WESTERN SAHARA

WEEKLY NEWS

 

WEEK 27

28.06.-04.07. 1998

 

 

20.-29.06.98
Session of the Saharawi Parliament
Under the presidency of Abdelkader Taleb Omar and in tpresence of the Prime Minister Mahfud Ali Beiba and his staff the Parliament began its work on June 20. The agenda included the balance of the identification process, the government programme and the various ministerial projects at long and mid term, as well as economical matters, planification, administration and State management. The 7 specialized committees concerning social, political and military domains went on working until June 29. They will later present their propositions to the deputies. The ministers will also submit their projects particuliarly about the refugee repatriation toward the liberated territories in collaboration with the UNHCR.

26.06.98
Balance of Identification

Identified applicants since 1994: 133 568.

Identified applicants since December 1997: 73 456.

28.06.98
Arrests in Western Sahara (09.06.98)
The AFAPREDESA announces that the Moroccan army arrested 8 young Saharawis near Tichla, while they tried to cross the berm to join the Polisario. It concerns:

Omar ould Moulay ould Ahmed, born 1979.
Boujamaaa ould Ghali ould Bougaryoun, born 1980.
Bouchraya ould El mahfoud ould Omar, alias Azat, born 1979.
Moulay-Ahmed ould Eslaya ould Salek, born 1979.
M'Barek ould Mohamed ould Raïs, born 1980.
Brahim ould Zergou ould Yacoub, born 1978.
Lahcen ould Ali-Salem ould El Keyhal, born 1976.
Lahbib ould Khatari ould Khaled, born 1973.

7 of them have been liberated at Smara on June 22 after having been tortured. Omar ould Moulay ould Ahmed presents serious psychological disorders and Moulay-Ahmed ould Eslaya ould Salek a paralysis of the legs as after-effects of torture. Lahbib ould Khatari ould Khaled, unvolontary enlisted in the Moroccan army 1997, has been transfered to Rabat.
Besides, Mohamed-Buya ould Amanet-Allah, arrested at Smara on June 9 by police, has been condemned to 4 months of jail and a penalty for insult to a policeman, and Ferrani Mohamed ould El Majoub, arrested on the same day, should be sentenced on July 1 for insult to a teacher.
The AFAPREDESA, in its communique, asks for the constitution of an independent inquiry commission to visit the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

News from Daddach
Mohamed Daddach, sentenced for life and jailed at Kenitra, has announced he was visited by the general director of the Moroccan jails, just before the visit of Pierre Sané on June 1. He explained to the Secretary General of A.I. the conditions of detention and transmitted a letter to his mother.

28-29.06.98
Declaration Yussufi
The Moroccan Prime Minister affirmed to the French newspaper Le Monde that the difficulties and delay of the identification process are due to the «other part», the Polisario. Yussufi declared: «The referendum that's nearly a luxury. In our mind the problem is solutioned. The integration of the provinces of Western Sahara has been realized in 1976.» About the relations between Morocco and Algeria Yussufi precised, answering to Algerian declarations, that he is ready to meet his Algerian counterpart.

01.07.98
Reaction of the Polisario Representative in France
«At the very moment when the U.N. is preparing actively the selfdetermination referendum in Western Sahara, Morocco shows the evidence that it doest not at all take seriously this effort. (...) Our surprise is great when Yussufi pretends "he wishes to respect" the Houston agreements, and at the same time he disavows his commitment to the agreement signed by both parts about the contested tribes. To respect the Houston agreements for a true selfdetermination referendum for the Saharawi people and to affirm in the same time that this referendum is only a formality, the question having been "solutioned" since 1976. What a contradiction !»

29.06.98
The UNGA granted to the MINURSO a credit of $22 749 540 for the period of 01.07. to 30.10.1998. In case, of course, of the renewal of the mandate, which expires on July 20 1998.

29.06.98
Resignation
The Polisario representative in Canada, Baba Mustapha Sayed, brother of the Polisario leader El Wali, fallen on the battle field 1976, and of Bachir Mustapha Sayed, the actual Minister of Health, has left the Polisario Front and asked for asylum in Canada. In declarations to the media he accuses the direction of the movement, qualifying it as «mediocre», «tribal and archaic», «on the decay», «without any political project». He affirms there are «indecent internal clashes between different clans» and pretends that there are «hundreds of political detainees in the refugee camps». In a letter to Jeune Afrique the representative of AFAPREDESA (Saharawi human rights organization) in France contests absolutely this latest point.

29-30.06.98
Morocco
To be briefed about Western Sahara staffers of several American parlamentaries visit Morocco as guests of the government. They met the Interior Minister Basri and went to El Ayun, where they have been brought in contact with several chioukhs and Moroccan observers of the identification process as well as of Polisario renegates. May be these contacts are one of the first result of the $1,2 million lobbying contract of the Cassidy and Ass. office ?

01.07.98
Morocco Rebuts Report after Amnesty Visit
The last A.I. report on human rights in Morocco still causes discussions among Moroccan politics. Answering questions raised by members of parliament over the report, Bouzoubaa, the minister in charge of relations with parliament, said that «The government regrets the improper comments which exceeded the limits of respect.» The Prime Minister plans to write to Amnesty to protest.

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