The Swedish Green Party signed an international petition launched last November by Western Sahara Resource Watch, WSRW, which demands that Western Sahara should be explicitly excluded if the EU and Morocco agrees on deepened cooperation.
Ellinor Scheffert indicated in her statement that "it is evident for the Green Party to support this petition”, because “a close cooperation between the EU and Morocco, where the Saharawi territory is included, would help to give further legitimacy to the occupation”.
“Unfortunately, she added, today the world gives its silent consent to the occupation of Western Sahara and to the torture and discrimination of the Saharawis. Morocco’s actions violate international law and human rights, they defy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the African Union”, the international spokesperson of the Green Party said in a press release today.
For further information:
Ellinor Scheffert, 
(+46) (0)702-93 55 74
Mattias Bengtsson, press secretary, (+46) (0)736-27 53 83
quarta-feira, 24 de dezembro de 2008
Swedish Greens demands Western Sahara out of Moroccan-EU cooperation
Phosphate imports questioned at Incitec Pivot’s AGM
Morocco/Western Sahara: Irregularities in Sahrawi activist’s trial
PUBLIC STATEMENT
Index: MDE 29/016/2008
Date: 23 December 2008
Morocco/Western Sahara: Irregularities in Sahrawi activist’s trial
Amnesty International is concerned about the recent sentencing of Sahrawi activist Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently on hunger strike, to three years in prison on the basis of what he claims was a falsified record of statements he made in custody. The organization is also concerned that other aspects of Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s trial proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards as he was denied the right to legal counsel during his appeal hearing. His case was submitted several days ago to Morocco’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, which can review the alleged irregularities in his trial and, if confirmed, dismiss the ruling and send the case for retrial by a lower court.
Amnesty International fears that Mustafa Abdel Dayem’s conviction may have been intended to punish him for his public support for the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara and for the Polisario Front, which calls for an independent state in Western Sahara and runs a self-proclaimed government-in-exile in refugee camps in south-western Algeria.
Mustafa Abdel Dayem, member of both the Assa-Zag Branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and the Sahrawi Journalists’ and Writers’ Union, was arrested without a warrant on the evening of 27 October 2008 at his home in Assa in southern Morocco and taken to the Royal Gendarmerie Station in the same city. His arrest followed anti-government protests in Assa earlier that day by Sahrawi members of the population calling for the creation of employment opportunities and the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. While Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims not to have participated in the protests, he admits to having lowered the Moroccan flag from the ‘Alal Al-Fassi secondary school, where he worked as a security guard. He explains that his action was intended to show his support and solidarity with the demonstrators and his opposition to the intervention of law enforcement officers to break up the protests.
On 4 November 2008, the Court of First Instance of Guelmim sentenced Mustafa Abdel Dayem to a three-year prison term and a fine of 50,000 dirhams (approximately US$6,220) for offending the flag of the Kingdom of Morocco, rebelling and inciting an armed gathering, participating in the destruction of public property and participating in the contempt of public officials on duty. The sentence also included a prohibition on Mustafa Abdel Dayem from practicing teaching or working in any educational institution for a period of 10 years. Mustafa Abdel Dayem insists that the record of his questioning by the Royal Gendarmerie (procès-verbal), on which his conviction was largely based, was falsified – attributing to him acts which he neither committed nor confessed to committing during his interrogation at the Royal Gendarmerie station in Assa. He argued that he had signed a procès-verbal following his questioning, whereas the one presented to the court was unsigned. During the hearing, his defence team walked out in protest at the court’s refusal to call on the Royal Gendarmerie to produce as evidence the procès-verbal signed by Mustafa Abdel Dayem.
During his appeal trial, Mustafa Abdel Dayem was denied his right to be defended by legal counsel. According to members of his defence team, none of his lawyers was summoned to the appeal hearings which took place at the Court of Appeals of Agadir. Furthermore, Mustafa Abdel Dayem claims that his request to postpone the second hearing on 11 December until his lawyers were present or until he had had the opportunity to constitute a different defence team was rejected by the court, which confirmed the lower court’s conviction later that day. On 19 December his lawyers submitted an appeal against the ruling to the Court of Cassation, which is mandated to review cases only on questions of procedure, but no date has yet been set for its consideration of the case.
Mustafa Abdel Dayem, currently incarcerated at Inzegane Prison in Agadir, has reportedly been on hunger strike since 13 December 2008 to protest the Court of First Instance’s refusal to request as evidence his signed procès-verbal to the Royal Gendarmerie and the Court of Appeal’s insistence on pronouncing its decision despite the absence of his defence team. Seven of his family members in Assa, including his parents, who are elderly, started a hunger strike on the same day in solidarity with him, threatening to continue it until he is retried in a trial meeting international standards.
Background
Since 2005, dozens of Sahrawis have been charged with violent conduct and detained after being arrested during or after demonstrations against Moroccan rule in Western Sahara. Many of those arrested allege that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated to force them to sign confessions, to intimidate them from protesting further or to punish them for demanding the right to self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.
The Moroccan authorities continue to claim that those imprisoned were involved in criminal acts and are not being held for their views. Amnesty International has serious concerns about the fairness of their trials, including that some of the evidence was tainted on account of unexamined claims of torture or other ill-treatment and that defendants were not permitted to call defence witnesses
In October 2008, Yahya Mohamed ElHafed, member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders, was found guilty of violent conduct and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in connection with his participation in a protest in Tan Tan against Moroccan rule. Eight other defendants received sentences of up to four years in prison. Allegations that they were tortured during questioning were not investigated.
Swedish Trade Council withdraws incorrect map
In April this year, Swedish Trade Council opened an office in Casablanca, Morocco. As preparation of the opening of the office, the Council had on 6th March made a folder with information on the business opportunities in Morocco. Download folder here.
The only map in the folder, outlined the activities of ANAFAP, the umbrella organisation for fishmeal and fish oil producers in Morocco - and Western Sahara. But the map made no distinction of the two countries, and did not outline the internationally recognised border between Morocco and Western Sahara. See the map below.
"I get upset by the Trade Council’s folder, in which one really urges Swedish businesses to participate in the plundering of an occupied country. The government must now act so that a governmental authority like the Trade Council do not work against the clear majority in the Swedish parliament that consider Western Sahara as occupied", said parliamentarian Mr. Hans Linde, to the Swedish magazine Västsahara.
"Oops, we are going to change that map", said Helena Olsson, Director Corporate Communications at the Swedish Trade Council when she was made aware of the issue by Västsahara.
She underlined that they cooperate closely with the Swedish embassy in Rabat, and follow the recommendations by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The [Swedish] Ministry of Foreign Affairs will immediately contact the Trade Council and make them aware of the position of the Swedish government on the status on Western Sahara, and that this map is not in line with this position", said Mrs. Ulla Eriksson-Moberg at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the same publication.
Then, all information relating to fisheries was simply removed from the folder. That included pages 17, 18 and 19, including the information on "Fishmeal and fish oil producers in Morocco", as well as the only map of Morocco in the entire folder.
The new version of the folder was edited by the local staff at the Trade Council’s Casablanca office on the 28th of November 2008. Download the new version here
The President of the Republic condemns Moroccan Forces kidnapping a 9 years old girl in Smara
In a letter he addressed to the Secretary General of the UN, Mr. Abdelaziz renewed Saharawi "call for an urgent and immediate intervention to protect innocent lives, and stop the brutal repression and gross violations of human rights by the Moroccan State against the Saharawi people, which involve children, in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, Southern Morocco and in Moroccan universities."
"The girl suffers from traces of torture by police agents: Abdessamed Bahli, Salem Bougteib, Zakria Beiti and Abderrahmane Mcheichou", the Saharawi president indicated.
In the same letter, the President of the Republic informed Ban Ki-Moon that the sister of the Saharawi journalist, Mustapha Abd Dayem, was transferred in coma to the hospital of Goulimime, due to deteriorating health," while she was participating to a hunger strike with 7 of the member of her family to protest against the unfair trail the Moroccan authorities orchestrated against her brother.
"Concerning the case of the journalist and prisoner of conscience, Moustapha Abd Dayem, who bears the burden of a poor family, composed of elderly and young children, he is undertaking a hunger strike for over a week," said Abdelaziz.
He also drew attention to "the seriousness of the incident and the plight of the Saharawis under Moroccan occupation", citing the recent report of Human Rights Watch, which accused Morocco of serious violations of human rights in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, as it was already unveiled by the report of the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Human Rights of 2006.
"We reiterate in this letter our request to intervene vis-à-vis the Moroccan Government to immediately and unconditionally release all the Saharawi political prisoners and to lift the secrecy on the fate of more than 500 missing Saharawi civilians and 151 Saharawi prisoners of war, "concluded the letter.
The Irish capital hosts a photographic exhibition on the sufferings of the Saharawi people under Moroccan occupation
A large part of the exhibition is devoted to the sufferings of the Saharawi people under the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and practices against Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons including, among others, former Saharawi political detainee, Mrs. Jimmy Ghalia.
Moroccan illegal plundering of the resources of Western Sahara was also present at the exhibition through photographs of Moroccan fishermen prowling fish from the Saharawi coasts.
The exhibition, which witnessed a large attendance, reflects the daily sufferings of the Saharawi people, how they are repressed by Morocco, their sufferings of Morocco’s injustice and their appeal for the international community to help them protect their legitimate rights and the natural wealth of their country.
Moroccan forces arrest Saharawi citizens in peaceful demonstrations in the city of El Aaiun
Dozens of citizens, including women and children have participated in two demonstrations in Lahohum neighbourhood before Moroccan repressive forces intervened and arrested three young saharawis: Rageb Baihi, Alhnafi Ghazoani and Mohamed Baihi.
In the same context, Ibn Battuta School in Al-Amal Square in the same city lived a violent intervention of the Moroccan police forces after dozens of students gathered in a peaceful demonstration to demand the right to self-determination.
The intervention resulted in the arrest of five students, mainly Bourkba Ahmed, Salem Touif, Ahmed Khalil, Essami Mohamed, and Faitah Mohamed before being released after they were beaten and intimidated.
Meanwhile, the Saharawi political detainees in the Black prison (Carcel Negra) in El Aaiun started a 48 hours hunger strike to protest against their imprisonment in the same cell with criminals.
terça-feira, 23 de dezembro de 2008
Official reactions to the HRW report
Having now skimmed the new HRW report, it seems to me to be a very thorough piece of work. It presents a nuanced picture of repression on all sides in Western Sahara, and gives the most complete picture I have seen so far of the present human rights situation. (It does not deal with past violations.)
For example, police repression in Moroccan-held Western Sahara is portrayed in all its unpleasantness, with several political trials examined in detail. But the report also notes significant improvements since the 1990s: "Despite the persistent enforcement of laws repressing advocacy of Sahrawi
independence, Morocco has gradually and unevenly opened the door to wider debate on this issue." And "[i]n contrast to twenty years ago, Sahrawi activists conduct [pro-independence] activities and return home most nights without being disturbed. However, sooner or later most of them encounter various forms of harassment that can include travel restrictions, arbitrary arrest, beatings, or trial and imprisonment on trumped-up charges. In recent years, courts have generally imposed on Sahrawi activists sentences of three years or less, sentences generally much shorter than those imposed during the earlier period." This nuanced but critical view, of course, shatters both the stalinesque propaganda of official Morocco, according to which All Is Well In The Southern Provinces, but also pokes a hole in POLISARIO's claims that nothing has changed -- or can change -- for the better under Moroccan rule.
HRW also notes that power remains centralized to a small core of decision-makers in POLISARIO's Tindouf camps, with the refugee community dependent on their political leadership for jobs and provision, rather than the other way around; a situation which naturally encourages corruption and abuse. However, the report also points out that the political climate has been much liberalized since the ceasefire in 1991, and that "[t]oday, political detentions are rare or nonexistent in the refugee camps." It provides the first serious investigation of the slavery allegations, noting that "vestiges of slavery" and traditional racist social stratification remains in the camps, primarily in such a way as to affect marriage customs; but also, that POLISARIO has tried to fight these phenomena, and that they are present throughout Sahrawi/Moorish society, including on the Moroccan side. It clarifies that refugees aren't "forcibly held" or "sequestered", as Morocco claims, and that they are quite able to leave the camps -- but also that people fear POLISARIO's reaction if they were to announce a willingness to resettle in Moroccan-held territory. These descriptions run totally counter to POLISARIO's fantastical claims of a blossoming little refugee democracy, but also undermine Rabat's equally absurd depiction of the Tindouf camps as a sort of desert GULAG archipelago for kidnapped Moroccans.
Finally, HRW points out the anomaly that there is no party formally responsible to the international community for human rights protection in Tindouf: Algeria has abdicated rule over the area to the Sahrawi Republic, which in turn is not internationally recognized, and the UN mission, MINURSO, has no human rights-monitoring component. The report argues that Algeria's responsibility should be defined and recognized (something Algeria wants to hear nothing of, preferring its ambiguous role on the sidelines), and also demands that MINURSO get the same right and duty as other UN missions to monitor human rights in all of its areas of responsibility, i.e. all of Western Sahara and the POLISARIO-administered territories in Algeria (something which Morocco is rigidly opposed to, and which its ally France blocks in the Security Council).
All in all, this report is the best I've read so far, by far, on Western Sahara's human rights issues. So how was it received by its intended recipients, the ruling circles in Rabat, Rabouni and Algiers? Quite predictably, by a barrage of shrill and one-sided propaganda:
In Morocco, some officials denounce the report, which is harshest on Morocco (for the simple reason that Morocco has on the whole been much more abusive to Sahrawis). For example, Istiqlali parliamentarian Hamid Shibat explained to al-Jazira that the report is a product of, you guessed it, Algerian intelligence.* And the palace mouthpiece Le Matin is shocked to its very core after reading this "perfidious" document: "One falls backwards, one must be dreaming, one thinks that one is hearing an Algerian delegate in front of an assembly". However, the paper then catches its breath again, to summarize the report in another article in quite different tones. Now it suddenly states that "Polisario and Algeria are responsible for human rights violations in the Tindouf camps."
This is also the line taken by the official news agency, MAP, which spews out a steady stream of articles on the report, like one headlined "HRW urges Algeria to assume responsibility for Polisario barbaric acts in Tindouf" or its sister piece, which claims that "HRW's assessment is almost a scathing denial of the vain allegations that the polisario and its mentor Algeria throw out whenever a handful of separatists strive to disrupt public order and whenever Moroccan authorities exercise their right to restore order and reprimand violent rioting demonstrators and thieves." Almost!
Algerian and Sahrawi media is no better. The Sahrawi news agency, SPS, somehow twists HRW criticisms of POLISARIO rule in Tindouf into "HRW welcomes the role of the Polisario Front for the protection of human rights" and the writers' union UPES obediently follows suit: "Human Rights Watch accused Morocco on Friday of beating and torturing independence campaigners in Western Sahara and said U.N. peacekeepers should start monitoring human rights in the territory." And APS, the Algerian state news agency, sums up the report as "Morocco is in the eye of the storm because of its repression in Western Sahara." Meanwhile, the Algerian state newspaper El Moudjahid sums up the situation in Tindouf as simply one of "freedom of movement, no political prisoners, and where criticism against the management of Front Polisario is permitted," and the other state newspaper, ech-Chaab, headlines with "Morocco violates rights of free expression in Western Sahara," and that's about it.
The expression "dialogue of the deaf" doesn't capture the scope of the problem here. It's more like a drooling, spitting, eye-rolling rant of the mentally retarded. All the peoples involved deserve so much better than these pitiful governments.
segunda-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2008
“Moroccans hang their problems on Algeria’s pegboard”
The official Moroccan campaign targeting Algeria is owed to Algeria’s backing up self determination plan in the Western Sahara disputed territory, said the Minister of State, Personal Representative of the President of Republic, Mr. Abdelaziz Belkhadem.
In a press conference he held following the FLN Council meeting, Mr. Belkhadem has approached again the critics made by Moroccan high officials to Algeria. He said Algeria does not intend worsening her relationships with Morocco. He further indicated that the campaign launched by “brothers in Morocco, does not serve the fraternal relationships between both countries. The political stability in Morocco and western Sahara and in the entire region is very important to Algeria,” he has been quoted as saying.
Moreover, Mr. Belkhadem added that reserves emitted by Algeria over the claim of the Moroccan authorities, which required the opening of borders has arisen the Moroccan authorities’ anger, through accusations saying that Algeria is hindering the construction of the Maghreb Union.
According to Mr. Belkhadem, the Moroccan authorities make Algeria responsible of the problems they are facing; pointing out that Morocco is intending to show Algeria as a responsible of internal social and economical problems they are facing.
HRW calls on the Security Council to expand the mandate of Minurso for monitoring human rights in Western Sahara
Human Rights Watch said that the UN Security Council should ensure that the UN presence in the region includes regular human rights monitoring, added the same source.
“All UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception.”
Morocco has ruled Western Sahara de facto since its troops invaded the territory following Spain’s withdrawal from its former colony in 1976. Morocco officially refers to the region as its "southern provinces," but the United Nations does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the last colony in Africa.
Morocco opposed as unworkable a UN-brokered plan for a referendum on the territory’s future and has proposed autonomy for the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. Rabat made it clear, however, that the plan envisages no rollback of laws criminalizing "attacks on territorial integrity." Thus, Moroccan-granted autonomy will not give Saharawis their right to demand independence or a referendum to decide the region’s future.
"Sahrawis differ on how to resolve the conflict," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
"But wherever they live, authorities must allow them peacefully to express and act on behalf of those views, she added, estimating that “Any proposed solution for the Western Sahara that does not guarantee these rights is no solution at all."
HRW welcomes the role of the Polisario Front in the respect of human rights
"In the Saharawi refugee camps, the Polisario Front allows refugees to criticize its management of daily affairs,” HRW said in its report.
“Residents are able to leave the camps if they wish to, including to resettle in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The fact that most take the main road to Mauritania rather than a clandestine route shows their confidence in being allowed to travel,” added the same source.
"The refugees in Tindouf have, for more than 30 years, lived in exile from their homeland, governed by a liberation movement in an environment that is physically harsh and isolated," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Morocco "violates” the rights to freedom of expression in Western Sahara (HRW)
In this report of 216 pages, the director of the division of the Middle East and North Africa at HRW, Sarah Leah Whitson, said that "Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence and unfair trials to suppress Sahrawis who struggle peacefully for independence or full self-determination for Western Sahara ", indicating it is " An international issue that has been holding for decades."
"In Western Sahara, the Moroccan authorities consider any opposition to their administration of the territory (Western Sahara) as illegal attack on territorial integrity of Morocco" adding that they (the Moroccan authorities) use this position to ban or disperse peaceful demonstrations and to deny legal recognition to organizations defending human rights ".
According to HRW "the problem goes beyond the repressive laws" because as it is explained in the document, "the police beats demonstrators that call peacefully for independence and sometimes torture detainees."
Citizens file formal complaints about police abuse that the justice system routinely dismisses without conducting serious investigations, reinforcing a climate of impunity for the police," says the HRW document.
HRW confirms that Moroccan courts have charged Saharawi human rights “activists” for "inciting or participating in acts of violence based on dubious evidence at completely unfair trials".
HRW estimates that the Security Council of the United Nations should provide "guarantees" so that his presence (the UN) in the region could involve a Regular "mechanism" for monitoring of human rights, stressing that France and the United States, as permanent members of the Security Council and have the "strongest interest in this region," must play a "crucial" role.
The organization considers all UN peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and, with MINURSO forces operating in a peacekeeper capacity in Western Sahara, this region should be no exception.
While recalling that HRW takes no position on the issue of independence of Western Sahara, the director of the division of the Middle East and North Africa of this international NGO has made a series of recommendations to end the violation of human rights in the region.
The Organization recommends to "revise or abolish" laws that make "illegal" the political expression and activities of organizations deemed to undermine the "territorial integrity" of Morocco and are also used to "suppress" the non-violent actions for defending the Saharawi rights.
It also recommends putting an end to the "impunity" for "abuse" committed by the police (Moroccan) ensuring "serious" investigations to the complaints of civilians and that disciplinary measures are applied against the officials.
Finally, HRW urged judges and prosecutors to respect the rights of suspects under Moroccan law to be examined by a doctor and dismiss evidence based on statements which are proven to have been obtained under torture.
The Saharawi Minister of Justice Mr. Hamada Selma Daf said Friday that the government of the SADR and the Polisario Front "supports the call for HRW to the Security Council for the establishment, within the MINURSO, a mechanism for observation and regular supervision of the situation of human rights in occupied Western Sahara and the Saharawi refugee camps."
MINURSO "can not continue to be the exception to the rule of all peace missions of United Nations in the world" said Minister of Justice.
domingo, 21 de dezembro de 2008
Belkhadem compares French occupation to Algeria with Morocco’s occupation to Western Sahara
Algerian-Moroccan relationships should not be altered by Western Sahara
In response to statement made by high ranking officials in Morocco, while criticizing Algeria’s support to the Western Sahara, the Minister of State, and General Secretary of the Algerian major party FLN, said: “the Algerian people reached an agreement with one of the biggest colonial powers (France), and we accepted to hold self-determination referendum, then how could we oppose to such a solution for another people.”
When Mr. Belkhadem compares the referendum of self determination held in Algeria, in 1962, and the claim of the Saharawi people, he is alluding that the colonial power, France, which occupied Algeria for more than 130 years, and Morocco, are the same.
“We are targeted by an official campaign led by our brothers in Morocco, I seize this occasion to tell them we are brothers, and we have not intention to harm your Kingdom,” added Belkhadem, “ if Algeria supported the Sahrawi people, represented by the Front of Polisario, it did it for the respect of its principles.”
21-12-2008
By H.Y
Sahara occidental: Le nouveau coordinateur général de la Gauche unie (IU) critique le gouvernement espagnol
Madrid, Le nouveau coordinateur du parti Izquierda Unida (IU-Gauche-Unie), Cayo Lara a critiqué le gouvernement socialiste espagnol de José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero d’avoir "abandonné" le peuple sahraoui, et réitéré la "nécessité d’organiser un référendum d’autodétermination" au Sahara occidental.
M. Lara, qui a été élu récemment à la tête de cette formation politique en remplacement de Gaspar Llamazares, un fervent défenseur de la cause sahraouie, a affirmé que le règlement du conflit, tel qu'évoqué récemment par Zapatero, en parlant du modèle de l’autonomie en Espagne, "n’est pas la solution au problème de décolonisation du Sahara occidental".
Le responsable s’exprimait lors d’une conférence de presse à Algésiras (Cadix, sud de l’Espagne) à la faveur de la Conférence nationale du groupe parlementaire de la Gauche unitaire (Europe-gauche verte nordique) tenue dans cette ville.
Tout en dénonçant les "graves violations des droits de l’homme" dans les territoires sahraouis occupés par le Maroc, M. Lara a appelé à déployer des observateurs internationaux dans cette ancienne colonie espagnole pour "faire respecter les résolutions de l’ONU qui appellent toutes à l’autodétermination du peuple sahraoui".
Evoquant de la position de l’Espagne à l’égard de ce vieux conflit, il a rappelé que l’ancien leader socialiste Felipe Gonzalez, avant d’arriver au pouvoir, avait promis en 1976 que le "Sahara occidental serait libre" mais sans pour autant tenir sa promesse.
M. Lara s’est référé également à d’autres gouvernements "conservateurs qui n’ont pas décolonisé le Sahara occidental" ainsi qu’à la récente déclaration de Zapatero qui, a-t-il relevé, "n’est pas la méthode pour la décolonisation" de cette ancienne colonie espagnole.
L’eurodéputé de la Gauche unie, Willy Meyer, a annoncé à cette occasion que le Parlement européen a souscrit une déclaration sur le Sahara occidental qui sera signée par l’ensemble des députés.
Cette déclaration, a-t-il expliqué, souligne que le statut avancé accordé par l’UE au Maroc "ne peut englober les territoires sahraouis occupés, dans la mesure où le Sahara occidental connaît un processus de décolonisation", et fait référence aussi aux "multiples violations des droits de l’homme perpétrés par le Maroc dans ces territoires".
La déclaration appelle également l’UE à "respecter le droit international" au Sahara occidental qui "n’appartient pas au Maroc" et à "exiger la tenue d’un référendum d’autodétermination", a-t-il conclu.
Le Maroc dans l’œil du cyclone pour la répression au Sahara occidental, écrit la presse espagnole
Madrid, "Le Maroc est dans l’œil du cyclone" pour la répression au Sahara occidental, souligne samedi la presse espagnole au lendemain de la publication du rapport de l’organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW), accusant le Maroc de violer systématiquement les droits de l’homme dans l'ancienne colonie espagnole. Sous le titre, "le Maroc viole les droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental", El Mundo écrit que ce rapport révèle de "graves violations de la liberté d’expression, d’association et de réunions dans le territoire que le Maroc occupe depuis 1975".
Citant Eric Goldstein, chercheur pour le Proche-Orient et l’Afrique du Nord de HRW, le journal affirme que dans les campements de réfugiés sahraouis de Tindouf " il y a la liberté de mouvement, il n’y a pas de détenus politiques et la critique envers la gestion du Front Polisario est permise".
L’expert de HRW, qui a rappelé que les autorités marocaines considèrent que toute opposition au contrôle marocain du Sahara Occidental est une "attaque illégale contre l’intégrité territoriale" du pays, souligne que "de nombreux problèmes sont le résultat de cette interdiction qui est incompatible avec la liberté d’expression".
Le journal qui cite de larges extraits du rapport souligne que les militants sahraouis qui défendent leur droit à l’organisation d’un référendum d’autodétermination sont confrontés à "diverses formes de harcèlement y compris des restrictions de la liberté de voyager, des détentions arbitraires, passages à tabac ou des procès et emprisonnement sous de fausses accusations".
"Le traitement réservé par le Maroc aux sahraouis qui s’opposent à son contrôle continu du Sahara Occidental viole les droits de l’homme", affirme le même expert, ajoutant que "le système judiciaire au Maroc n’est pas indépendant et ne garantt pas des procès équitables, ce qui revient à dire que c’est une extension des opérations de sécurité".
El Pais titre de son côté : "Un rapport international accuse le Maroc de tortures au Sahara Occidental" et met en exergue la recommandation de HRW d‘étendre la mission de la MINURSO à la surveillance des droits de l’homme au Sahara Occidental.
A ce propos, le journal rappelle que le Secrétaire général de la Présidence du gouvernement espagnol, Bernardino Leon, s’était prononcé en faveur de l’élargissement des compétences de la MINURSO, lors d’une visite à Rabat en juin 2005, à la suite d’une campagne de répression contre les sahraouis, un mois plus tôt à El Aaiun occupé.
Le président du gouvernement, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero a indiqué mardi dernier, lors d’une conférence de presse conjointe avec le premier ministre marocain, Abbas El Fassi, à l’issue de la 9ème Réunion de Haut Niveau hispano-marocaine, que "l’évolution des droits de l’Homme au Sahara Occidental constitue une profonde préoccupation pour l’Espagne".
"Le Maroc, dans l’œil du cyclone à cause de la répression au Sahara Occidental", titre de son côté El Periodico de Catalunya qui, en citant le rapport de l’organisation américaine de défense des droits de l’homme, souligne que "le Maroc viole les droits de l’homme, en réprimant de manière systématique les sahraouis qui défendent l’indépendance".
Le journal barcelonais rapporte, par ailleurs, que le rapport de Human Rights Watch a suscité la grogne du gouvernement marocain qui a "très mal réagi" en affirmant qu’"aucune organisation ne doit s’ingérer dans les affaires internes du Maroc".
Plusieurs autres quotidiens espagnols ont publié également de larges extraits de ce rapport, à l’instar de ABC qui titre "un rapport accuse le Maroc de violer les droits de l’homme au Sahara occidental".
Ce rapport vient contredire les déclarations faites mardi dernier à Madrid par le premier ministre marocain, Abbas El Fassi, qui lors d’une conférence de presse, avait complètement nié les violations des droits de l’homme au Maroc, notamment dans les territoires sahraouis occupés, au point de présenter son pays comme étant le "paradis" de ces droits.
sábado, 20 de dezembro de 2008
PCS with one more shipment
One giant vessel has just offloaded its cargo in the United States, and is now passing this river bend along the Mississippi.
The Chinese bulk vessel 'Fu Min' was last observed in this river bend on the morning of 19th of December 2008, local time, close to the town of Carville, a few miles south of Baton Rouge, New Orleans.
The vessel had docked at Grandview Anchor of PCS Nitrogen in New Orleans, on 11th of December 2008, where she discharged her cargo.
As other vessels going to the fertilizer producer PCS Nitrogen, the Fu Min can have shipped as much as 70.000 tonnes of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara. The trade is in violation of international law, and highly unethical. The money for the cargo, which could have amounted to approximately 30 million USD, was paid directly to a Moroccan state phosphate company. The people of Western Sahara do not benefit from the trade, but are suffering from Morocco's illegal occupation which started in 1975.
Fu Min has IMO number 9154115, sailing under Panama flag, and is reported to be owned and operated by Loyal Shipping Inc. Agent in New Orleans was, as before, K & C Shipping.
It is also possible the vessel is managed by Cosco HK Shipping. Cosco is part of the same state owned Chinese shipping company that made the international headlines, when it earlier this year shipped arms to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
Swedish Greens demands Western Sahara out of Moroccan cooperation
The Swedish Green Party signs the international appeal from Western Sahara Resource Watch, WSRW, which demands that Western Sahara should be explicitly excluded if the EU and Morocco agrees on deepened cooperation.
"It is evident for the Green Party to support this petition. Unfortunately, today the world gives its silent consent to the occupation of Western Sahara and to the torture and discrimination of the Sahrawis. Morocco's actions violate international law and human rights, they defy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the African Union. A close cooperation between the EU and Morocco, where the Saharawi territory is included, would help to give further legitimacy to the occupation", said Ellinor Scheffert, international spokesperson of the Green Party, in a press release today.
For further information:
Ellinor Scheffert, (+46) (0)702-93 55 74
Mattias Bengtsson, press secretary,
HRW: UN should begin monitoring rights in W.Sahara
Morocco invaded and took control of Western Sahara in 1975 when the territory’s “de iure” colonial power, Spain, hastily withdrew without decolonising it.
After more than 16 years liberation war, waged by the Saharawi people under he leadership of POLISARIO Front, the legitimate representative of the people of Western Sahara, the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991 and sent in peacekeepers to monitor the agreement and to organise a referendum on self-determination as the name of the mission suggests (La Mission de l’ONU pour un Referendum au Sahara Occidental- MINURSO).
HRW said Morocco bans and disperses peaceful protests in the territory and denies recognition to Saharawi human rights organisations. It accused Moroccan police of beating pro-independence demonstrators and torturing people in their custody.
"Morocco uses a combination of repressive laws, police violence and unfair trials to punish Saharawis who advocate peacefully in favour of independence or full self-determination for the disputed Western Sahara," HRW said.
The rights group urged Morocco to decriminalise speech or political activity deemed to be affronts to its "territorial integrity" and end impunity for police abuses.
HRW said the U.N. Security Council should ensure the U.N. presence in the region included regular human rights monitoring.
"Virtually all U.N. peacekeeping missions around the world include a human rights component and ... this region should be no exception," it said.
The report also stressed that Saharawi refugees do not face problems in travelling from the camps towards Morocco, if they wish, and that they can travel from the camps to neighbouring Mauritania to reach the occupied zones.
