WESTERN SAHARA

WEEKLY NEWS

original french

WEEK 12

16.-22.03.2003

SADR

20-21.03.03
International conference on Western Sahara conflict

An international conference on the conflict in Western Sahara opened in Rome, on the theme "Analysis of the conflict of Western Sahara, a possible dialogue?" sponsored by three Italian universities, Rome, Naples and Perugia. Saharawi, Moroccan, Italian, European, Algerian, Mauritanian, Libyan, French, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Vatican members of parliament will take part in the discussions. (SPS)

REFERENDUM

19.03.03
Letter from the Secretary General to the President of the Security Council (S/2003/341,
PDF - HTML )
«To date, not all the parties have provided their views on the proposal of my Personal Envoy. In order to allow additional time for all the parties and neighbouring countries to submit their replies to my Personal Envoy, and to give him sufficient time to assess the parties' responses to his proposal, I propose to defer the submission of my report to the Security Council until 19 May 2003. I should also like to propose that the Council consider authorizing a technical extension of the mandate of MINURSO for a further period of two months, until 31 May 2003.»

The Security Council has scheduled consultations on Western Sahara on Tuesday, March 25 .

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Following the appearance of leaflets and SADR flags in all the Saharawi towns and those of southern Morocco since 27.02.03, Saharawi former political detainees were summoned in Tan-Tan by the police and submitted to interrogation. Their houses were searched.

19.03.03
Trial - scandalous judgment
Ahmed Bachir Ahmed Sbai, arrested on 2.10.02, was sentenced on 19.03.03 to 10 years imprisonment for the same charges as Salek Bazaid, Moussamih and Bourhil on 12.03.03 (see
week 11 ).

HUMAN RIGHTS

15.03.03
Hunger strike
Because of his deteriorating state of health and pulmonary complications (asthma and pneumonia), Tamek was transferred as an emergency to the prison hospital. On 19.03.03 he was taken to Avicenna hospital. He is refusing any treatment or force feeding. Tamek undertook this strike because of the silence of the authorities concerning his demands. An international campaign was launched by BIRDHSO and AMDH intervened with the Ministry of Justice. (
Urgent action of BIRDHSO: Save the Life of Ali Salem Tamek - Press release of the Collective of the Saharawi Human Rights defenders "Territory of Western Sahara under Moroccan Control")

On 21.03.03 Ali Salem Tamek ended his hunger strike, he was taken back to Salé prison.
His demands were satisfied.
Prison management has agreed to:

19.03.03
Rabat: Caravan of solidarity and human rights
Saharawi students had planned to organise three days of solidarity with saharawi political prisoners (see
week 11). This demonstration was forbidden by the authorities. As a sign of protest, a protest march was held inside the campus.

HUMANITARIAN AID

Germany has allocated 250,000 euros to the UN High Commission for Refugees, for the purpose of humanitarian aid for the refugees of Western Sahara. In 2002, Berlin gave 335,000 euros for this purpose.

INTERNET

NEW PUBLICATIONS
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Français

Les dépêches, articles, etc, sont accessibles aux non-abonnés sur Sahara-Info, liste de courrier (français et espagnol): http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/sahara-info/messages

English

- English publications on Sahara Update mailinglist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update/messages

Castellano

Todos los despachos, articulos de prensa, etc, son acessible por no-abonados en Sahara-Info, lista de correo (castellano y francés): http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/sahara-info/messages

Noticias de prensa, Recopilación semanal de todos los articulos de la prensa de España: http://www.nodo50.org/labarored/interpueblos/Sahara/

Norwegian


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