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Résumé March 2008 01.03. - 31.03.2008 |
17.03.08,
diplomacy
The Republic of the Seychelles decided to withdrew its recognition of
SADR.
21.03.08, scientific studies
A number of British and Irish academics will carry out research on the
ground from March to June on Saharawi cultural identity:
Joanne Clarke and Nick Brooks, Western Sahara Project at the University
of East Anglia, on the rock paintings damaged by members of MINURSO.
Mrs Constantina Sherin Isidoros from the Anthropology Department of the
University of Oxford will study Saharawi life before the Moroccan
invasion and the upsets it has engendered. A delegation of
student-researchers from Leeds University will start on 23.03. a visit
to the Saharawi territories which will continue until mid-April. A
delegation from the University of Cork in Ireland will carry out a
similar visit at the end of April, which will continue until June. [SPS]
22.03.08,
declarations
In an interview with the Spanish press agency EFE, the Saharawi
president, Mohamed Abdelaziz considers that the result of the
negotiations is a big disappointment. Asked about the opinions of
Saharawi youth, Abdelaziz pointed out that there is no sign that could
make one fear they will lose their national identity or that they would
not join the armed struggle. “Completely to the contrary, they are the
ones who are putting on pressure to return to war”. On the difference
of military equipment between the two sides, Abdelaziz points out that
“the Polisario has 15,000 to 20,000 troops. The Saharawi President
asked the Spanish government to do its utmost to make Spain “rectify
the mistake” committed during its time when it gave up the process of
decolonization of the territory”. [SPS fr] [Diario
Montanes]
22.03.08,
the column of one thousand – Human chain along the wall -
COLUMNA DE LOS 1000
About 2,500 people, mostly Spanish, stayed in the Saharawi refugee
camps as a sign of solidarity to demand a referendum of
self-determination following the initiative of students from the
Complutense University of Madrid. For the first time, a human chain of
solidarity 2 km long was formed on 22 March some hundreds of
metres from the wall of shame, supervised by MINURSO.[more]
Fotos/Photos: http://www.saharanoroeste.org/columna%20de%20los%20mil/columna%20de%20los%20mil.htm
+ http://www.porunsaharalibre.org/index.php?option=com_expose&Itemid=68
24.03.08, anniversary
The Saharawi Prime Minister, Abdelkader Taleb Oumar declared that
festivities, commemorating the 35th anniversary of the start of the
armed struggle (20 mai 1973), will take place in Tifariti in the
liberated territories of Western Sahara. Military marches and
traditional cultural displays, exhibitions and a speech from the
President of the Republic are planned.[SPS]
OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
18.03.08, turned
away
Yarba Mahfoud Mohamed arrived by plane in El Ayoun to visit his
relatives, coming from Spain where he lives. Paralysed following a war
injury in the ranks of the Polisario, he is in a wheelchair. As he was
not returning to the Sahara to defect to the regime, the Moroccan
authorities refused to let him enter. Thanks to the insistence of his
relatives, he was finally able to meet them for four minutes before
being sent back on an aeroplane.
Trial
10.03.08: The court of El-Ayoun handed down a sentence for a first
conviction to two Saharawi political detainees, Said Mohamed Lamine
Said Lahnani, born in 1983, and Mohamed Elmokhtar Alouate, born in
1986, of six months imprisonment for “attacking, injuring and insulting
an official on duty”. They were arrested in Smara on 1 March 2008.
27.03.08: the punishment of El-Baillal, on hunger strike in Salé
since 20 February is reduced on appeal from 8 to 4 months.
31.03.08: Elmokhtar Akhnibila and his son, Mohamed, arrested on 26,
were sentenced to ten months’ prison.
01.04.08: On appeal the sentences of Mouloud Barkouh and Khellihenna
Dleimi,were reduced from twelve to eight months in prison. They were
released, having served their time. Hamid Barkouh had his sentence
reduced from 18 to 12 months’ prison. [ASVDH]
Demonstrations, arrests
17.03.08: Trainees at the Office of Professional Training and of Work
Experience in El Ayoun, organised a sit-in, outside the establishment,
to protest against their marginalisation and the refusal of the
Moroccan authorities to respond to their demands for work. The sit-in
was violently repressed by the Moroccan police and several victims were
taken to casualty in the Belmehdi Hospital in El-Ayoun. [ASVDH]
25.03.08: A demonstration calling for the respect of the right of the
Saharawi people to self-determination, organised in the
Maatallah district by young Saharawis, was violently repressed by the
police. The next day the police broke into the house of the Akhnibila
family and arrested Elmokhtar Akhnibila, 65 years, as well as his son,
Mohamed. His wife and daughters were injured during the police
intervention. Elmokhtar Akhnibila and his son, Mohamed were sentenced
to ten months in prison on 31 March 2008. [ASVDH]
Tan Tan Affair
A Moroccan policeman, Abdelaziz El Meski, 35 years, a member of the GIR
(Rapid intervention group), received a head injury on 26.02.08 in
unclear circumstances in Tan Tan, in the course of a violent dispersal
of a demonstration. He died on 3 March in Marrakech.
Seven Saharawis who were not there were arrested several days later in
various places. Among them the human rights defender, Yahya Elhafed
Iaaza, a member of AMDH and CODESA, arrested previously in 2004 and
2006, and former political prisoner, Lahsen Lafkir (arrested in 2006
and 2007 and sentenced respectively to 3 years and 3 months in prison).
The others apprehended Najem Bouba, Mohamed El Bourkaoui, Mohamed
Essalmi, Mayara El Moujahid and Salama Charafi were tortured,
blindfolded and undressed in the Tan Tan police station for several
days before being incarcerated in Inzegane, where Iazza on 26 March
2008 was the victim of an attack by four common law prisoners. [CODESA
fr., eng., esp.] [more]
The Moroccan Ministry of the Interior accused “independence supporters
of the Polisario of having mortally wounded a policeman, savagely
attacked in Tan Tan”. Moroccan political parties denounced what they
called an “ignoble murder by Polisario separatists”. For the Moroccan
press, “the separatists assassinated a policeman”, “martyr victim of
terrorism”.[El
Pais, 03.03.08] [AFP, 03.03.08] [Maroc
Hebdo International no 782,
07.03.08]
The Polisario Front denied any implication. The Saharawi President
asked on 5 March for the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon to
“intervene urgently” to save the lives of these innocents who incur
capital punishment. [SPS] Saharawi
human rights organisations in the occupied territories
denounced the arbitrary arrests of these persons, whose sole and only
wrong is to call for the right to self-determination of the Saharawi
people.
Awareness-raising tours
The former political prisoner, Brahim Noumria was received on 5 March
by the Vice President of the Canary Islands Parliament, Cristina
Tavío. He expressed the view that the Sahara would become like
Palestine if repression continues. He revealed that young Moroccans
born in occupied Western Sahara sympathise with the Saharawis.[EFE, 04.03.08][Interview of Rabab , video]
Hunger Strikes
In addition to the 27 Saharawi political prisoners in the Black Prison
on hunger strike since 25 February, other prisoners have joined in from
Moroccan prisons of Taroudant, Tiznit, Ait Melloul, Kénitra and
Salé. They are demanding an improvement in their conditions of
detention and recognition as prisoners of opinion, as well as the right
to self-determination.
A follow-up committee reported on a daily basis the deteriorating
state of health of the 60 hunger strikers. On 14 March it called for
“emergency intervention” to save their lives. Others called on the
strikers to stop their action: the Coordination of Associations and
Committees of Support for the Saharawis to the international campaign
for the release of Brahim Sabbar and all the Saharawi political
prisoners, as
well as three Saharawi barristers Mohamed Lehbib Ergueibi, Hassan
Benamman and Mohamed Boukhaled, who paid a visit to the strikers.
[ASVDH]
The president of the Moroccan Consultative Council of Human
Rights(CCDH), Ahmed Herzenni, on 15 March visited the Saharawi
political detainees. [ASVDH] On
22, The Moroccan Association of Human
Rights (AMDH) sent the Minister of Justice a “very urgent” appeal to
save the Saharawi prisoners on hunger strike and the Moroccan
Organisation of Human Rights (OMDH) called for the release of Brahim
Sabbar.
Presient Abdelaziz intervened on two occasions on 11 and 23 March with
the UN Secretary General. The executive of the Polisario Front National
Secretariat appealed on 12 March to the international community to
intervene, On 24 March the hunger strikers announce having ended their
action “following appeals from NGOs, families of prisoners and Saharawi
lawyers” and in the face of the refusal of the Moroccan authorities to
open a dialogue. [ASVDH]
Despite the stopping of the strike the state
of health of several strikers is of considerable concern,[CODESA]. Said
El Baillal did not stop his strike until 31 March.
31.03.08: Amnesty
International public statement about Said El
Baillal:
Morocco / Western
Sahara: Sahrawi student may be prisoner of
conscience, AI Index: MDE
29/006/2008 (Public).[arabic]
Campaign
The international Campaign for the release of Saharawi political
prisoners continues and a petition is put on line. http://www.lapetition.com/sign1.cfm?numero=1645
or http://www.acatfrance.fr/actualites.php#Lire
The French member
of parliament, Jean-Paul Lecoq on 15 March seizes the
UN Secretary General, the French President N. Sarkozy and the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, Rama Yade. [El
Moudjahid, 15.03.08]
On 31 March, the Saharawi minister for Europe, Mohamed Sidati,
interceded in favour of the 60 Saharawi political prisoners in an open
letter to the Presidents of the EU, the European Parliament, the
European Commission, to the representative of the PESC as well as
the commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner. [UPES, 31.03.08, arabic]
10.03.08, Appeal
by WSRW, Western Sahara Resource Watch: Stop the exploitation of
natural resources in occupied Western Sahara , Press
release by Western Sahara Resource Watch.
Investments
28.02.08, According to Maghreb Confidential N° 823, the Emirates
group Quadra Holding, specialising in tourism, are prospecting
the region of Dakhla. [WSRW]
27.03.08, WRSW sent a letter to the South African bank, RMB, who are a
major financier of the activities of the Irish oil company,
Island Oil & Gas, at present in an exploration phase in occupied
Western Sahara, to ask them to end their support.[Letter
to RMB]
A few days later, one learnt that RMB decided to extend by 60 days
credit of 12 million pounds due on 31.03.08. The latest extension was
granted on the same terms as for 31.12.07.[Press
release Island Oil and Gas,
31.03.08]
Agriculture
21.03.08, plunder
Saharawi families returned to occupied Western Sahara from the refugee
camps claiming agricultural lands they used to work in the region of El
Ayoun, “ceded” recently to a management company al Omran, a state
enterprise.[La
Vie économique, Maroc]
Sand
The exploitation of sand continues. The ship Seisbulk discharged in the
Canaries 3 and 11 March 2000 tonnes of sand from Western Sahara for the
company Project Dover SL. (corr.)
Phosphates
According to the Australian Legend International Holdings, Morocco is
at present negotiating between 350 to 400 US$ a tonne, twice the price
in 2007.
[Legend
International Holdings, 17.03.08]
The effects of this steep price increase are being felt in Spain. The
Agricultural Coordination of Andalusia will ask the national committee
on competition to examine the increase in fertiliser prices, which have
increased by 30% in 2008, to discover whether there is a cartel
agreement. The Andalusian organisation considers that the price
increase is also the consequence of Morocco’s demands, which have
doubled the price of sale of the mineral coming from Bou-Craa. [Europa
Press, 25.03.08]
27.03.08: Morocco will increase its export of phosphate to India, at
its request, which imports annually 1.1 million tonnes of phosphate
rock from Morocco. Morocco produces annually 29 million tonnes of the
mineral, of which 45-50% are exported. [Press
Information Bureau-Government of India]
01.03.08,
Switzerland
The Swiss Socialist Party, in a resolution, hopes that the coming
negotiations will permit progress in the direction of peace and asks
for human rights to be guaranteed in Western Sahara.
04.03.08, Great Britain
In response to a question from the MP, Mark Williams on the subject of
human rights in occupied Western Sahara, the British Minster for
Foreign Affairs, Kim Howells replied that Great Britain was concerned
by the situation, that he had discussed with his Moroccan counterpart
and that this topic would be taken up on a regular basis with the
Moroccan authorities.[Hansard]
<http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080304/text/80304w0026.htm#column_2361W>
15-16.03.08,
Denmark
Meeting in Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen, the Young Conservative Party
supports the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and
considers that the International Community should take stronger actions
towards Morocco. They ask Denmark to make Morocco release the political
prisoners of Western Sahara, to work actively for MINURSO’s mandate to
be extended to supervising human rights in Western Sahara and for the
EU to annul the fishing agreement. [corr.]
16-18.03.08, fourth round of
Moroccan-Saharawi talks - MANHASSET IV
Worrying sabre-rattling preceded the fourth round of talks
between
Morocco and Western Sahara. On 1 March, the Saharawi President, in a
press conference, denounced the Moroccan policy of arms build-up and
the redeployment of Moroccan troops in the occupied Saharawi
territories. He made his worries known to the UN Secretary General and
to the President of the Security Council. [SPS, 13.03.08]
He pointed out at the same time that influential states recognised the
independence of Kosovo and asked for the same recognition of SADR. The
Moroccan daily Assabah confirmed on 10.03.08 that large military
manoeuvres would take place on 11 March in the region of Ausserd and
Dakhla under the cover of the anti-terrorist struggle. [Liberté, 12.03.08]
The Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared on 12 in an
interview with Reuters, that "the two present parties, Morocco and the
Polisario Front, have still not exhausted all the possibilities offered
by negotiations". The latter "must be accompanied by a strict respect
of the ceasefire brought about by the United Nations in 1991", for the
reprisal of hostilities "would represent a dangerous and dramatic
evolution for all of our region". He repeated that "the decolonisation
of Western Sahara is not a casus belli between Algeria and Morocco.
This decolonisation is the sole responsibility of the United Nations
and the Security Council". [Reuters]
On the Saharawi side, they denounced the declarations of Moroccan
officials for whom “Morocco only accepts autonomy and nothing but
autonomy”. But they kept hoping that a dialogue would be possible and
that an advance could be made concerning the confidence-building
measures.
The meetings
The official talks between Morocco and the Polisario started in a tense
atmosphere. The same delegations were meeting with the same scenario as
on previous occasions. Discussions of 17 stressed the implementation of
Security Council resolutions1754 and 1783 . On 18, discussions were
devoted to strengthening the confidence-building measures.
The final statement of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General for
Western Sahara mentioned, to cover up the failure of the discussions,
the meagre results of the meeting: discussions on topics such as
administration, justice and resources as well as an agreement between
the parties to explore setting up family visits by an overland route
without forgetting the undertakings of the parties to pursue
negotiations at Manhasset at a date to be determined by mutual
agreement. [special page with speaches and statements]
Reactions
The head of the Polisario Front delegation, Mahfoud Ali Beiba, deplored
the rejection by Morocco of “nearly all the confidence-building
measures” proposed by Van Walsum and the fact that Morocco continues to
set “pre-conditions” and to declare that there is no other solution
outside autonomy, conclusions taken up also by the Saharawi Minister
for Foreign Affairs and the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front.
Ahmed Boukhari stated to Reuters that the atmostphere was not good in
terms of tangible tension. The representative of the Polisario Front
Polisario at the UN asked for the help of the Security Council to avoid
another failure of UN efforts. [Reuters, 19.03.08]
He clarified that the confidence-building measures “concern the
exchange of high-level political delegations between the two parties,
de-mining and setting up mixed military commissions to ensure, among
other things, the respect of the cease-fire.”
Van Walsum also proposed “the organisation of regular periodic seminars
between the representatives of Saharawi populations to speak about
non-political subjects”, the Saharawi diplomat added. The Polisario
Front also wanted to “include the question of human rights”, Boukhari,
pointed out “we are ready to continue the process and to take part in a
fifth round". [SPS]
21.03.08,
painting censored
For international women’s day, UNESCO organised in Paris an exhibition
of paintings by the Madagascan artist Brigitte Rabarijaona of feminist
African political art. To illustrate her message of peace that “No
African kills an African”, a canvas representing all the flags of the
African Union, including that of SADR was shown. “The Moroccan
officials put pressure on the Madagascan ambassador and the organiser
of the exhibition to withdraw the painting”, the artist affirmed whose
work was finally withdrawn from the exhibition. [TelQuel, no 316]
20.03.08:
Morocco officially appealed to Algeria to open the borders
between the two countries and for the normalisation of bilateral
relations.
[APA, 21.03.08] Algeria refuses. For
the Minister of the Interior and Local Communities, Noureddine
Yazid Zerhouni, the question of borders is not “an isolated question,
it must be taken in a general context”. Morocco regrets the refusal of
Algeria. Tension mounts between Algiers and Rabat, which, as
L’Expression writes, “wants to drag Algeria into the Saharawi conflict
which, however, is the responsibility of the UN”.[L'expression, 27.03.08]
The Moroccan Minister for Communication, spokesman for the government,
Khalid Naciri, replies that the question of the Sahara is a
“Moroccan-Algerian issue” and that its settlement must involve direct
dialogue between Morocco and Algeria... [APA, 27.03.08]
27.03.08: In a statement, the accredited Spanish media correspondents
in Morocco (except EFE) launched a “last desperate appeal in the face
of an untenable situation”. They denounced the withdrawal of
accreditation to Beatriz Mesa and Carla Fibla, threatened with
expulsion from Morocco for having taken part in a round table
discussion in Spain in February on the role of the media in the
conflict in Western Sahara. The journalists denounce the incapacity of
the Spanish government to stop the systematic harassment to which they
are subjected under the cover of the conflict in Western Sahara. The
intervention of the Spanish government and of an Opposition member of
parliament allowed the tension to be eased. The representative of the
Polisario Front in Spain regretted that the government was not able
better to protect its journalists.[I.
Cembrero, El
Pais, 27.03.08]
[A. Lmrabet, El
Mundo, 27.03.08] [periodistas-es 29.03.08] [Comunicado en apoyo a los periodistas españoles
acreditados en Marruecos,AAPSIB 27.03.08]
11.03.08
The Mauritanian daily. El Houria revealed the existence of a vast
illegal immigration network of Mauritanians to Western Sahara,
orchestrated by the Moroccan authorities helped by a few shady
administrators. [El
Moudjahid, 15.03.08]
The Moroccan authorities, adds the daily, Le Jour d'Algérie, pay
sums of money to these Mauritanian nationals in return for their
agreement to live in the occupied Saharawi territories and pass
themselves off as Saharawis. [Le
Jour d'Algérie,16.03.08]
The Mauritanian government met to discuss the situation, which could
provoke a crisis with Rabat, and decided to start an information
campaign to warn about the risks of renouncing one’s nationality. [Liberté 12.03.08]
According to the Moroccan weekly, "La Semaine" (Al-Ousbou'a) the group
of so-called Saharawis returning to occupied Western Sahara under the
direction of Hammada Ould Derwich is still housed in a hotel in El
Ayoun. The Mauritanian government has just declared their Mauritanian
passports invalid and let Ould Derwich know he is persona non grata in
Mauritania.
[See also Le
Journal Hebdomadaire, 17.03.08,
Fr]
7th Session of
the Human Rights Council, 03-28 March 2008, Geneva
A Saharawi delegation comprising Abdeslam Omar, President of
AFAPREDESA, Abba Haissan, Secretary General of the Union of Saharawi
Jurists, Hmad Hammad, Secretary General of CODAPSO and Larbi Messaoud
from CODESA participate in this session.
For interventions before the Council see: http://saharaoccidental.blogspot.com/2008/03/7me-session-du-conseil-des-droits-de.html
30.03.08: New
appeal for aid by the Saharawi Red Crescent. The food quota for April
is not covered and there is still no reserve stock.
01.04.08: the World Food Program (PAM) undertook with the Algerian
Minister for Foreign Affairs, to give food aid of 32.5 million
dollars (US), to cover the basic needs of 125,000 refugees for
the period of 01.01.08 until 30.06.09.
The UN deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Craig Johnstone, arrived
on 31 March for a two-day visit of Algeria, visited the Saharawi
refugee camps for a mission of evaluation. [minAE
Algérie] http://193.194.78.233/ma_fr/stories.php?story=08/04/01/6295549
08.03.08, Quito,
Equateur, Création d'une association de solidarité avec
le peuple sahraoui. [corr.]
12-19.03.08, Caracas, Semana de solidaridad con el pueblo saharaui en
el Cuartel San Carlos, edificación del siglo XVIII, declarado
monumento histórico nacional por la Junta Nacional Protectora y
Conservadora del Patrimonio Histórico y Artístico de la
Nación: http://poemariosahara.blogspot.com/search/label/Latinoam%C3%A9rica
13-14.03.08, Leeds, UK: La Generación de la Amistad at the
symposium 'Poetics of resistance' : http://sahararesiste.blogspot.com/2008/03/la-generacin-de-la-amistad-en-el.html
17-20.04.08: V
Festival Internacional de Cine del Sahara Fisahara 08 avec la
participation de plusieurs réalisateurs et acteurs espagnols,
dont l'acteur Javier Bardem: http://www.festivalsahara.com
18-19.04.08: Colloque international sur "l’autodétermination des
peuples : vecteur de paix et de développement" organisé
au siège de l’Assemblée populaire nationale, à
l’initiative du Comité de fraternité parlementaire
algéro- sahraoui
19.04.08: Marcha en Huelva por la paralización del expolio al
pueblo saharaui. Avda de las Palmeras puerto de Levante hasta FMC
FORET. Organisan: Fandas, Federacion andaluza de asociaciones
solidarias con el Sahara, WSRW, Huelva (Federacion provincial de Huelva
de asociaciones solidarias con el Sahara).
Nouveaux blogs
http://www.fidaeiualjabha.skyblog.com
(international)
http://www.fidaeiualjabha.jeeran.com
(arabe)
http://m-e-s.1s.fr (arabe)
DOCUMENTS
Analyses
Droits humains -
Human Rights - Derechos humanos
Reportages
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