Western Sahara Referendum Support Association (Delemont)
16 October 2007
SADR
30.08.07, Sport In the framework of sporting competitions for the Summer cup 2007, the football final was won in Tifariti by the 27 February team, against Ausserd. The women's volley ball final went to the team from Ausserd. Other competitions took place, such as shooting and traditional games.
05.-06.09.07, 7th meeting of the Saharawi community in Algiers.
Numerous students took part in this meeting and 60 of them were congratulated for their success in the baccalaureat examinations.
14.09.07, Madrid The Spanish minister for Foreign Affairs, M. A.
Moratinos, received the official for external relations with the Polisario Front, Mr S. ould Salek, in the context of political contacts with the parties to the conflict. He reiterated Spain's commitment for a negotiated solution respecting international law. A Saharawi source indicated that Ould Salek gave Moratinos an invitation from the President of SADR to the Spanish President, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to go to the Saharawi refugee camps.
[comunicado oficial MAE espanol]<http://www.mae.es/es/MenuPpal/Actualidad/Notas+de+Prensa/222NP20070914.htm> [El Moudjahid] <http://www.elmoudjahid.com/stories.php?story=07/09/16/2472891>
14-22.09.07, Mexico The visit of the president of the Saharawi parliament, Mahfoud Ali Beiba, provided the opportunity for many political and parliamentary contacts.
14.09.07, Uganda The new Saharawi ambassador to Uganda, Hamdi Bouheha, presented his credentials to the Ugandan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa.
17-21.09.07, Finland The Saharawi representative for the Nordic countries, Yahiaoui Lamine, carried out a visit to Helsinki, where he was received by Anna Gebremedhin, among others, the deputy director of the department for Africa and the Middle East with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and by numerous parliamentarians.
21.09.07, Basque Country The Basque government made available to SADR a mobile office for the establishment of identity cards for the refugees in the camps.
[Europa Press] <http://www.hispanidad.com/noticia_ep.aspx?ID=20070921133109>
24.09.07, Congress The XIIth congress of the Polisario Front will take place in a liberated area of Tifariti from 14 to 18 December 2007. It will bear the name of the martyr, Messoud Mbarek Ahmed Lehsen, known as Gahgah, and its theme will be "the general struggle to bring about complete sovereignty and independence".
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
Questionings and arrests Abdelghani Kabdani, arrested on 30.08 and imprisoned in the Black Prison (see August 07), is accused of trafficking drugs.
A young Saharawi official, arrested in Dakhla, died while being transported by car to a psychiatric clinic in Agadir in circumstances which have not been clarified.
[AFAPREDESA] <http://www.afapredesa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=2>
Intimidations Police break into three dwellings in El Ayoun looking for Naama Asfari at the beginning of September. In Smara a school child is sent home from a private school, his father being known as a pro-independence activist.
Prisons El-Wali Amidane starts a hunger strike on 17, demanding to be transferred to Aït Melloul prison, which would be more favourable for the pursuit of his studies. He is transferred on 23 against his will to Taroudant prison. He suspends his hunger strike on 25 in the hope of seeing his demands met. [CODESA] <http://arso.org/CODESA230907.htm> Three Saharawi political prisoners are on hunger strike in the Black Prison since 10 September, and two since 25 September in Tiznit prison, to protest against the conditions of their incarceration.
Saharawi students sentenced in Marrakech and Rabat have left prison after having served their sentences, likewise the political prisoner, Laroussi Choubida.
Work Accident Accidental death on 11.9. of Lehsan Alkairaa, a Saharawi worker at Phosboucraa. The organisation of Saharawi workers in his department denounce the disastrous working conditions and the lack of safety measures at the work place, as well as the negligence of Moroccan officials. This is the second accident in two months. [communiqué] <http://www.arso.org/Boucraa110907.htm>
Demonstrations Three times demonstrations are violently dispersed causing many injuries and arrests, followed by the ransacking of several homes. On 12 at El Ayoun (16 persons arrested), on 20 in Zak and on 24 in Smara. The Saharawi President writes to the UN Secretary General on 26.
Saharawi citizens in the Southern Moroccan town of Mhamid El Ghizlan express their solidarity with the victims.
Sentence Mohamed Tahlil, president of the Boujdour branch of ASVDH, is given on 19 September a three year prison sentence.
<http://www.arso.org/intifadalisteprisdet.htm#tahlil>
05-09.09.07, testimony The Saharawi student, Soultana Khaya, <http://www.arso.org/intifadalistprisetud07.htm#sultana> seriously injured in Marrakech, travelled to Sweden at the invitation of various NGOs, she was received at the foreign ministry and by parliamentarians and politicians. She spoke during conferences and gave an interview to the paper, Flamman [13.09.07, svensk].
<http://www.flamman.se/utrikes.php?id=4681> [--> plus] <http://sahara-libre.blogspot.com/2007/09/visita.html> She continued her trip in Spain.
29.09.07, hommage The "Jose Antonio Gonzalez Caraballo" prize for solidarity was awarded in Madrid to the Saharawi activist and former political prisoner, Hmad Hamad, at the end of the second general meeting of the Coordination of Spanish Committees of support for the Saharawi people, CEAS, in recognition of the peaceful struggle carried out by Saharawi citizens in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.[EFE] <http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/hmad_hammad_jose_gonzalez_caraballo_1889716.htm> [Jose Antonio Gonzalez Caraballo] <http://www.tiempodecuba.34sp.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1061>http://www.tiempodecuba.34sp.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1061
NATURAL RESOURCES
Phosphates The ship, Genco Prosperity arrived on 28 September at the port of Lyttleton, New Zealand and on 29 in Dunedin, carrying phosphate from Western Sahara.
The Greek ship, Predator is expected in Tauranga, New Zealand on 10 October. It is marked as coming from Jorf Lasfar in Morocco, whilst in reality it comes from El Ayoun.
11.08.07, New Zealand The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade says that 90% of phosphate imported into New Zealand comes from Morocco, while the official site speaks of 80%. [New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] <http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Countries/Africa/Morocco.php>
04.09.07 The Association of Saharawis in Norway criticised the Norwegian company, Gearbulk, 60% owner of the Jebsen family, based in the United Kingdom, for carrying phosphate from Western Sahara for the benefit of Morocco. [Press Release Association of Saharawis in Norway].
<http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=49&art=602>
12.09.07 The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a note recommending Norwegian businesses to give up involvement in Western Sahara. [Original norsk] <http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/ud/tema/Norgesfremme-og-kultursamarbeid/Norges-omdomme/Bedrifters-samfunnsansvar/Vest-Sahara.html?id=480822> [english translation] http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?cat=71&art=626 [E.Hagen, Norwatch/engl.] <http://www.vest-sahara.no/index.php?parse_news=single&cat=49&art=613>
18.09.07 The Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt replied to a question of a member of parliament on oil prospection in occupied Western Sahara.
[Question in Swedish] <http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/index.aspx?nid=67&dtyp=frs&rm=2006/07&dok_id=GU111622&nr=1622> [Answer in Swedish] <http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/?nid=71&dok_id=GU121622&rm=2006/07&bet=1622> [English translation] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-Update/message/1976
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