|
WEEKS 33-34 : 13.08.-26.08.2006 |
SADR
11-12.08.06,
Support
A delegation from the ANC (South African National Congress), visited
the refugee camps. “We will stay by your side until the final victory”,
the secretary general, Kgalame Mothlante, affirmed in a speech given in
the wilaya of Smara. The Saharawi President, receiving Mothlante,
declared that the recognition of SADR by South Africa constituted “an
fitting response to Morocco’s procrastination, to its
intransigence and its refusal to subscribe to international law”.
Mothlante, making allusion to the activists in the Saharawi intifada in
the occupied territories, declared: “You are not alone, they cannot
isolate you, we are at your side... You are very close to victory”.
In a joint statement, the ANC and the Polisario Front called on the
Moroccan government to “withdraw its occupying forces from Saharawi
territory and to respect the sovereignty of the Saharawi Republic
defined by its internationally recognised borders”. The two
movements condemned “the repressive practices of the Moroccan forces of
occupation” and invited the United Nations to “intervene to protect
Saharawi civilians in the occupied territories”. They also signed a
joint plan of action. [Joint
statement – English original]
12.08.06, Cambodia
The Kingdom of Cambodia will no longer recognise SADR. That’s what the
agency MAP claims, at the end of talks in Phnom Penh between the
Moroccan minister delegate for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation,
Taïb Fassi Fihri and the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, but it
is not mentioned in the statement
published on the official site of the Kingdom of Cambodia. OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
El Ayoun
Demonstrations, followed by police interventions, arrests, sentences,
beatings and injuries and destruction of homes continue. Between 9 and
12 August, a dozen people were questioned. One of them was later
abandoned 20 km from the town. Saharawi human rights activists, ElWali
Ameidan and Jamal ElHousseini were tortured and threatened with being
burnt alive. [details]
The well-known trades unionist, Mohamed Jaïm was brutally attacked
outside the offices of MINURSO during a demonstration. [photos]
Foum ElOued
Demonstrations continue regularly both in the village of Foum ElOued
and on the nearby beach. Two Saharawi activists, arrested during the
demonstration on 12 August, were put into the Black Prison on the
orders of the instructing magistrate, Targui Ali ould Sid Ammou,
brother of the former Saharawi political detainee, Targui Malainine,
and Laaraibi Mohamed Ali ould Lahoussine. At the end of an ultra-rapid
procedure they were sentenced on 16 August, only 24 hours after they
were imprisoned, to two months in prison and a fine of 1000 dirhams.
Hunger strikes
For the third time, Saharawi political detainees in the Black Prison
observed a 48-hour hunger strike on 15 and 16 August in protest at
their conditions of detention. Those from the prisons of Inezegane and
Aït Melloul did likewise for 24 hours on 11 August, in solidarity
with Salek Lassiri and Saleh Amidan, who have been pursuing a hunger
strike since 26 July in the Moroccan prison of Kenitra and with Loumadi
Mohamed, on hunger strike since 7 August in the same prison, as well as
with “our families in Smara, El Ayoun, Tan Tan, Assa, Mhamid ElGhizlan
and Ifni, who have been victim to serious human rights abuses”. [updated list of prisoners]
Further demonstrations are reported on 10, handing out of flags and
leaflets at Lemseïed, Tan Tan and Tighmert in Southern Morocco.
14.08.06, Dakhla
During the celebration of the 27th anniversary of the annexation of
Dakhla by Morocco, El Mami ould Taleb Omar burst in upon the
regional meeting of officialdom in the town hall, calling out slogans
for independence. He was immediately overcome and beaten copiously.
Nothing more is known, but the quarters of Akseikisat and Oum Tounsi
were covered in leaflets and flags on the occasion of this anniversary.
17.08.06, appeal
The Association of Saharawi Families and Disappeared (AFAPREDESA) and
the Union of Saharawi Lawyers (UJS) launched an “urgent appeal” to the
Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Human Rights,
Hina Jilani, to “dispatch international commissions of inquiry into the
occupied territories of Western Sahara”.
24/25.08.06
Three Saharawi political prisoners were victims in the Black Prison of
El Ayoun of an assassination attempt on the part of co-detainees in
common law. They are: Mohamed Salem Mohamed Yeslem Bahaha, N°
d'écrou (prisoner number) 27477, Mohamed Mustapha Mouloud
Gemid/Ghamid Elhaj, N° d'écrou 27476, and Abdeslam Kasem
Dida, N° d'écrou 27478, who were arrested in Smara on
18.07.06.[SPS]
REFERENDUM
UN Special
Representative for Western Sahara
Francesco Bastagli, appointed in August 2005 (weeks 31/32
2005),
has come to the end of his mandate. On 23 August, he took his leave
from the Saharawi authorities, expressing his regret at leaving office
while “the Saharawi conflict remains open at the political level”. Mr.
Bastagli displayed his confidence in the will of the Saharawi people to
support the efforts of the United Nations for self-determination and
for a satisfactory solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.
12.08.06, plans
for a coup d'Etat
Sackings and transfers have been taking place in the Moroccan army and
the DGST, the Moroccan secret services, following the arrest of five
members of the armed forces, presumed members of a terrorist cell of 44
people dismantled on 7 August last. This cell was plotting to overturn
the regime and install an Islamic state. It is believed that those
arrested belonged to the air force. A major colonel in Casablanca and
General Belbachir, who headed the management of military security, were
dismissed. His department has been dissolved. It is the Royal
Gendarmerie which, at the head of the 5th department, is in charge, as
in the past, of supervising the army. It is directed by General
Benslimane. [El
Pais, 14.08.06] [MAP
engl. 07.08.06]
Intrigues and
manipulations
Various Moroccan, Spanish and French newspapers, have published an
incredible story full of contradictions, intrigues and manipulations,
touching Spanish-Moroccan and French-Moroccan relations, through the
adventures of a former agent of the Moroccan services.
Hicham Bouchti, a Moroccan citizen, lodged an asylum claim in August
2005 in Spain. This individual had served in the Moroccan auxiliary
forces (in charge of supervising the army) in 2000-2001 and in the
"deuxième bureau" of the Royal Army Forces from 2001 to 2003,
where he was in charge of infiltrating Islamic circles. He was
sentenced to two years’ prison in January 2003 by a military tribunal
for fraud or revelation of military secrets, according to sources. When
he came out of prison, finding no work, he is believed to have decided
to go to Spain. This is the version which he gave to two Moroccan
weeklies, close to the powers, to whom he presented himself in July of
this year on his return to Morocco.[Maroc-Hebdo
International, No 708]
His request for asylum is refused, but Bouchti is not turned back. He
apparently then met, at a refugee centre in Madrid, Aïcha Ramdane,
the wife of Tamek who put him in touch with Ali Lmrabet, a Spanish
Moroccan journalist with El Mundo. He published an interview with
Bouchti on 3 February 2006, containing revelations, partly already
known, on the king and the royal family. [El
Mundo, 03.02.06]
Back in Morocco, Bouchti “reveals” in a jumble that according to him
Aïcha and Lmrabet are agents working for Spain, that he was used
by the Spanish secret service to become the spokesman of the movement
of free Moroccan officers and was dragged into a Franco-Spanish
conspiracy to eliminate Lmrabet and Basri. Just that! [MHI
709]
For Lmrabet and
the daily El Mundo, [see chap.
9 of Sahara-Info of
27.07.06] ,
Bouchti is a Moroccan agent used both by the Spanish and the French
services to eliminate him. He has support from the highest level in
Morocco. The names of Spanish, French and Moroccan agents are cited by
the newspaper.
The court of Casablanca has not bothered Bouchti, but decided instead
on an inquiry into the Spanish services and El Mundo for trying to
destabilise Morocco... [MAP
engl]
For the journalist Pedro Canales [La
Razon, in Sahara-Info, 31.07.06,
chap. 6]
the manipulation is the work of a sector of the Moroccan regime
favourable to the interests of France, which wants to torpedo the
influence of Spain in Morocco. For Jeune Afrique, on the contrary, the
French weekly known for its position close to the Makhzen, the whole
affair is due to a manipulation of the pro-Polisario Spanish press... [J.A. 30.07.06]
SOLIDARITY
11.08.06
The officers of the Italian solidarity association from Emilia Romagna
Jaima Saharaoui, accompanied by a group of 30 Saharawi children, were
received by the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napoletano.
15.08.-17.09.06, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
La Sala de Arte de CajaCanarias en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria acoge del
15 de agosto al 17 de septiembre la exposición Memoria del
Sáhara, obra
del periodista y reportero gráfico José Luis de Pablos.
16.08.06, México, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e
Historia ENAH
En el marco de las Segundas Jornadas de Antropología Visual se
presento
el documenta "Voces del Sahara" di Javier Pérez Solano y
Jesús Álvarez
Razo seguido con una conferencia acerca de la lucha del pueblo
saharaui, en la que el señor Ahmed Mulay Ali pedio a todos los
amantes
de la paz y la justicia su grano de arena para hacer llegar la paz al
norte de África mediante la aplicación del plan de paz
aceptado por la
comunidad internacional y rechazado por Marruecos que tiene un apoyo en
Francia a la que no le interesa la existencia de un estado hispano
parlante en su zona de influencia. Así como intervinieron varias
personalidades de la asociación y el acto fue moderado por Alma
Najera
miembro de la asociación y estudiante de la ENAH.
18.08.06, La
lucha saharaui en el canal 22
Projeccion del documental "Laila" realizado por la actriz Silvia Munt,
ganador de premio Goya en España, acompañado por una
entrevista del
señor Ahmed Mulay Ali Ministro Consejero Encargado de negocios
de la
Republica Saharaui en México.
18-27.08.06,
Exposición en la Fototeca de Veracruz
Exposición fotográfica "Imágenes del Sahara: el
camino al Leyuad" del
fotógrafo Ricardo Ramírez Arriola, en el marco del XIII
Festival
Internacional Afrocaribeño.[El Sol de
México]
Las imágenes incluidas en esta exposición que se
exhibirá también en
Xalapa, Veracruz, fueron tomadas en marzo de este año durante un
viaje
a los campamentos de refugiados cerca de Tinduf, Argelia y a Leyuad en
República Árabe Saharaui Democrática. El autor
tomó como punto de
partida para esta exposición el proverbio saharaui "Lemrua
tespeg
etfagrich" (La bondad antes que la valentía). Parte de esta exposición
puede verse.
02.09.06,
Bilbao: manifestacion Sahara: no hay futuro sin la autodeterminacion.
Hora: 12.30, lugar: Plaza el arenal. Convoca: Coordinadora
Euskadi-Sahara 27 de febrero.
MARIEM HASSAN
02.09.06, Madrid, I Festival Solidario de Músicas del Mundo
Ciempozuelos global, Plaza de Toros (C/ Enrique Granados s/n) 23:00
PRÓXIMOS CONCIERTOS:
20 septiembre: Munich (Alemania)
22 septiembre: Södra Teatern, Estocolmo (Suecia)
21 octubre: Teatro Principal, Burgos
4 noviembre: Fira de la Mediterranía, Manresa
Infos: NUBENEGRA
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- 2am
– a downpour in the middle of the desert, 'So my mother saved us' –
an account from a young Saharan girl, Daniela Cavini, Relief web,
24.08.06.
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