WESTERN SAHARA

WEEKLY NEWS

 

WEEK 31

26.07.-01.08.1998

 

 

23.07.98
Balance of identification

Identified individuals since December 1997: 80 476
Identified individuals since August 1994: 140 588.

26-28.07.98
Ambiguous declarations
At the eve of the visit of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ambassador of Italy in Rabat declared that the question of Western Sahara will be in the center of the discussions between Mr Lamberto Dini and the Moroccan responsibles. Mr Martini wished that the solutions to the question of Western Sahara will be coherent with the interests of Morocco and the regional stability... In an interview Mr Dini himself would have declared, according to Moroccan media, that Italy hopes that a solution "respecting the territorial integrity of Morocco" will be found quickly.

23.07.98
"The sick which govern the world"
According to the French journalist Pierre Accoce, Hassan II is suffering since years of an ileitis or Crohn's disease. This chronic inflamation of the small intestine is treated by his US physicians by the mean of anti-inflammatory drugs and sometimes cortisone. Hassan II also presents signs of atherosclerosis, which caused repeatedly little vascular strokes, modestly called "bronchitis". (L'Express)

27.07.98
The AFAPREDESA communicates that Mustapha Malaïnine Suelem, jailed in Inezgane near Agadir with 7 other Saharawis after the manifestations of Lemseyed in February 1998, has been transferred to Safi where he is in the quarter of common law prisoners, as a consequence of his refusal to sign a demand for royal free pardon as ordered by the Moroccan authorities. The relatives of Mustapha ask for a transfer to the region where they live and the recognition of his status of prisoner of conscience.
On the other hand the 8 jailed Saharawis protest because they have not been allowed to identification. Here their names and detainee number:

28 691 - Mohamed el Abd el Mokhtar
28 692 - Mohamed Fadel Ali Lahcen
28 693 - Larabass Mohamed Abdullah
28 694 - Sidati H'Meida Lafghir
28 695 - Hemida Yahdih Abidi
28 696 - Abdelhamid Ahmed Ramdan
28 697 - Mohamed Salem Najem Laaroussi
28 698 - Mustapha Malaïnine Suelem.

29.07.98
Declaration at the US House of Representative
Congressmen J. Pitts spoke on behalf of the POWs of both sides of the war between Morocco and the Western Sahara who were captured or are missing as a result of the 20-year conflict.
He visited 84 Moroccan POW's who have been freed by Polisario as a gesture of goodwill and whom the kingdom of Morocco will not permit to return to their country.He told also he met with the Saharawi NGO AFAPREDESA which tracks the 526 missing Sahrawis, all held incommunicado by Morocco. In conclusion he urged the Kingdom of Morocco "to reconsider their policy and identify all those held incommunicado as well as accept back their own military which have been freed by Western Sahara".

30.07.98
Unlegal arm exports
Saferworld, a British NGO working to promote practical solutions to armed conficts published informations about 25 licences granted to Morocco for arms export. The list includes under others small arms, machine guns, large calibre weapons, bombs, rockets, missiles, mines, electronic equipment etc. The Western Sahara Campaign U.K. met with officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the U.K. Government and presented a letter of concern about it. They asked the Government to stop these exports immediately.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

[Summary Weekly News,] [Western Sahara Homepage]