|
|
Morocco: Western Sahara Weekly News
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Western Sahara Referendum Support Association (Delemont)
28 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008
SADR
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]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
