Western Sahara Referendum Support Association (Delemont)
9 November 2007
SADR
17-25.10.07, visit of the Saharawi President to Italy The Saharawi President Mohamed Abdelaziz met the Vice-President of the Italian government and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Massimo D'Alema, who welcomed the "responsible position" of the Polisario Front towards arriving at a peaceful solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.
[statement from the FA ministry in Italian]<http://www.esteri.it/MAE/IT/Ministero/Ministro/Comunicati/2007/10/20071017_DalemaAbdelaziz.htm> [photo officielle] <http://www.esteri.it/MAE/IT/Ministero/Ministro/AlbumFotografico/2007/10/20071017_DalemaPolisario.htm>
Abdelaziz also met the President of the Parliament Fausto Bertinotti, the Vice-President of the Senate and the presidents of various political parties.
The Moroccan government summoned the Italian Ambassador in Rabat to protest. Abdelaziz had been presented on the ministry's agenda as the "President of SADR".[L'Occidentale] <http://www.loccidentale.it/node/7919>
24.10.07 Ariano Irpino, Campania The Saharawi President attended the proceedings of a conference on human rights abuses in Western Sahara, which concluded with the setting up of a "Permanent Watch on the human rights situation in the Saharawi occupied territories". [Irpinia News] <http://www.irpinianews.it/Attualita/news/?news=24181>
25.10.07, Naples During a reception organised in his honour by the Mayor of Naples, Rosa Iervolino Russo, the Saharawi President declared that "the negotiations will not yield results unless pressure is put on Morocco". [agenzia] <http://www.asgmedia.it/asg/page.asp?VisImg=S&Art=25791&Cat=1&I=null&IdTipo=0&TitoloBlocco=Enti%20Locali>
27-28.10.07, SADR-Senegal The Saharawi Minister for Occupied Territories, Khalil Sidi Mhamed, attended the congress of the Socialist Party of Senegal on the invitation of its first secretary, Ousmane Tanor Dieng.
Speaking during the opening session, Khalil paid tribute to "the unfailing support of the PSS to the struggle of the Saharawi people for their self-determination and independence". [SPS]
30.10.07 The Spanish Popular Party asked the government to open a branch of the Cervantes Institute in Western Sahara "occupied by Morocco" and another in the Saharawi refugee camps.
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND SOUTH MOROCCO
Repression, intimidation 12.10.07 The provincial director of Agriculture in El Ayoun, the employer of the Saharawi activist, Djimi Elghalia, vice-president of ASVDH, refused to grant her permission to leave the territory.
Elghalia was planning meetings with Frontline in Ireland and Amnesty International in France from 15 October. [Declaration of ASVDH] <http://asvdh.net/english/?p=261>
Founding meeting of CODESA banned The founding meeting of CODESA, arranged for 7 October, was not authorised by the Moroccan authorities. CODESA protested in a statement written to the president of the European Parliament and to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Other Saharawi associations in the occupied territories acted likewise.
The Saharawi authorities denounced "this denial of human rights and democracy".
Mohamed Sidati, Minister delegate for Europe, spoke to the European Union and the European Parliamentary intergroup, "Peace for the Saharawi people" published a statement. European member of parliament, Meyer Pleite raised the question in the parliament. [espa-ol] <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20071022+ITEM-013+DOC+XML+V0//FR&language=FR&query=INTERV&detail=1-040> [special page] <http://www.arso.org/CODESAprepOct2007.htm>
Arrests Arrests are targeting especially young demonstrators, the time limits for custody are practically never respected and the practice of torture is usual.[Testimony] <http://asvdh.net/?p=321> Seven young Saharawis were arrested and charged with having burned a police car: Omar Khnibila, Mohamed Boutabaa, Abdessalam Loumadi, Bachri Mohamed Ahmed Hamdi, Hassan Dah, Nafaai Sah, Abdallah Elboussati. The last five were on hunger strike since 24 October to protest against their conditions of detention. [more...] <http://sahara-libre.blogspot.com/2007/10/prison-noire.html>
Trial 08.10.07, El-Ayoun The secretary general of ASVDH, Brahim Sabbar, Ahmed Sbai, member of the coordinating council and three other Saharawi political detainees were acquitted of the charge of causing offense to the magistrate.[communiqué] <http://asvdh.net/?p=308> Amnesty international defended the human rights defenders. [English] <http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGMDE290112007>
Mrs France Weyl attended a trial as a judiciary observer for the International Association of Democrat Lawyers and the French Association of Soldarity of the Right. She attended the trial as a judicial observer from the International Association of Democrat Lawyers and the French Association of Law-Solidarity. She spoke to the president of the tribunal to denounce the way the hearing was conducted. [letter] <http://asvdh.net/?p=310>
Awareness-raising campaigns Several Saharawi human rights defenders travelled to Europe during the month of October. Hmad Hamad on a lecture tour of Aragon, Navarra, Vitoria, Seville and Cordoba. Brahim Dahane and Brahim Noumria testified in Italy. The student, Rabab Amidane, sister of the political detainee Elouali Amidane, spoke in Madrid. [résumé in Spanish of Rabab's activities in Spain] <http://www.saharamadrid.org/>
Soultana Khaya, the student who lost an eye during an intervention by the Moroccan police, underwent two surgical operations in Barcelona and the implantation of a prothesis.
Solidar, an alliance of 60 NGOs from 20 European countries, on the 16th, at a ceremony in the European Parliament in Brussels, gave the Silver Rose 2007 prize to Aminatou Haidar. The prize was awarded in the international category "Struggle for freedom and human dignity". [more...] <http://dgroups.org/groups/SOLIDAR-WR/docs/SR_winners_descriptions_Annex.pdf?ois=no> [Appeal of Aminatou Haidar] <http://arso.org/AminatouSlverRose161007.htm>
Death 04.10.07, Suspect death A Saharawi citizen from Boujdour, Sidiya Moulay Brahim, known for his independence ideas, was found dead last week in his car at the gates of the town. A member of the Moroccan special services had been seen in his company only a few hours before his death. [SPS]
18.10.07 Chaibani Elbambari, born in 1964, died due to poor health following his forced disappearance from 1988 to 1991.
30.10.07 Commemoration in the occupied territories and in southern Morocco of the second anniversary of the death of Hamdi Lembarki, assassinated by the Moroccan police at the end of a demonstration supporting self-determination of the Saharawi people, on 29 October 2005 in El Ayoun. [archive] <http://www.arso.org/intifada301005.htm#e>
NATURAL RESOURCES
17.10.07, fishing Four fishing villages, Agti El Ghazi, Tarouma, Amégriou, Aftiesset, are at present under construction in Western Sahara, financed by the Agency for promotion and development of the southern regions, the Hassan II fund, the Ministry of Maritime Fishing and the National Office of Fisheries.
23.10.07, phosphate, uranium The industrial group for nuclear energy, AREVA and the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) signed an agreement of cooperation to develop the extraction of uranium from phosphate. The reserves of uranium which can be recuperated from Moroccan phosphate are close to 6 million tonnes, or twice the known global resources of deposits of uranium. [agency] <http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/232007149608.htm>
25.10.07, oil The Saharawi official body for oil announces for January 2008 the opening of a second round of bids for oil exploration licences. These licences will offer three onshore blocks and six offshore.
[details] <http://www.sadroilandgas.com>
28.10.07, nuclear France will turn Morocco nuclear and soon Libya and Algeria, by equipping them with nuclear power stations.[El Pais] <http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Francia/nuclearizara/Magreb/elpepuint/20071028elpepiint_8/Tes>
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