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WEEKS 19 - 20 : 06.05. - 19.05.2007 |
06.05.07
Two Australian journalists, who were making a film on the family visits
organised by the UNHCR, leave the refugee camps suddenly in unclear
circumstances. They claim to have witnessed the practice of slavery. [declarations of the journalists to agencies: IOL - World War 4 Report ]
[Reporters without borders, 09.05.07]
13.05.07
The Polisario Front publishes a statement concerning Security Council resolution 1754: For the respect for the spirit and letter of the Security Council resolution 1754 (2007) on Western Sahara. Statement of the POLISARIO Front, mai 2007.
20 May 2007, anniversary of the beginning of the liberation struggle
Mijek, in the liberated zones in the south-east of Western Sahara, will
host from 19 to 22 May festivities celebrating the 34th anniversary of
the start of the armed struggle of the Polisario Front for the
liberation of Western Sahara. On this occasion, the Saharawi parliament
will open its spring session. [SPS]
OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
02-18.05.07, repression of Saharawi students in Moroccan universities
For two weeks, violent clashes have set Saharawi students,
demonstrating peacefully in favour of independence, against police
forces in various Moroccan universities. A heavy toll: 43 arrests, many
wounded including a serious injury.
Complete round-up by ASVDH: http://asvdh.net/english/?p=195
It all began in Agadir on 2 May [ASVDH Statement with
bloody confrontations between students about the independence of
Western Sahara, followed by police interventions.Subsequently, Saharawi
students in the universities of Marrakech, Casablanca and Rabat
organised demonstrations of solidarity, and many towns in occupied
Western Sahara did likewise.
Everywhere the police forces intervened with extreme brutality, student
lodgings were ransacked, and many were wounded and arrested. Lots of students
have given up trying to take exams and have returned to the Sahara,
having seen their documentation lost and their lodgings destroyed.
Some related documents:
Testimony of Sultana Khaya, seriously wounded in the right eye on 9 May in Marrakech: http://www.arso.org/temoignageSultanaKhaya.htm#e
Testimonio de Rababa Amaidane: http://afapredesa.org/castellano/testimonioRababAmaidan_estudiantes_14_05_07.htm
Clashes on 14 May at Casablanca University read AP : http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/14/africa/AF-GEN-Morocco-Western-Sahara-Saharawi-students-attacked.php and about Rabat on May 17 : http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-30928081@7-60,0.html
Round up in WSahara-info: http://w-sahara.blogspot.com/2007/05/escalating-anti-sahrawi-violence.html
There are also numerous pictures and videos on arabic saharawi websites like:
http://www.sahara-occidental.net/photos.html
http://www.intifadamay.com/1/photosdusoultananew.html
http://www.sahara-occidental.net/smara15052007.html
http://www.sahara-occidental.net/rabat.14052007.html
http://www.hamada2006k.jeeran.com/videothowar.htm
http://www.intifadamay.com/1/casasalmaleghzal.html
http://www.intifadamay.com/1/videoagadir15052007.html
http://www.lescahiersdusahara.com/CB11052007.html
http://sahara-panorama.blogspot.com/2007/05/blog-post_19.html
Protests
CODESA, ASVDH <http://asvdh.net/english/?p=188> and AFAPREDESA appeal to the international community, as well as ASVDH
The Saharawi president Abdelaziz writes three times to the UN Secretary General [SPS].
The Polisario Front representation in Geneva asks diplomats
accredited with the UN for the Council of Human Rights to examine the
human rights abuses in Western Sahara and Morocco. [Statement french]
The Minister delegate for Europe, Sidati, writes to European bodies. [Letter]
The Australian Senator for Victoria, Lyn Allison, leader of the Australian Democrats writes to Ban Ki-moon.
14.05.07, El-Ayoun, forced disappearances?
Abderrahmane Bougarfa and his son are arrested about 4 am in their
home. The same day, and at the same time, the police try to arrest the
Ahl Essid family, without success. [ASVDH]
15.05.07, El-Ayoun
The court reduces on appeal the sentences of seven Saharawi political prisoners in the presence of two Spanish observers.[ASVDH]
16.05.07, Southern Morocco
Peaceful demonstrations in Tan-Tan, Mhamid el Ghezlan and Goulimine on
the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the start of the armed struggle
by the Polisario Front. [SPS]
16.05.07, Tiznit
Assassination attempt on Saharawi political prisoners Choubeida
Laroussi and Abdallah Hassan by a Moroccan common law prisoner in a
drunken state. [SPS]
NATURAL RESOURCES
16.05.07, fishing
Twenty Spanish fishing boats begin their activity in “Moroccan” waters. [Afrol News]
17.05.07, stealing phosphates
A press conference in Madrid by Western Sahara Resource Watch and the
Madrid Association of friends of the Saharawi people. The FMC Foret
(Huelva) business is accused of illegal importation to Spain of
500,+000 tonnes of phosphate annually coming from Western Sahara.[Europa Press in English] [Informe WSRW, Spanish]
03.05.07
In a statement to the Moroccan press, the United States ambassador in
Rabat, Thomas Riley, indicates that Washington is disposed to
“facilitate negotiations” between Morocco and the Polisario Front. He
describes the Polisario Front as “the only representative of the
Saharawi people”. Violent reactions in the Moroccan press, which call
the American declaration a “slap in the face”. [AFP] [Tel Quel, no 273]
07-09.05.07, Algiers
The special representative for Western Sahara, Julian Harston, is on a visit to Algiers.
He is received on 14 May in Nouakchott by the Mauritanian president.
08.05.07
A United Nations mission will carry out a visit to the region between
15 and 20 May, the Saharawi Prime Minister, Abdelkader Taleb Omar,
announces in Madrid. “There are strong doubts about the intentions of
Morocco, who “has not modified its position or its policy aiming to
legitimise its illegal occupation of Western Sahara in another form”,
he adds. [Europa Press]
09.05.07, Chile
The parliament adopts a resolution which asks the government to support
the resolution of the Security Council on Western Sahara. The Moroccan
attempt to make autonomy the only option in the resolution failed. [Cronica digital]
09.05.07, US Congress: Western Sahara Briefing: Current Developments and Challenges to Self-Determination
Organised by Donald
Payne, president of the African Committee of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the Chamber of Representatives. Speakers: Frank Ruddy,
Suzanne Scholte, Joseph Pitts and Jacques Roussellier. Speeches: http://www.arso.org/Ruddy2007.htm
10.05.07, Pan African Parliament
The Committee of cooperation, of international relations and conflict
resolution of the Pan African parliament asks that Spain and the USA
should withdraw their support for Morocco because of its opposition to
self-determination in Western Sahara. [EFE]
16.05.07, Shambles at the UN
The department of Political Affairs at the UN [Press briefing]
announces, without giving a reason, that the visit to Rabat, Tindouf,
Algiers and Nouakchott of the Secretary General’s personal
representative, Peter van Walsum, planned for 16 to 19 May, is
cancelled and that a meeting of the parties will take place in the
first half of June, which the Saharawi Prime Minister confirms. [La Tribune, 17.05.07]
18.05.07, ONU
Peter van Walsum arrives in Madrid where he informs the Spanish
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Moratinos, on arrangements for the
Moroccan-Saharawi negotiations.
12.05.07
About a hundred demonstrators gather outside the Moroccan embassy in
Rome to appeal for the self-determination of the Saharawi people.
Several demonstrations in Italy on the occasion of the anniversary of
the Polisario Front and of the intifada. [corr.]
Nuevo Blog:
Sahara Resiste, espanol : http://www.sahararesiste.blogspot.com/
Sahablogs - Planeta de blogs sobre Sahara Occidental : http://sahablogs.googlepages.com/home
SOLIDÀRIA de ACAPS Catalunya: http://acapssolidaria.wordpress.com/ y http://acaps.unblog.fr/
Nuevos sitios:
Sadicum - Asociación de Ayuda al Pueblo Saharaui de Chiclana": http://www.sadicum.org
Etudiants sahraouis de Marrakech, arabe: http://www.smoud.jeeran.com
New look: UJSARIO, espanol, arabe: http://www.ujsario.org/
Comeback: Les Cahiers du Sahara: http://www.lescahiersdusahara.com
DOCUMENTS
Pour le respect de l’esprit et de la lettre de la Résolution
1754 (2007) du Conseil de Sécurité sur le Sahara
Occidental. Déclaration du Front Polisario, mai 2007: http://www.arso.org/FPdeclSRES1754.htm
For the respect for the spirit and letter of the Security Council
resolution 1754 (2007) on Western Sahara. Satement of the POLISARIO
Front, mai 2007: http://www.arso.org/FPdeclSRES1754.htm#e
WS debate on Al Jazeera TV 02.05.07, Inside Story looks at
the dispute between Morocco and the independence movement, the
Polisario, over the Western Sahara. (with Toby Shelley, Sidi Omar and a
members of the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs) --> Watch the
videos on Youtube: part 1 + part 2
Communiqué Khat Achchahid, 07.05.07: http://www.fpeluali.org/communique070507.html
Comunicado de Jat Achahid, 17.05.07 : http://www.fpeluali.org/comunicado070507.html
The worst of the worst, the world's most repressive societies 2007,
Freedom House, May 10, 2007 [Morocco, Western Sahara, Pages 126- 128].:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/press_release/worstofworst_07.pdf
Western Sahara – Continuing Standoff, By Anna Theofilopoulou, Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Africa Policy Forum,
16.05.07: http://forums.csis.org/africa/?p=35
WESTERN SAHARA RESOURCE WATCH- FMC FORET EXPOLIA LOS FOSFATOS DEL SAHARA, informe, 17.05.07: http://www.arso.org/InformeFMCForet070517.pdf
A briefing note
for the Pan-African Parliament. Committee on International Relations,
Cooperation and Conflict Resolution: On Western Sahara By Timothy
Othieno Senior researcher Institute for Global Dialogue. Briefing note
commissioned by the Institute for Security Studies, August 2006: http://www.pan-africanparliament.org/DocumentsResources_DisplayDocument.aspx?Type=Docs&ID=173
OPINIONS: http://opinions.arso.org
NEW
PUBLICATIONS
[External
links to newspapers may not be valid after some days because the
servers are restarted]
Français
>> Revue de la presse internationale francophone http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/revue-de-presse-sahara-occidental/messages
English
>> English publications on Sahara Update mailinglist: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update/messages
Castellano
>> Revista de la prensa en español http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/revista-de-prensa-sahara-occidental/messages
Italiano
Attualità in italiano: El Ouali Bologna: http://www.saharawi.org/saharawi.htm + Radio for Peace http://www.radiokcentrale.it/du.htm
Finnish
Norsk
- Rabab pågrepet og slått av politiet [Rabab detained and beaten by police], 10.05.2007: http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?cat=1&art=456
- NTB: Marokkansk politi skyter i Vest-Sahara [NTB: Moroccan police shoots in Western Sahara], 11.05.2007: http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=1&art=461
- Unge Venstre: Marokkansk politi i angrep på sahrawiske
studenter [Young Liberals of Norway: oroccan police attacks Sahrawi
students], 15.5.2007: http://web.uv.no/arkiv/artikler/marokkansk-politi-i-angrep-pa-sahrawiske-studenter/
Deutsch
[Summary
Weekly News,]
[Western
Sahara Homepage]