WESTERN SAHARA

WEEKLY NEWS

 

WEEK 28

05.-11.07.1998

 

03.07.98
Visit of Ch. Dunbar in Tindouf
The UN Secretary-general Special Representative passed five hours in the Tindouf center of the MINURSO, meeting M'Hamed Khaddad, Saharawi coordinator for the referendum and Brahim Ghali, minister for the occupied territories. Later he gave an uinterview to the Norwegian free-lance journalist Ronny Hansen.(full text)

Mine Awareness Project of Norwegian People's Aid
Following a request for assistance from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic Government, Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), after an exhaustive fact finding mission, successfully obtained support to enable the immediate implementation of NPA's proposed emergency mine awareness project for Saharawi refugees living near Tindouf, Algeria. Hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of landmines and Unexploded Ordnance, (UXO) remain as a legacy of the Morocco - Western Saharan conflict. Many Saharawi, who are to repatriate soon, will have to face these life threatening dangers, which will be present for many years to come.
The Project:
During the emergency phase the project will concentrate on providing mine awareness for Saharawi refugees intending to repatriate to known mine contaminated areas of Western Sahara. The project will identify these high-risk groups, by close co-operation with POLISARIO and UNHCR.
During the continuation phase the project will concentrate on all remaining Saharawi refugees who intend to repatriate to Western Sahara at some point in the future. The follow-up phase will assess the need and potential of further landmine related humanitarian activities, including landmine survey, marking, de-mining and victim assistance.
Since the beginning of June a staff of 4 persons is working at the Gazuani School in the camps where they have started the training programme for the Saharawi mine awareness teams. For more information take a look to the web-site: http://www.npaid.no/mines/

08.07.98
French Observatory of the referendum
The French section of the International Observatory of the Western Sahara Referendum has been founded at a meeting in the National Assembly, with the partecipation of the "Comité de vigilance du référendum au Sahara Occidental", the "Plateforme Solidarité avec le peuple sahraoui" and the "Groupe d'études parlementaire sur le Sahara Occidental".

09.07.98
AFAPREDESA
The Moroccan authorities transported the body of El-Kori Embarek el-Abd, the Saharawi citizen recently assassinated, to El Ayun, where he was burried in abscence of his family. According to the latest information, El-Kori died under torture. His family could not obtain any informations about the result of autopsy.

News from the occupied territory
Moroccan colons multiply robberies, brawls and agressions by night against Saharawi citizen since May. The aim is to justify the intervention of security forces in the saharawi townships, which rather than protect the citizen, controle their activities and intimidate them.

Saharawi in the diaspora under pressure
Saharawis living in foreign countries are often pressurized. In Germany Polisario supporting Saharawis receive about 20 letters a week from Moroccans, but also from their families living in the occupied territories. This letters appel them to return to the "Moroccan homeland". The families often are forced to do so in exchange for material support. They are also harrassed by night phone calls, in universities, stations and airports Moroccans accost them in order to involve them in unvolontary discussions (Westsahara Wochenspiegel Nr 27).

NEW on internet:

Norwegian People's Aid : Mine Awareness Project for Western Sahara
http://www.npaid.no/mines/

NEW PUBLICATIONS

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