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18.06.97
Amnesty International Report
In its annual Report A.I mentions deaths of prisoners in jail
under torture or bad conditions in Morocco and occupied Western
Sahara. There are thousands of prisoners of conscience in Morocco and
W.S. Last years 6 persons were liberated by royal decision among
them Kelthoum El Ouanat.
23.06.97
The Saharawi delegation is leaded by Mr.Mahfoud Ali Beiba, Prime
Minister of the Sahrawi Arab democratic Republic SADR, and includes
Mr Brahim Ghali , Minister of Defense, Mr Mohamed Haddad ,
Coordinator with MINURSO, Mr Ahmed Boukhari, Polisario Representative
at U.N., Mr Bachir SghaÔr, Polisario Representative in
Germany.
The Moroccan delegation is leaded by Prime Minister Abdelatif Filali,
accompanied by Mr Ahmed Snoussi, Representative at UN, Mr. Aziz
Hasbi, legal adviser of the Ministry of Interior and Mrs. Amal Rafuk,
principal private secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mr
Serradji. The Moroccan delegation met King Hassan II before leaving
in order to take his "highest instructions".
The negociations begin at the St Julian de la Barra fortress, about
10 km from Lisbon. The UN envoy is accompanied by Mr. John R. Bolton
and Erik Jensen. The subject of the discussions are essentially the
problems of voter identification. In a first time the observers, Mr.
Ahmed Attaf for the Algerian delegation and Mr. Ahmed uld Minni for
the Mauritanian delegation are present.
Instructions have been given by the UN to prevent any contact between
the medias and the delegations.
24.06.97
Declaration Baker
After two days Mr. James Baker, in a short press briefing, announced
to everyone's surprise the postponement of the negociations."Some
adjustments to the peace plan have been discussed", he added. Baker
said that the proposals were partially based on the existing plan but
also contained new elements and that the two sides needed to return
home to consult with political leaders after he had put forward some
"bridging proposals" . However, he added that he was now more
optimistic about the prospects for a peaceful resolution to the
dispute after the two days of discussions. If the response of the two
parts is positive rapidely, a new round of direct talks could be
convened as early as mid-July declared Baker.
26.06.97
The Polisario representative in Madrid imputes the postponement
of the negociations to Morocco. According to Omar Mansour the
Moroccan delegation asked for the break of the talks in order to
study the new proposals of Baker. " The Saharawi part has no
objection to resume the negociations" he adds.
According to generally well informed sources the next round of
negociations will take place on July 18 in Lisbon again.
26.06.97
President Bill Clinton, after his speach to the UN Earth Summit met
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss among others the UN
peacekeeping or diplomatic efforts in Cyprus, Western Sahara and East
Timor.
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