Western Sahara: President Chissano Receives Polisario Official

29 June 2001
Western Sahara Referendum Support Association (Delemont)
press release

Geneva — In Maputo this afternoon, President Joaquim Chissano received Mohamed [Salem Ould] Salek, minister of foreign affairs of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic [SADR]. The Saharan minister spoke to correspondents about the aim of his visit to Mozambique, and the peace process in his country.

[Salek - recording in Spanish] Mozambique and the SDAR have enjoyed friendly and solidarity relations for quite some time now. We have briefed the president of the Republic on the latest developments in Western Sahara, notably the peace process. As you know, the United Nations and the OAU have since 1991 been working with a view to holding a referendum on self-determination. The referendum has not been held yet because Morocco is opposed to it, even though it knows that the Saharan people would like to be independent. This is a new and serious development. The Security Council has been meeting since yesterday to discuss this issue.

I would like to take this opportunity to alert the Mozambican media and the public to the fact that the Saharan people will not accept anything short of independence and self-determination. No other solution would be acceptable to SDAR and Polisario. We believe it is the duty of the Security Council to force the other side to implement the accords that we have signed, and which the international community has supported for a great many years.

Source: Radio Mozambique Antena Nacional, Maputo, in Portuguese 1030 gmt 27 Jun 01.

Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara wsahara@online.no

*** Referendum now! ***

More info: www.arso.org & www.wsahara.net -----------------------------------

Prepared by ARSO (Association de soutien a un referendum libre et regulier au Sahara occidental). CP 2229, CH-2800 DELEMONT 2. Tel./Fax: 0041 32 422 87 17. E- mail: arso@arso.org; WWW: http://www.arso.org.

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