|
WEEKS 23 - 24 : 03.06. - 16.06.2007 |
OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
24.05.07, Written
question to the Council of the European Union
Subject: Repression carried out by the Kingdom of Morocco against
Saharawi students, put by Pasqualina Napoletano (PSE), Carlos Carnero
González (PSE), Iratxe García Pérez (PSE), Ignasi
Guardans Cambó (ALDE), Willy Meyer Pleite (GUE/NGL), Raül
Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) and Karin Scheele (PSE).
01.06.07 El Ayoun
Arrest of five young Saharawis, some minors, subjected to torture and
sexual abuses, detained beyond the custody period. [Communiqué
CODESA, french, 10.06.07] [ASVDH
engl.]
04. - 10.06.07, Rabat
The students arrested during a sit-in at the University on 17.05.07,
incarcerated in Rabat-Salé prison, publish an open letter
on 04. , they announce in a statement that
they will start a hunger strike on 10.06.07 .
See also the detailed
report on the bloody intervention against Saharawi students within
the student residence, Cité Al IRFAN-Rabat.
<http://www.arso.org/>
Some videos of student demonstrations: http://goufia.blogspot.com/
12.06.07, Trial Rabat
Nine Saharawi students are sentenced to 8 months’ prison and a fine of
500 dirhams. ASVDH: http://asvdh.net/english/?p=216
13.06.07, El Ayoun
Demonstrations in Skaikima district. Arrest of four persons. ASVDH: http://asvdh.net/english/?p=217
14.06.07, El-Ayoun
Demonstrations in Maatallah and Inaach districts. Eleven questioned,
four homes ransacked. Comunicado CODESA, spanish: http://www.arso.org/CODESA140607.htm
30.05.07 The
Royal Consultative Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) approved, at
the end of the proceedings of the first ordinary session for the year
2007, the creation of 1,000 small scale fishing businesses in the
“provinces of the South of the Kingdom” offering over 4,000 jobs in the
maritime fishing sector. [MHI,
No 747]
Kosmos Energy,
the only company still on the ground, publishes a report on the
potential that the region appears to offer. Read more :
Fortune hunters eye
Western Sahara oil riches, Kosmos Energy report on the Boujdour
offshore field, Kosmos Energy report on the Boujdour offshore field:
«A high risk and a very high reward», afrol News, 9 June 2007.
03.06.07,
Meeting in an ordinary session, the National Secretariat of the
Polisario Front reaffirms its willingness to start direct negotiations
with Morocco.
[Full text: SPS,
french 04.06.07]
03.06.07
The official visit of the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva to
Morocco, was cancelled at the last moment by Rabat, because of
differences of opinion on the question of Western Sahara, according to
the daily, Correio Braziliense. [Liberté, 03.06.07].
04.06.07,
diplomatic ballet
After the meetings of Sarkozy and Rice with Zapatero in Madrid between
31.05 and 01.06.07, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs goes to
Paris.
[Déclaration du porte-parole du ministère
français des Affaires étrangères et
européennes]
Moroccan-Saharawi Direct Negotiations
04.06.07, The UN announces that direct negotiations will be held on 18
and 19 June near New York.
FR Conférence de presse du président du conseil de
sécurité pour le mois de juin et représentant
permanent de la Belgique: 4 juin 2007.
Western Sahara talks to be held on 18-19 june (UN official). Daily
briefing by Marie Okabe Deputy Spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, UN headquarters, New York, June 4, 2007: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=22779&Cr=western&Cr1=sahara
05.06.07
The Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, declares that the problem
of Western Sahara represents a factor blocking the building of the
Maghreb, which influences the future of the whole region. Algiers
recognizes for the first time that the conflict in Western Sahara is an
obstacle to constructing the Maghreb. Algeria puts, for the first time,
pressure on its partners in making recognition of the right to
self-determination of the Saharawi people a condition of building the
Arab Maghreb Union. [MINAE
Alger 06.06.07] [engl.
SPS]
05.06.07 Daniel Ortega, on a visit to Algiers, reiterates his support
for the Saharawi people, recalling he signed, on 10 January, after his
election as head of state in Nicaragua, the recognition of the Saharawi
people and the Saharawi state.[AFP, french]
06.06.07, The Committee of the Twenty-Four examine the question of
Western Sahara
Boukhari’s statement before the Committee of the 24: http://www.spsrasd.info/en/infos/2007/06/sps-e070607-4.html
06.06.07, Interview of US Ambassador Ford in Algiers
“It is clear that the Sahara question prevents Maghreb integration”.
“There is no other choice but to set the Moroccans and the Polisario
face to face, in the same room for negotiations”, the American diplomat
indicated. “ This does not mean that it’s up to the Polisario to accept
everything and all at once out of the Moroccan proposal, and the same
goes for the Moroccans”, he said. “The Moroccan plan is serious and
credible. Should the Polisario accept this plan in its entirety? No.”
[Le Quotidien d'Oran, 06.06.07, texte
complet: http://www.lequotidien-oran.com/index.php?news=501162&archive_date=2007-06-06 ]
[SPS]
06.06.07, Hearing US Pollicy
US House of Represenrtatives, Hearing of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs: "U.S. Policy Challenges in North Africa"
Statement of Chairman Lantos . Fulltext : http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/lantos060607.htm
Remarks by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David
Welch, Fulltext: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/wel060607.htm
06.06.07 Visit of the UN Secretary General to Madrid
Ban states that he has invited to attend the negotiations, in addition
to Mauritania and Algeria, the countries of the group of “Friends of
Western Sahara”, USA, Spain, UK, France and Russia. [Middle East
Online]
About fifty people demonstrate outside the Spanish Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. [Europa
Press 06.06.07].
11.06.07, Press conference in Algiers of the Saharawi Minister for
Foreign Affairs Ould Salek,
The Polisario Front launches a “solemn and urgent” appeal to the UN to
seize the opportunity offered by negotiations with Morocco “to bring
Rabat to respect the objective” of the talks as determined by Security
Council Resolution 1754.
Meanwhile, the minister declares that “for the moment, no positive
indicator points to the willingness of the other party (...) to put an
end to the policy of the fait accompli, occupation by armed force and
the denial of the commitments it has signed up to.” [Reuters]
12.06.07
Moroccan repression against Saharawi citizens in the occupied
territories is not conducive to creating a favourable climate for the
negotiations between the Polisario and Morocco, warns the President of
the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, in a letter sent to the UN
Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. [SPS]
12.06.07, In a letter to Ban Ki-moon, Mohamed Abdelaziz announces
the composition of the Saharawi delegation, which will travel to New
York, led by Mr. Mahfoud Ali Baba, President of the Saharawi National
Council: Brahim Ghali, Polisario representative in Spain,
Mr. Khaddad, in charge of coordination between the Polisario
Front and MINURSO and Ahmed Boukhari representative of the Polisario
Front at the UN. It is the same delegation who attended the Houston
talks in 1997, this time strengthened by the addition of a presidential
counselor, Bachir Sgheir and the Polisario Front representative for
Great Britain and Ireland, Sidi Mohamed Omar. [SPS]
13.06.07
The Moroccan delegation comprises Chakib Benmoussa, Minister of the
Interior, Taieb Fassi Fihri, Minister delegate for Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation, Fouad Ali Al Himma, Minister delegate for the Interior,
Khalihenna Ould Errachid, president of the Royal Consultative Council
for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), Mohamed Yassine Mansouri, Director
general of Studies and Documentation and, El Mostafa Sahel, Permanent
representative of Morocco to the UN.[AKI]
15.06.07: Mauritania: The former transition Prime Minister, Sidi
Mohamed Ould Boubacar will travel to New York at the head of a
delegation of Mauritanian observers. He already took part in meetings
in Houston in 1997. [Mauritanie
web]
Special Page: Négociations - déclarations - documents-
médias: http://www.arso.org/UNnegociations180607.htm
01.06.07, Russie
Conference in Moscow to denounce Moroccan repression in Western Sahara,
UPES, 03.06.07: http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=257
Constitution of a Committee of solidarity with Western Sahara in
Moscow, UPES, 03.06.07: http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=256
02.06.07, Espagne
Près de 10'000 enfants sahraouis passeront les deux mois
d'été en Espagne. [SERVIMEDIA]
New
address: Intifada du Sahara, in arabic: http://www.intifadadusahara.jeeran.com
Updated and with a new look: Western Sahara Online: http://www.wsahara.net/
Actualizacion del web de Cantabria por el Sahara: http://www.cantabriaporelsahara.com/home.php
Some videos des manifestations d'étudiants: http://goufia.blogspot.com/
Documents, analyses ....
International Crisis Group Reports
International
Crisis Group (en français)
International
Crisis Group (en castellano)
Remarks by
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch
Update on North Africa House Foreign Affairs Committee June 6, 2007 : http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/wel060607.htm
Journalism in support of occupation, Nick Brooks, 04.06.07: http://nickbrooks.wordpress.com/2007/06/04/journalism-in-support-of-occupation/
Comment about the
May 31st edition of Spiegel Online, which carries an article
by Daniel Steinvorth with the title “Peace for the Big Sandbox:
Western Sahara Eyes a Hopeful Future”.
El Sahara ocupado, John Charney, Abogado chileno, asesor del diputado
Marco Enriquez-Ominami. Blog de la Asociación Chilena de Amistad
con la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática,
06.06.07: http://www.saharaui.cl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=64&Itemid=31
Ljadra Mint Mabruk (Khadra mint Mabrouk): La poesía de la
Revolución: http://aziza-brahim.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post_4200.html
Lefrig, Boletín informativo del Centro de Documentación y
Museo de la Resistencia del Pueblo Saharaui y la Solidaridad
Internacional. Número 11, Junio 2007: http://www.gloobal.info/saharaui/boletin11.htm
CODESA Informa:
Testimonio de Fatma Ayach en el parlamento Sudafricano, blog Sahara
Resiste, 15.06.07: http://sahararesiste.blogspot.com/2007/06/codesa-informa-testimonio-de-fatma.html
La propuesta
marroquí de autonomía de 2007: demasiados
agujeros negros, Por Carlos Ruiz Miguel, GEES, Análisis nº
196 | 15 de Junio de 2007: http://www.gees.org/articulo/4141/
NEW
PUBLICATIONS
[External
links to newspapers may not be valid after some days because the
servers are restarted]
Français
>> Revue de la presse internationale francophone: http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/revue-de-presse-sahara-occidental/messages
English
>> English publications on Sahara Update mailinglist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update/messages
Castellano
>> Revista de la prensa en español http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/revista-de-prensa-sahara-occidental/messages
Italiano
Attualità in italiano: El Ouali Bologna: http://www.saharawi.org/saharawi.htm
+Radio for Peace http://www.radiokcentrale.it/du.htm
Português
Deutsch
Norsk
[Summary
Weekly News,]
[Western
Sahara Homepage]