WESTERN SAHARA

WEEKLY NEWS

 

WEEK 33

09.-15.08.1998

 

05.08.98
US House of Representative
In a declaration Congressman Joseph R. Pitts, evoking the obstructions to the peace plan mentionned in the July 10 report by Secretary General Kofi Annan, underlined that "a free, fair and transparent referendum is vital to lasting peace and increased stability in North Africa."

06.08.98
Ymgyrch Gorllewin Sahara Cymru
Western Sahara Campaign Wales has been founded with the participation of MPS and Welsh NGOs.

10.08.98
Ecuador
The Saharawi ambassador Hash Ahmed participated as special envoy of President Abdelaziz to the ceremonies of power transfer to the elected president of Ecuador. Mr Ahmed transmitted to Mr Jamil Mahuad a personal letter of the Saharawi president and met with the ministry of State Mr Jose Ayala Lasso and several delegations present in Quito.

10.08.98
Morocco-USA
King Hassan II received an US Congress delegation on visit in Morocco led by Mr Harold Rogers accompanied by Mr Herbert Bateman, Ed Bryant, Mac Collins and Tom Latham, all Republicans. The congressmen had also talks with the Interior minister Driss Basri (MAP).
Prime minister Youssoufi will visit the USA in occasion of the next UN General Assembly, which begins on Sept. 8, and discuss with White House responsibles on questions of common interest (Al-Hayat, London).

07.08.98
Balance of identification

Convokedapplicants since Dec. 1997: 113.677
Identified applicants since Dec. 1997: 84.646
Identified applicants since Aug. 1994: 144.758.

12.08.98
Aircrash
Brigadier Abid Tria died in a helicopter incident between Smara and Tan-Tan together with a group of officers. He was sector chief of the important Haouza military sector and participated in the eighties to the construction of the berms in the Saguiat el-Hamra.

About Mustapha Malaïnine Suelem, prisoner of conscience
We recently announced his transfer from Agadir to Safi, where he is jailed with the common law prisoners. He has been condemned to 2 years of jail for his participation to the pacific manifestations of Lemseyed last February.
We received a testimony from a member of his family:
"The mother of Mustapha is an exemplary victim of the tragic history of Western Sahara in the last 50 years. In 1957 his father was captured during the attack of the Saharawi Liberation Army against the French army holding Atar. He spent years in jail before he could escape. In the sixties her first husband, one of the main actors of the Liberation Army, was arrested and tortured by Moroccans before dying in non elucidate circumstances at the beginning of the seventies. Now it's her son Mustapha which pays a hard tribute, as an exemple of the fate of many Saharawi families which life has been marked by so many wars, separations, exiles and dramas."

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