Category Archives: General

The Western Sahara Peace Process: Tragedy or Farce?

e-International Relations, 10 May 2012
By Jacob Mundy

At the end of every April, a small drama plays out in the UN Security Council. This is when the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO, its French acronym) comes up for its annual renewal. Western Sahara — Africa’s last colony according to the United Nations — is largely ignored by the Security Council the other eleven months of the year.

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Flag of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic raised in cities around Australia

leichhardt-flag-2012.JPGThe flag of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic was raised in cities around Australia to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the proclamation of the Saharawi Republic (see photos attached).

On Monday 27th February, the Saharawi flag was raised on the Town Hall of the municipality of Leichhardt in Sydney. The ceremony was attended by Mayor Rochelle Porteous, the Saharawi representative to Australia, and members of the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA).

The Saharawi Republic flag was raised in the city of Ballarat where it will fly for two weeks. Mr. Paul Clempson, Secretary of the Ballarat Trades & Labour Council raised the flag on top of the Trades Hall. Trades Hall secretary Paul Clempson said “We are supporting the move because the Sahrawi people are being unfairly treated, and being manipulated and dominated by the Moroccans.”

The Ballarat Courier published a news report about the flag raising at Ballarat Town Hall: Read news report >>

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“Robbed of Truth” : Australian Media Premiere

cgep-img_1364.JPGOn Monday 19 December Carlos Gonzáles introduced his new film at the Centre for Ideas at Victorian College of the Arts, part of Melbourne University in the presence of its director, Dr Elizabeth Presa (see photo).

Entitled “Robbed of Truth”, the documentary examines the claim in the earlier Australian film “Stolen” that slavery is widespread in the Saharawi refugee camps. Carlos, who had been the camera man during the second visit of the Australian filmmakers of “Stolen”, retraces their steps meeting the main characters in the film such as Fetim Salami and her family to find out how the film he thought would be about family reunion turned into a film about slavery.
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Paper by The Hon John Dowd AO QC, President International Commission of Jurists, Australia

On 29 October 2011 The Hon John Dowd AO QC, President International Commission of Jurists, presented a paper at the 2nd International Conference, Peoples’ Right for Resistance: the Case of Sahrawi People, Dar Diaf – Bouchaoui, Algier.

Conference paper available at this link “The Western Sahara and the United Nations”  >>

Javier Bardem: Let the People of Western Sahara Speak

Huff Post World blog, 4 October 2011
The “Arab Spring” sends us a very clear message: the people must speak! Across North Africa and the Middle East, people are crying out for a free choice over their future.

But there is one place where this desperate cry is being silenced. The territory of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, has been under Moroccan occupation since 1975
Read more > Javier Bardem: Let the People of Western Sahara Speak

Melbourne event 3 October – International conference

‘Africa’s East Timor – the struggle for self-determination in Western Sahara – Africa’s last colony’

Date: Monday 3rd October
Time: 1:45pm -3pm a

Venue:   Victorian Trades Hall – Melbourne

Speakers: Mr. Kamal Fadel, Polisario Representative to Australia and Mr. Sam Wainwright, Fremantle Councillor and Member of the Maritime Union of Australia

A workshop to discuss the question of Western Sahara as part of the International Conference : World at a Crossroads: Climate Change – Social Change Conference II

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A new dawn? Western Sahara and the Arab Spring

New Internationalist Magazine
Jeremy Corbyn MP and Stefan Simanowitz look at the prospects for a resolution of one of the world’s longest running conflicts.

‘I’ve never felt more optimistic about the possibility for a just resolution of the situation in Western Sahara than I do today,’ former senior British diplomat Carne Ross told a meeting in the House of Commons last week. ….(continued)

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Australian tour of Aicha Dahane: Human rights activist and International Officer for Forum Future for Saharawi Women

aichabwp1020345.JPGAicha’s tour dates:
Melbourne 5-11 May
Canberra 11 May
Sydney 12-18 May
Perth 18-22 May

The Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) has invited human rights activist from Western Sahara, Aicha Dahane, to visit Australia.
In her role as a human rights defender for Western Sahara while a law student in Rabat, and because of the involvement of her brother, Brahim Dahane, president of the ASVDH (Saharawi Association for Victims of Human Rights Violations by the Moroccan state) in political activism, Aicha was subject to serious pressure, intimidation and harassment by the Moroccan regime. As a result she sought political asylum in the UK in 2002. Aicha is in daily contact with her family living in occupied Western Sahara, a life she knows well and which she shared for 28 years.

Melbourne program 6 & 10 May >>

Sydney program 12 – 18 May >>

Perth event, Thursday 19 May 6:30pm, Reception Room, Fremantle Town Hall

Global Dispatches: Western Sahara

Western Sahara – article by Anna Theofilopoulou
Anna Theofilopoulou covered Western Sahara and North Africa in the Department of Political Affairs of the United Nations from 1994-2006. She worked closely with former U.S. Secretary of State, James A. Baker, III and was a member of his negotiating team throughout his appointment as Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General on Western Sahara from March 1997 until his resignation in June 2004.
http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/western-sahara