|
WEEKS 07-08 : 12.02.-25.02.2006 |
11.02.06,
Natural catastrophe
"Torrential rain, not seen in the region since 1994, struck the
Saharawi refugee camps, falling without stopping, from Thursday 09
until the early hours of Saturday 11, causing material damage and
several injuries. Over 50 per cent of the buildings in the camps were
affected". [statement
from the
Saharawi minister for the interior]
The President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, receives a
large Algerian delegation, dispatched to the spot to inquire into the
situation and bring aid and support from Algeria.
12.02.06
The Saharawi Red Crescent (CRS) launches an urgent appeal "to all
international governments and organisations". According to first
estimates made by CRS teams, over 12,000 families, or at least 60,000
people are without shelter, the floods carried off the few
possessions and food stores that they had. The CRS has no stock of
tents having not received any in 2005.
Special meeting of the Saharawi Council of Ministers and setting up
of a crisis group of the government. Emergency aid is
organised.
The Algerian army hurried to the spot with specialist medical teams as well as emergency aid. Eight large cargo planes brought material for the population of Tindouf and the Saharawi refugee camps. Similar humanitarian aid has been transported from the towns of El Oued, Setif and Bechar. Several teams from the Algerian fire service travelled to the area. Algeria provided 4,000 tents, 10,000 blankets, large quantities of medication and various food supplies.
An emergency
team bringing together the CRS, WFP and UNHCR is put in place.
The UNHCR with the other UN agencies organises emergency
aid.
13.02.06
The Spanish Agency of international cooperation in collaboration with
the autonomous communities of Spain and Spanish NGOs active in the
camps charter three planes to transport material. The European
Commission grants a sum of 900,000 euros, the Swiss government
200,000 dollars, the Andalusian Agency of cooperation 350,000 euros
for emergency aid and reconstruction. Subsequently many NGOs and
government institutions join the ranks and committees of support in
Europe and around the world open appeals to collect funds.
15.02.06
The Spanish Red Cross sends three plane-loads of aid to a value of
70,000 euros. The World Food Program (WFP) draws up an initial
emergency plan for one month. The Italian government decides to
"release emergency aid" amounting to 85,000 euros. The UNHCR
announces that "an air lift is being set up to transport light tents
and blankets, mattresses and plastic sheeting from a regional depot
in Jordan." The UNHCR also sent an emergency team, a planning expert
and a specialist in water distribution.
17.02.06
President Abdelaziz received the Algerian minister for Employment
and, from the national solidarity movement, Djamel Ould Abbés,
on a visit of solidarity to the Saharawi refugees. The Algerian
minister declared that his country "will support the Saharawi
government to the very end to overcome" the consequences of the
diluvian rain. Representatives of the North American embassy and
Switzerland, as well as representatives of WFP, UNHCR, ECHO and the
Spanish ministry for cooperation took part in the visit.
The arrival of the first cargo plane from the HCR. Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium and the USA offered their logistic assistance. Aid from the Algerian government and neighbouring Algerian towns and from the local Algerian population continue to arrive, as well as that of the Spanish Red Cross.
19.02.06: The
United States makes a gift of 50,000 dollars to the Saharawi
refugees.
21 02.06: The fifth plane chartered by the Spanish Red Cross arrives
in Tindouf.
24.02.06: Another plane from the Spanish agency of international
cooperation brings medication, food and sanitation equipment. The
Norwegian churches with the support of their government transport aid
worth 350,000 euros including 600 tents, to the camps.
25.02.06: A team of doctors and surgeons leaves Andalusia to help in
the refugee camps.
This list is not exhaustive.
More information, appeals, photos, video...see:
--> arso
--> Reliefweb
(UN)
--> Sahara-Info
--> Sahara
update
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
09.- 10.02.06,
El Ayoun
Several people appear before the examining magistrate: Brahim Dahane;
Sidi Sayli; El idrissi Sidi Bedde; Hadi Maouloud; Njourni Baha;
Chayne Med ; Cheikh Amaydane; Ait Abaylou Brahim; Leghzal Taher;
Malaaynin Tergui, Moustapha Labras; Brahim Labras; Eddaha Tanji; El
Bachir .
09.02.06
Five Moroccan soldiers, Saharawis enrolled against their will into
the Royal Armed Forces, were intercepted by border control guards
near Merkala (Tindouf). These young soldiers had deserted their post
and crossed the Algerian border to join the Saharawi Army of
Liberation. [Le
Soir d'Algérie]
11.02.06,
Boujdour
Peaceful demonstration in the centre of the town. Saharawi citizens
carrying SADR flags were violently dispersed by the forces of
repression. Numerous people injured, three young Saharawis arrested
including El Hafed Abdelmoulay ould El Hafed (El-Hafidi Abelmoula),
with head wounds. The families of the arrested Saharawis organised a
sit-in outside the police station.
12.02.06,
Smara
Numerous peaceful demonstrations take place in different quarters of
the town on the arrival of Saharawi families from the refugee camps
under the family exchange visit program.
13.02.06,
Boujdour
Former political prisoner, El Hafed Abdelmoulay ould El Hafed was
presented to the examining magistrate and imprisoned in the Black
Prison of El Ayoun. A new independence demonstration left the high
school, Lycée Omar Bnou Al-Khattab, which other Saharawis
joined, brandishing Saharawi flags. Violent response from the forces
of repression.
13.02.06, El
Ayoun
Moroccan mobile force units (CMI) backed up by GUS groups and
soldiers continue to patrol the principle boulevards and avenues.
Many educational establishments, in particular, lycée
Lamsalla, have been strictly controlled by the Moroccan police for
over three months, who do not hesitate to attack young Saharawis even
within school premises, directed in the majority of cases by the
Moroccan heads and supervision staff who collaborate with the police
and the Moroccan DST services. Arrest and mistreatment of Saharawi
citizens, Ahmed Salem Mohamed Salem and Khayrou Mahmoud Elkharrashi,
arrested for several hours.
15.02.06, Tan
Tan
The Saharawi population of the town of Tan Tan published a new
statement in which it calls for the immediate release of Souwayehel
Mohamed, a Saharawi citizen arrested and incarcerated on 7 February
last. He is a close relative of the late Lekhlifi Abba Cheikh, killed
by a Moroccan officer, Hmed Naji. The funeral of Lekhlifi Abba Cheikh
has not yet taken place and the Moroccan officer has been moved to
Agadir.
15.02.06,
El-Ayoun
Four Saharawi citizens were arrested: Rguibi Hayoune, Salam
Ezzerwali, M'barek Fahmi and Elhairesh Mohamed. After their release,
they claimed to have been the object of bad treatment.
15.02.06,
Dakhla
The Moroccan police arrested the Saharawi college student Edday Dayda
Larabass outside his house in Ghraybilate quarter, he underwent bad
treatment for over two hours in the police station.
16.02.06,
Smara
Ouzmani Laoulad ould Eman, nicknamed Loud, was sentenced to one year
in prison and a fine of 5000 DH and imprisoned in El Ayoun's Black
Prison. He had been arrested on 5 February in Smara for having waved
a Saharawi flag. In his testimony, he affirms having been tortured
and having suffered an injection to calm him and transport him.
1602.06, El
Ayoun
A unit of the Moroccan forces arrested a Saharawi citizen, Ahmoudi
Hammad.
16.02.06,
Guelmime
Moroccan intelligence agents abducted a Saharawi citizen, Moukhtar
Benjelloune at his place of work which is a cyber-café.
17.02.06,
Dakhla/Goulimine /El Ayoun
A human rights activist, Aoulad Chikh Mahjoub, arrested in Dakhla
outside the office of the Moroccan delegation for maritime fishing by
five agents, was taken outside the town and savagely tortured.
Abandoned there, he was driven to hospital by a passer-by, where they
refused to treat him. A complaint was lodged. Mahjoub's head had been
seriously injured during a demonstration on 27 June 2005 and during
clashes on the night of 3-4 February last.
Sahel Lamine, arrested in Goulimine on 6 February, was tortured
before being transferred to Inzegane prison. Little Butabaa Mahfud,
12 years, was arrested and mistreated in the station of the criminal
investigation police for three hours by Ichi Aboulhasan.
18.02.06
Report from El Ayoun by Florence Beaugé, Le Monde, Paris: "In
Western Sahara despair grows from the absence of a political
solution". [French]
17.02.2006, El Ayoun: Plainclothed police arrest an 18 year old known as Ali Med Baha Med Taglabout, outside a teleshop at 9pm in El Ayoun, they took him to the PJ where he underwent a heavy interrogation before being released around 2am the next morning.
He was again
called to the PJ, with his father Med Baha Med Taglabout, 57 years,
retired from the O.C.P., and was harassed in front of his father. He
was being taken to task for: meeting of young people with incitation
to riot, preparation of flags for demonstrators, preparation of
stones on top of the house to throw them on agents of order.
Before being released Ali was faced with a choice of accepting a card
of national promotion and stopping his activities or going before the
courts and prison. He makes the first choice.
20.02.06,
Dakhla
Young El Luali Yekber Hasana Barray, 17 years, was abducted in the
street and taken to the police station where he was tortured,
insulted and threatened with a pistol by Hariz El Aarbi, responsible
for regional security, infamous for his brutality. He was
subsequently taken out of the town, mistreated, stripped of his
possessions and abandoned there with fractures to his ribs and head
wounds.
20.02.06
Morocco mistreats and tortures minors
The international Secretariat of the World Organisation against
Torture (OMCT) launches an appeal [French]:
Exaction enfants. Usage excessif de la force policière /
Détention arbitraire / Disparition présumée
[Excessive use of police force / Arbitrary detention /
Presumed disappearance]. Cas MAR 150206 / MAR
150206.CC
21.02.06, Smara: 7 Saharawi citizens were arrested after a big peaceful demonstration was organised in the Tan Tan quarter by Saharawi citizens carrying SADR flags, the majority being women and children. The Moroccan forces of repression attacked the peaceful crowd causing many injuries to women and children. Three young Saharawi men were arrested: Ahmed Haddi, Eddaoudi Ambarek, Chiekh Hammadi, Frahani Lahbib, Azzaz el Ouali, El Mousaoui, Lakhdr Ambare.
22.02.06,
forbidden journey
A delegation of parliamentarians from the Balearic Islands, who
wanted to travel to Western Sahara, was prevented from embarking on a
Moroccan plane in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on the order of
Moroccan authorities. [El
Pais]
13.02.06
"The search for a solution (to the conflict in Western Sahara) must
be done within the framework of the resolutions of the UN Security
Council", the British minister for foreign affairs, Mr Jack Straw,
said in Fez in the course of a visit of several hours to
Morocco.
15.02.06
Iran only sees the solution to the conflict of Western Sahara in the
context of the United Nations, the Iranian Ambassador to Algeria,
Houssein Waleh, declared in an interview to the Algerian daily, Al
Massa.
16.02.06
Morocco's proposal to offer autonomy status to the Sahara under
Moroccan sovereignty "would be a good solution" for the conflict of
the Sahara, declared the president of the Foreign Affairs committee
to the Congress of Spanish deputies (lower house of parliament),
Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida.
18.02.06
In a written declaration responding to declarations by Josep Antoni
Duran Lleida, Mrs Larabas, responsible for External Relations on the
Saharawi National Council (parliament), affirmed that the Parliament
"is indignant at these statements, contrary to international legality
and to the principle of a referendum of self-determination".
[SPS]
17.02.06
The President of the African Union Commission, Mr. Alpha Omar
Konaré, received in Addis Abeba, Mr. Mhamed Khadad, member of
the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front and emissary of the
President of the Republic. President Konaré reaffirmed "the
position of the African Union, which considers that the solution to
the conflict in Western Sahara rests in the strict respect of the
inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination in
accordance with international law and the relevant resolutions of the
UN and the African Union".
UN
The personal representative of the UN Secretary General for Western
Sahara, Van Walsum, was received on the 9th in Madrid and on 14 in
Paris by the respective ministers of foreign affairs and at the same
period in Addis Abeba by the President of the African
Commission.
13.02.06
Launching of the campaign: Fish Elsewhere - No EU Fishing in Western
Sahara
Campaigners from 19 European countries came together to stop the
European Union ratifying an Agreement which will violate
international law and see European boats fishing in the waters of
Africa's last colony. [Press
release
] [comuniqué]
[deutsch]
17-02-2006,
EU
The consequences of the EU's fishing agreement with Morocco, which
includes Saharawi territorial waters, have been the subject of
discussion between experts within the Commission, at the request of
the governments of Britain, Sweden and Denmark. The Commission
considers that these waters are under Moroccan administration and
that the Saharawi people will benefit also from the new agreement.
The UN declared it clearly illegal to exploit natural resources of
Western Sahara.
22.02.06
Sbai Labbas, a doctor of Saharawi origin, with dual Swiss and
Moroccan nationality, who was arrested on 02 February and sentenced
to 6 months' imprisonment in Zagora (see weeks
05-06),
saw his term reduced to 3 months on appeal. He does not accept this
unjust sentence and is on hunger and thirst strike. One can sign a
petition
for him
and find more info on the weblog.
Doctor Sbai is the son of the late Mohamed Cheij Sid Labbas Sbai, an
eminent resister of French colonialism. Dr Sbai studied in Morocco,
then in Russia, afterwards working in Switzerland. He returned to the
town of his birth, Mhamid el Ghezlan, in order to develop tourist and
cultural projects and is very active in the field of heritage
preservation of the region.
19.02.06
The king of Morocco is carrying out an official visit to Gambia, the
Congo and DRC.
11-13.02.06,
Donald Rumsfeld's first visit to the Maghreb
The American Secretary of State started a working visit in Tunisia,
continued in Algeria and Morocco. According to journalist sources,
the American Minister of Defense wants to strengthen military
cooperation with the countries of the Maghreb as well as the fight
against "terrorism" and organised crime. Rumsfeld took part
previously in Sicily in a two-day meeting of NATO Defense ministers,
in which most of the Maghreb ministers of defence also took part.
Rumsfeld's visit was preceded by a few days by that of Robert S.
Mueller, head of the FBI.
The United States are maintaining a military base as well as a
listening station near Tamanrasset which allows them to intercept all
telephone communications, both fixed line and mobile, as well as
satellite and fax in sub-saharan Africa.
Quotation: «Rumsfeld was asked his level of concern about Western Sahara harboring extremist groups. He said "there are in my view other areas more likely," [...]» [Reuters/ Washington Post, 13.02.06] [ Marruecos no logra que EE UU incluya al Polisario en la lista de terroristasPedro Canales, La Razon, 19.02.056]
19-24.02.06
An international seminar on the fight against terrorism in the
Maghreb and in the Sahel-Saharan region was organised in Algiers,
with the participation of eight African countries (without Morocco)
and American and European partners (without Spain). This meeting is
organised by the African Centre for study and research on terrorism
(CAERT) and the Center for Strategic Studies on Africa (CESA) of the
American department of Defense. [see the
website]
and [La
Razon]
11.02.06,
Spain
The IXth caravan from Castille y Léon of humanitarian aid for
the Saharawi people left Valladolid with 120 tonnes of diverse
products.
20.02.06,
Cuba
Bachir Mustapha Sayed met Saharawi students on the Island of Youth.
600 Saharawis are at present studying in Cuba. The Saharawi minister
for Education declared that in 30 years over 2,000 young Saharawis
have obtained a university degree in Cuba and the same number have
been trained as technicians.
27.02.1975 -
27.02.2006
Manifestations
take place in Europe in occasion of the 30th anniversary of
SADR.
Acto de
Solidaridad con las Mujeres Saharauis.
Tendrá lugar en Madrid, en la sede de la Sociedad General de
Autores y Editores (SGAE), Calle Fernando VI, número 4, martes
día 7 de Marzo a las 19 horas y en cual se proyectará
un documental sobre las mujeres saharauis titulado „La Rosa del
Desierto". El acto estará presidido por: Cristina del Valle:
Presidenta de la Plataforma de Mujeres Artistas Contra la
Violencia de Género. Zahra Ramdán, Responsable de
Relaciones Internacionales de la Unión Nacional de Mujeres
Saharauis, y Carmen Díaz-Llanos, Presidenta de la
Asociación de Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Madrid.
30ème
anniversaire de la RASD - page
spéciale
30th anniversary of SADR - special
page
30º aniversario de la RASD - pagina
especial
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