Yearly Archives: 2007

Moroccan police in Western Sahara attack demonstrators

The Associated Press – The International Herald Tribune, Friday, May 11, 2007
RABAT, Morocco: Police in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara attacked pro-independence demonstrators Friday, human rights campaigners said.
A spokesman for the Saharawi Association for Human Rights Victims said police violently broke up the demonstration, held Friday morning in Laayoune, Western Sahara’s main city.
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Racist attacks against Sahrawi students in Agadi

Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH) Statement, El-Ayoune, on May 10, 2007 
Following the bloody events, which occurred recently at the university IBNO ZOHR of Agadir, and which resulted in tens of wounded in a very worrying situation and the arrest of five Sahrawi students, after an attack of some chauvinistic and racist Moroccan students against Sahrawi students, demonstrations of protest and solidarity…..
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9 May 2007 – Western Sahara Briefing to US Congress

Western Sahara Briefing: Current Developments and Challenges to Self-Determination
Opening Statement
Chairman Donald M. Payne   May 09, 2007, 10:30am, RHOB 2255
Good morning, and thank you all for joining us.  The purpose of this briefing is to examine the current developments on Western Sahara and challenges to self-determination as presented by Morocco’s recent “autonomy” proposal.
Read Donald Payne’s statement >>

“Morocco has shown itself to be a first class illusionist”

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE FRANK RUDDY, U.S. AMBASSADOR (ret.), FORMER DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE U.N. PEACEKEEPING MISSION FOR WESTERN SAHARA (MINURSO)
BEFORE THE WESTERN SAHARA BRIEFING AT THE US CONGRESS ON MAY 9, 2007:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The secret of illusionists is to concentrate the audience’s attention on the left hand while the right hand creates the deception.
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AAP retracts report – Australian journalists ‘not kidnapped’

Australian Associated Press
CANBERRA, May 8 AAP – A film producer working with two Australian journalists in north Africa says reports the pair were held against their will by separatist rebels are incorrect.
“They absolutely refute the stories that have appeared in the press about supposed kidnapping by the Polisario Front officials,” Mr Zubrycki said in a statement.
The Moroccan state news agency named the Australians as Daniel Fallshow and Violeta Ayala.
Continue reading →

Save Freedonia – interesting article by Ian Williams

The Guardian (UK)
Ian Williams, May 1, 2007 7:30 PM
“When it comes to Western Sahara, America’s Africa policy is so bad you’d think it was dealing with an imaginary country from a Groucho Marx movie.
Not many people have heard of the Western Sahara dispute and most congressmen could not tell it from Freedonia – until the lobbyists came a-knocking…..” 
Read Ian’s article in the Guardian Unlimited Comments

30 April-Security Council extends United Nations mission

United Nations Security Council SC/9007 30 April 2007
Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York
Security Council 5669th Meeting (AM)
SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN WESTERN SAHARA UNTIL 31 OCTOBER, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1754 (2007)
The Security Council decided today to extend the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 31 October 2007.
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16 May: Perth local radio; interview with Kamal Fadel

On 16 May Jake Jackson from Perth local radio station, 990am information radio will conduct an interview with Kamal Fadel, the Polisario representative for Western Sahara in Australia. Kamal Fadel is involved in negotiations with oil companies over contracts to explore Western Saharan off-shore oil deposits.
The interview will focus on the problems facing the Saharawis, as well as the role that Australian based companies such as Wesfarmers have played in overriding the Saharawi’s right to protect their natural resources from Moroccan exploitation.