(10.09.08 DPA [Germany])

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will shortly appoint US diplomat Christopher Ross his new personal envoy to Western Sahara, the Spanish daily El Pais reported Wednesday. The daily quoted sources close to the negotiations between Morocco, which annexed Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain pulled out of there in 1975, and the Saharawi independence movement POLISARIO Front.
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Saharawi human rights activist and trade unionist, Ms. Khadija Muthik, decided to start a hunger strike for 48 hours Monday morning to denounce “the Moroccan serious human rights violations in Western Sahara.

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Moroccan military forces in Sidi Ifni arrested five citizens after the confrontations that took place in the city these last two months between the citizens and the authorities.

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The President of the Saharawi republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, estimated that Morocco gets 4 to 5 milliards US dollars from its illegal exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara.

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A documentary realised lately by the Moroccan association “ATTAC Maroc” on the events of the Moroccan city of Sidi Ifni, which used to be a Spanish colony until 1969 when Spain gave it to Morocco.

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The Council of the Ministers of the Saharawi Republic considered on Sunday that the departure of the Un Secretary General’s Personal Envoy to Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, is “a victory of the international legality”.

Meeting under the chairmanship of the Head of the State, Mohamed Abdelaziz, the Council of the Ministers expressed the readiness of the Saharawi party to cooperate with the UN so as to reach a “just and definitive” solution that guarantee the Saharawi people’s right to self-determination and independence, according to a press release issued by the Council.

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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The United Nations confirmed on Thursday that the mandate of its mediator in the Western Sahara dispute, the Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, was not renewed after it expired August 21.

A spokeswoman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that “the Secretary-General appreciates the work done by his personal envoy” and “remains committed to offering the parties in the region his good offices.”

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I refer to the interview published in The Jakarta Post on July 31, titled
“Morocco to imitate RI to resolve W. Sahara issue”. It was one-sided and unbalanced. There was no reaction from Polisario, as there was in the article published June 30, “Saharan movement seeks RI’s help in quest for independence”, which outlined the position of both sides.
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UN rep claims Western Sahara has the law on their side, but not the UN Security Council
Article published on the 2008-08-13
The UN mediator on the Western Sahara Peter van Walsum told the Spanish paper El Pais that the Frente Polisario, the group representing the Sahrawi people will never achieve independence, even though international law in on their side. Part of the problem, according to the Dutch diplomat, is that the UN Security Council “is not ready to exercise its authority under Article VII of the UN Charter, and impose it.”

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Asunción, 12/08/2008 (SPS)
Paraguay and the Saharawi Republic decided to resume diplomatic relations and cooperation, according to a press release of the Paraguayan Minister for Foreign Affairs, published on Tuesday in Asunción.
“The two countries agree to strengthen their diplomatic relations, and relations of friendship and cooperation conforming to the norms and principles of the international law”, the text indicated.
The press release was published following a meeting that took place between the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek and his Paraguayan counterpart, Ruben Ramirez Lezcano.

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