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16-19.12.99
Zimbabwe-SADR
Mr. Robert Mugabe reaffirmed the position of his movement and his
country in favour of the cause of the Saharawi people, on the
occasion of the 3rd Congress of the National African Union of
Zimbabwe / Patriotic Front (ZANU/FP) in Harare, which was attended by
a delegation from the Polisario Front (SPS).
18.12.99
Arrests
The three Saharawis who disappeared on 6 December have been arrested,
it is claimed, "according to the rules of law in force" and held in
police custody "for 48 hours", says Le Journal,
the Moroccan weekly, quoting police sources (according to our
information, the disappeared have not been taken to court and we do
not know of what they are accused). Le Journal
indicates that the police are looking for other persons, including
Mohamed Salem Mayara, which would explain the road blocks which have
been set up during the past week "over the whole of the territory".
Mohamed Salem Mayara escaped from the police who came to collect him
from his home in El Ayoun on 6 December, according to the
SPS of 11.12.99.
29.12.99
Opinion
«The Western Sahara conflict, unresolved for over two decades,
must qualify as the world's most neglected. It has been relegated to
the background by higher profile disputes in Bosnia, Kosovo, Angola
and Somalia. The recent referendum in the former Portuguese colony of
East Timor, which led to it being granted independence by Indonesia,
as well as current political changes in Morocco, should focus
international attention on the similar case of Western Sahara. The
two were abandoned by their colonial masters, Spain and Portugal, who
did not bother to discover the wishes of the people before leaving.
This led to military annexation by rampaging neighbours: Indonesia in
East Timor and Morocco and Mauritania in Western Sahara. Independence
movements waged guerrilla struggles in both, challenging what they
saw as alien occupation. For decades, both Indonesia and Morocco
&endash; allies of the West &endash; were considered too important to
trouble with issues as trivial as self-determination. The fall of
Suharto in Indonesia was followed by a referendum and the granting of
independence to East Timor. The United Nations supervised vote was
not the organisation's finest hour. Will the death in July of King
Hassan II of Morocco give the UN another chance to sample opinions on
independence, this time in the Western Sahara?» (summary of an article by Dr Adekeye Adebajo,
Research Associate at the International Peace Academy in New
York).
31.12.99
Human Rights
Some three hundred people have called for the installation of "a real
state of law" in Morocco. Organised by the Moroccan Forum for Truth
and Justice, this demonstration brought together former political
detainees and militants from human rights organisations. Holding lit
candles as a sign of hope, the demonstrators expressed the wish that:
"the tragedies of the dark days marked by torture, arbitrary
imprisonment, forced disappearances and iniquitous trials would not
happen any more". They also appealed for the "end of impunity". "We
wish to know the whole truth about these atrocities and then
afterwards punish their perpetrators, if we are really going to be
able, once and for all, to turn the page on human rights in Morocco",
the demonstrators chanted (Agence France Presse).
01.01.00
Occupied Western Sahara: new Moroccan governors
The King of Morocco has nominated Mohamed Machichi wali (chief
governor) of the region of Oued Eddahab-Lagouira (south part of
occupied Western Sahara) and governor of the province of Oued
Eddahab. Born 1948 at Warzazat, Machichi was formerly prefect of
Tiznit. An other offical of the ministery of Interior, Noureddin
Lahbil, born 1951 at Oujda, becomes governor of the province of
Boujdour (he replaces Faisal Meziani, who figures on the list of
persons prevented from leaving Morocco after the dismissal of Basri,
see Week 46/99). The replacement of Omar Hadrami, a Saharawi
renegade, as governor of the province of El Kelaâ of the
Sraghna, should also be noted.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
[External links to newspapers
may not be valid after some days because the servers are
restarted]
- SADR ZENA, No 1, 23.12.99, bulletin de l'ambassade sahraouie auprès de l'OUA et de l'Ethiopie, englishs and French.
- Newsletter, December 1999, Western Sahara Campaign UK, 10 p.
- Arrestations et cavale, Amar Ali, Le Journal, Casablanca, 18.12.99.
- La Asociación con los Niños del Sáhara llama a la solidaridad con los refugiados, El Norte de Castilla, Valladolid, 27.12.99.
- Canarias ofrece a Marruecos un sistema para desalar agua, La Opinion de Tenerife, 29.12.99.
- 5.000 latas de bonito al Sáhara, El Correo, Bilbao, 29.12.99.
- Le Sahara occidental, un test pour l'ONU, Froberville Martine de, La Croix, Paris, 29.12.99.
- La Asociación de Amigos de los Saharauis denuncia el uso fraudulento de su nombre, A. C., El Norte de Castilla, Valladolid, 30.12.99.
- IU critica que Ángela Miguel presida la Asociación del Pueblo Saharaui, M. A. M., Hoy, Badajoz, 30.12.99.
- Navalmoral de la Mata, La Asociación del Pueblo Saharaui defiende a su presidenta ante las dudas de IU, M. A. M., Hoy, Badajoz, 31.12.99.
- Sheikhs, Soldiers and Sand, Adekaye Adebajo, The World Today, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, vol 56, No 1, January 2000, pp 19-21.
- Sweet Music, Duran Lucy, in BBC Focus on Africa magazine, January. 2000, vol 11 No 1, pp 54-55
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