is within the European
Union the most ardent advocate for Morocco". In Morocco he says he is
"convinced that only a political solution [to the Sahara
conflict] will be possible. This solution must be found within
the framework of the United Nations".
The Prime Minister announces that France sees itself vouchsafing the
renovation of the main body of military aviation in Morocco, a fleet
off 27 F1 CH and EH Mirages (aerial defence and bombers) sold by
Dassault at the end of the 1980s. [Le Monde,
28.09.05]
In reaction to this information the Saharawi government wishes to "warn of the enormous dangers that could result", considering that "this French step is an action ill-adapted to this point in time", characterised by Morocco's persistence in defying the international community by pursuing its systematic violations of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.
26.09.05,
sanctions
The Secretary General of the Polisario Front demands instantly that
the Security Council should impose on the Moroccan government the
necessary sanctions with a view to bringing it to conform with the
resolutions permitting the Saharawi people to exercise its
inalienable right to self-determination", writes Mohamed Abdelaziz in
a missive sent on Monday by the Polisario Front representative at the
United Nations, Mr. Ahmed Boukhari, to the President of the Security
Council. [full
text SPS]
25.09.05,
statement
In an interview to the agency, Europa Press, the Moroccan Foreign
Ministry number two, Tayeb Fassi Fihri, declares that Morocco is
disposed to negotiate with the Polisario Front within the framework
of the UN for an autonomy for Western Sahara, which would be neither
independence nor total integration and to submit this status to the
vote. "We want a rapid solution because this problem of the Sahara is
an obstacle for the Maghreb", he declares.
[original
text spanish]
Reactions
For Khaddad,
the Saharawi responsible for relations with the UN, "this is
déjà vu", these are ways out which do not conceal the
blockage and intransigence of Morocco and its scorn for international
law." "There will be no solution outside the democratic and
internationally recognised framework of self-determination for the
Saharawi people".
For Ould Salek, the Saharawi minister for Foreign Affairs. "autonomy
for Western Sahara is an old idea which has been constantly rejected
by the Saharawi people and by the international community". "The
United Nations is always calling Morocco to implement the resolutions
adopted by the Security Council, which considers that the Settlement
Plan of 1990-91 or the Baker plan off 2003 are the only solutions and
contexts for the legal conclusion of the process of decolonization of
Western Sahara".
For the Saharawi agency, SPS, "by this scandalous declaration, Mr
Fassi is trying to create confusion in the minds of thos concerned by
the dramatic situation of systematic human rights abuses of the most
fundamental kind, which the Saharawi populace are experiencing under
Moroccan occupation, but also to make it believed that Morocco is
"proposing" or more precisely "is counting on proposing" a political
proposal capable of resolving the problem in the blinking of an eye.
The Moroccan government has clearly proposed to the international
community to turn the page of international law and the sanction once
and for all the Moroccan colonial fait accompli."
29.09.05,
UN
Coming from Rabat, the new special representative for Western Sahara,
Francesco Bastagli, meets for the first time, the Saharawi
authorities. Khaddad informs him on the human rights violations in
Western Sahara and on the "blockage created by the Moroccan
government on the family exchange visits for Saharawis. [see
full
text of the declaration]
Mr. Bastagli is received by the Saharawi president. The two
officials underline "the necessity to move the decolonization process
on for Western Sahara by the implementation of the Security Council's
peace plan through MINURSO". Mr Bastagli had visited earlier occupied
Western Sahara and had talked with the governor of El Ayoun, Cherki
Draiss and with Hamid Chabbar, the Moroccan in charge of liaison with
MINURSO.
After an interview with the Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bedjaoui, on 1 October in Algiers, the UN official declares that the Baker plan constitutes a fundamental document for the resolution of the conflict of the Sahara. At the end of his tour, F. Bastagli talks on 4 Octoebr to the head of the Mauritanian state, Colonel Ely ould Mohamed Vall.
03.10.05,
confidence-building measures
Morocco indicates to F. Bastagli, in Geneva, its agreement for the
resumption of the operation of exchange visits between the population
in the camps and their relatives in Western Sahara. The visits were
interrupted at the end of December 2004 following Moroccan
intransigence.
05-07.10.05
60th Session of UN General Assembly, Meeting of the Fourth
Committee, Special Political and Decolonisation Committee.A
s each year, the question of Western Sahara is on the agenda of the
business of this committee, which concerns itself with the sixteen
non-autonomous territories figuring on the list of the UN and whose
administrative authorities number five, namely, United Kingdom,
United States, New Zealand, France and Spain. Concerning Western
Sahara, we point out that the representatives of South Africa,
Tanzania, Cuba, the Rio group and Algeria intervened in favour of a
rapid solution respecting the right to self-determination of the
population of the former Spanish colony and the implementation of the
Baker Plan, refused by Morocco.
A great number of petitioners made interventions along these
lines:
- members of the US Congress, NGOs and American churches engaged in
aiding the refugees, Defense Forum Foundation, Cynthia Basinet...
- elected members and representatives of human rights NGOs from
Spain, a priest of the Canary delegation which visited El Ayoun last
September, representatives of FEDISSAH, from the observation mission
from the general council of Spanish barristers, committees of support
from Belgium, Sweden, Norway, the Canary Islands, the Netherlands,
the American Association of Lawyers, the International Platform of
Jurists for East Timor, the International Association of Lawyers for
Western Sahara, OXFAM, EUCOCO, Western Sahara Resource Watch, etc.
[offcial UN press releases and some petitions see on
special
page]
UN Agenda about Western Sahara for October 2005
First tour of
the personal representative of the UN Secretary General:
The new personal representative, Peter van Walsum, will be in Morocco
on 12 and 13 October, on 14 and 15 in Tindouf, on 15 and 16 in
Algiers and on 17 in Nouakchott and Madrid.
31 of october
end of MINURSO mandate
SG report is due to 17.0.05. Consultations of the Security Council on
day 24,10, meeting on 28.10 for adoption of a new
resolution.
27.09.05
King's letter to the ICRC
Mohamed VI writes that Morocco is still waiting to be informed on the
fate of 210 disappeared persons, adding that "the return of the last
detainees to the bosom of their families does not close for all that
the humanitarian case of the conflict of the Sahara". It must be
emphasised that Morocco denied for a long time, until a recent date,
the existence of Moroccan prisoners in the hands of the Polisario
Front.
30.09.05,
illegal immigration
Ali Lmrabet, a Moroccan journalist, declares in Madrid that Morocco
is using illegal immigration in its negotiations with Spain in order
to receive more aid and to bring pressure to bear on the question of
Western Sahara and human rights in Morocco.
[EFE]
The seriousness of the problem with recent assaults on the barriers erected around the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla or the deportation in contempt of any legality of a thousand illegal immigrants to the Algerian and Mauritanian frontiers by Moroccan authorities shows a will of the latter to implicate neighbouring states in the crisis.
02.10.05
Questioned by F. Soudan, the head of the Mauritanian state declares:
"as for the Sahara affair, our position is known: strict neutrality,
perfect conformity with international decisions on the matter and
seeking constantly for a consensual solution."
[Jeune
Afrique/L'intelligent]
03.10.05
Concerning the question of Western Sahara, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed
Vall underlined that "perfect conformity with international decisions
and "seeking constantly for a consensual solution", demarcate
the positions of Mauritania on the conflict between Morocco and SADR.
[El Moudjahid, Alger]
23-25.09.05,
EUCOCO
Annual meeting of the European committees of support for the Saharawi
people in the presence of a delegation of the Algerian Committee of
support for the Saharawi people and representatives of SADR,
including the president of the parliament. Over 3 days the
participants worked in workshops on the themes of political action,
humanitarian aid, human rights, support for women and youth.
[final
resolution and other
documents]
http://www.arso.org/eucoco2005.htm
Three Moroccan journalists who tried to participate in this meeting, which is not public, were taken aside by the participants, the incident was inflated and exploited in an ill-intentioned way and was the subject of a statement from the Belgian journalists trades union and the International Federation of Journalists who condemned the "violent attacks" against three Moroccan journalists in Belgium. [Communiqué] In his response the president of EUCOCO put the events into proportion.
28
September
AUSTRALIA WESTERN SAHARA ASSOCIATION
The Australian Western Sahara Association (AWSA) launched a sea
container, painted by local artists, and full of books, sugar and
lentils from local organisations, to the refugee camps in Algeria.
Cate Lewis, secretary of AWSA (Victoria), explained some of the
reasons behind sending the container: "...the container can be used
as an outside art gallery in the bleak desert landscape of the camps.
This launch is a significant event as this is the first container to
go to the camps from Australia. We hope to draw attention to the
plight of these long forgotten people. We know our solidarity will be
appreciated." To celebrate this event, AWSA has holding an official
launch of the container by Maria Vamvakinou MP at The Footscray
Community Arts Centre, 45 Moreland Street, Wednesday 28 September.
[more]
Barcelona: VUELO CHARTER de DICEMBRE 2005- 02. - 10.12.05. Info: ACAPS-CATALUNYA, Secció SAHANDREU
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