WEEKLY NEWS

WEEK 26, 24-30.06.1996

Headlines:


Ex-MINURSO chief in Switzerland
SADR President in Spain
Solidarity conference in Madrid
Solidarity campaign in Portugal


Ex-MINURSO chief in Switzerland
The Belgian general van Baelen, who commanded the MINURSO military section til March 31th 1996, was invited by the Swiss army chief at mid June. The invitation was made as "thank and acknowledgement for his support to the Swiss Medical Unit". Van Baelen informed all the ex-SMU commanding officers about the evolution and the actual political situation in Western Sahara.

25.06.96
SADR President in Spain
The Polisario Front will wait until November and then consider a resumption of the armed struggle unless Morocco accepts direct negotiations on the future of Western Sahara. So said the president of the SADR and secretary-general of the Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz, on his arrival in Madrid. The Sahrawi president, however, explained that Spain and the international community could still persuade Morocco to join direct negotiations with the Polisario Front to prevent armed conflict. If the UN Security Council does not make a decision in August or November at the latest to save the peace plan, there will be a return to the war imposed by Morocco's attitude.

27.06.96
Solidarity conference in Madrid
The Spanish "Federation of State Institutions of Solidarity with the Sahrawi People" organized a conference with, a. o., the Sahrawi President Mohamed Abdelaziz, U.S. ambassador Frank Ruddy, former deputy chairman of the MINURSO's identification commission, representatives of the Algerian and Mauritanian government and of Spanish political parties.
In his speech Mr. Ruddy declared that the Moroccans behaved in Western Sahara like gangsters, comparing them to the former apartheid regime in South Africa. He clearly indicated the responsibles of the actual deadlock, the Moroccans, through their abuses and obstructions, and the U.N., which didn't achieve its peacekeeping mission, which tolerated the Moroccan abuses and provocated an issueless and dangerous situation.

28.06.96
Solidarity campaign in Portugal
Under the presidence of general Pezarat Correia a great number of VIPs support a solidarity campaign with the Sahrawi people. The aim is to inform the Portuguese public opinion, sensitize the autorities on the necessity of defending the self determination of the Sahrawi people, "comparative to that of East Timor", and organize humanitarian help for the Sahrawi refugees.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

  • Cinq jours pour découvrir les conditions de vie des Sahraouis, Le Courier, Genève, 21.06.96
  • "Marruecos ha actuado como la Mafia en el Sahara", dice el ex vicejefe de la mision de la ONU en la zona, Armada Alfonso, El Pais, Madrid, 28.06.96.
  • "¿ Hasta cuando permitira Espana el chantaje de Marruecos ?", Roldan Carlos Alvaro, El Mundo, Madrid, 28.06.96.
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