Western Sahara News

par Ghania Oukazi Le ministre des Affaires étrangères confère à cette dernière sortie médiatique de l'année 2011 «un caractère symbolique», parce que, nous a-t-il dit, «il y a tellement de choses à dire sur ce qui se passe dans le monde». Mourad Medelci apporte ainsi dans cette interview des éclairages sur de grandes questions, nationales et internationales.  Le Quotidien d'Oran : Lors de l'ouverture de l'année judiciaire, le Président de la République a évoqué l'exception algérienne par rapport à ce qui se passe dans un certain nombre de pays arabes. En quoi l'Algérie serait-elle une exception ?  Mourad Medelci : Je crois tout d'abord que c'est un constat. Si nous apprécions le caractère exceptionnel de l'Algérie par comparaison avec un certain nombre de pays arabes qui vivent des évolutions, des mutations parfois dans la douleur, le constat est donc fait : l'Algérie, qui n'est pas la seule d'ailleurs - il y a aussi le Maroc - a connu

The World Federation of Democratic Youth, committed to the cause of anti-imperialist struggle, carried out an important international solidarity mission to Western Sahara on 2 to 11 of December.  The organization of this mission was decided before the Assembly in the framework of the decisions taken then, to continue organizing international missions such as the mission to Egypt and Palestine. After the Assembly and its decisions, this mission had even greater importance as the final documentation of the Assembly, among other decisions, underlined and ratified the importance of this missions and of course the importance to support and express solidarity to the struggle of the people of Western Sahara against the Moroccan occupation. The organization of the mission was carried out by the member organizations of WFDY, UJCE from Spain and the comrades of UJSARIO of Western Sahara. The mission had participation of 37 comrades from 3 countries and had theopportunity to meet with very impo

Spain said Thursday it will ask for compensation from the EU after the European Parliament cancelled a deal allowing EU trawlers, mainly from Spain, to fish in Moroccan waters. "I am going to ask for compensation for the damage to Spain's fishing fleet," said Spain's Farm, Environment and Fisheries Minister Rosa Aguilar, who was in Brussels for talks on fishing. The parliament move Wednesday prompted the North African nation to immediately ban all European fishing boats. European legislators said they wanted to wait until the interests of Western Sahara trawlers were considered before agreeing to a 12-month extension of the deal. Rights campaigners also said the deal breaches international law regarding Western Sahara, a region Morocco annexed in 1976. Under the deal, Morocco would have received 36 million euros ($46 million) to let some 120 fishing boats, mainly from Spain, operate in its waters. Finnish liberal MEP Carl Haglund said that payments alread

This is Voice of the Martyrs' definition of a restricted nation: "This includes countries where government policy or practice prevents Christians from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature. Also included are countries where government-sanctioned circumstances or anti-Christian laws lead to Christians being harassed, imprisoned, killed or deprived of possessions or liberties because of their witness." Here is an excerpt from an article from Compass Direct News published September 17th, 2010 : By the end of December Jamaa Ait Bakrim, 46, will have been in prison for five years at Morocco’s largest prison, Prison Centrale, in Kenitra. An outspoken Christian convert, Bakrim was sentenced to 15 years prison for “proselytizing” and destroying “the goods of others” in 2005 after burning two defunct utility poles located in front of his private business in a small town in south Morocco. Advocates and Moroccan Christians said, however, that the severity of his se

On 11 November General Basque government awarded Ms. Haidar price Cassin for his “fight for the just cause of the people of Western Sahara”. Ms. Haidar “represents the struggle of the Saharawi people to defend human rights, a task especially difficult and risky because of the stubborn reality that clearly demonstrates how the Moroccan authorities break rights and limit the freedoms of expression, assembly and association, “including the Department of Justice said the Basque government as distinct. ” The defense of human rights is even more complicated and risky for Saharawi women who in their role in development of traditional life have been and continue to be victims of serious abuse, “said the jury to justify his choice. Ms. Haidar is 20 years old in 1987 when she committed to the independence of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco. It becomes an active militant in the struggle for human rights and chairs the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). Sometimes known

Nina Murray, Women's Policy Officer 7 December 2011 As the first snowfall of the year flutters over the concrete Glasgow skyline and inevitable annual travel chaos looks set to descend in time for Christmas, the Sahara Desert is just about the farthest place from most of our festively-attuned imaginations.  Yet, thoughts of the Saharan sand dunes may well be in the minds of a small group of intrepid adventurers from different corners of the UK as they brave the biting British breeze to train for  Run the Sahara 2012 .

ROME – The Italian Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) adopted a resolution on Western Sahara at its last congress calling for the return of all the rights of the Saharawi people living under Moroccan military occupation for 36 years, said on Tuesday in Rome. The resolution passed unanimously by its eighth national congress held in early December in Naples, the PRC called for “an immediate end to the persistent violation of human rights in the occupied territories, and the release of all Saharawi political prisoners. ”

ALGIERS – The Belgian director Pierre Yves Vandeweerd expressed on Sunday in Algiers, his surprise to see people in Europe ignore the question of Western Sahara, without any knowledge of the struggle and suffering of the Saharawi people. I just feel that the Saharawi question is not raised in Europe. I am always surprised when people tell me after seeing my film, they thought there was more conflict in the region, “said the director to the press before the screening of his documentary” Lost Land ” Days in the film engaged in Algiers.

Le réalisateur belge, Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd, est l’une des figures marquantes de cette manifestation. Le cinéaste a ainsi présenté son dernier documentaire sorti le 30 novembre dernier autour de la question sahraoui. «Territoire perdu» perdu est le titre de ce film-documentaire de 74 minutes dans lequel, le réalisateur exprime son engagement envers ce peuple longtemps spolié de sa terre et dont l’opinion internationale reste indifférente. Avant de laisser place aux images poignantes d’un peuple qui souffre en silence, le réalisateur Vandewweerd a exprimé avec désenchantement de voir encore des personnes en Occident,

NOUAKCHOTT — Mauritanian police said Monday they had arrested two Western Saharan men suspected of kidnapping an Italian and two Spanish aid workers in Algeria in October. "The two men who kidnapped two Spaniards and an Italian in a Sahrawi refugee camp were arrested in their hotel in the town of Nouadhibou where they had been for 11 days," a police source said on condition of anonymity. One of the suspects was identified as Maminna Alaaguir Abdel Aziz Ahmed Baba who the source said was the main perpetrator of the October 23 abduction in the Sahrawi refugee camp in Tindouf

Chahid El-Hafed (refugee camp) – More than a thousand foreigners representing several countries are expected in December in the refugee camps to express their full solidarity with the Saharawi cause. visits to camps and liberated territories will continue until ‘December 12, said SPS. The National Director protocol, Mohamed Habib Allah Al-Kouri SPS was emphasized that “the increasing number of foreign visitors denotes proven unlimited solidarity towards the cause of the Saharawi people suffering the pangs of exile for over three decades” .

AROUND 1,000 Spanish people have travelled to Tindouf in Western Sahara this weekend, just a month after two aid workers were kidnapped. The hostages, Enric Gonyalons and Ainhoa Fernández de Rincón, both from Spain, are believed to be in the hands of a Moroccan Al-Qaeda cell, and have not yet been released. Three charter flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Sevilla took members of the nationwide Friends of the Sahara People Association to the border town, which lies in disputed territory between Western Sahara and Algeria, who appeared unfazed by the possible risks they faced.

On 30 November 2011, prominent human rights defender Ms Aminatou Haidar was presented with the René Cassin Human Rights Award for 2011 by the Department of Justice of the Basque Regional Government.  Aminatou Haidar is the Chairperson of the Collectif des Défenseurs Sahraouis des Droits de l'Homme - CODESA (Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders).

23 Saharawi prisoners have today, December 1, been on an indefinite hunger strike for one month, bringing awareness to the plight of the Saharawi people of Western Sahara, invaded and occupied illegally by Morocco in 1975, and who have since been denied the right to a vote to determine their future. What does the world community do? Nothing. Morocco annexed, invaded and repopulated Western Sahara against international law in 1975 and has since refused to hold a referendum on independence or autonomy. Now there are allegations that Morocco is illegally exploiting the resources of the territory it annexed.

Algerian and Mauritanian nationals no longer have unrestricted entry to Libya. The National Transitional Council (NTC) removed citizens of the two countries from the list of states that enjoyed visa exemptions under the former regime, Algeria’s Echorouk reported recently. Less than two weeks later, the Mauritanian government recognised the NTC. The decision came “in view of the formation of the new Libyan government under Dr Abdurrahim El Keib”, the government said in a November 24th statement.