March 2016

Brussels, March 22, 2016 (SPS) - members of European Parliament sent a letter to the United Nation Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon in which they have commended his recent visit to Saharawi refugee camps and the reaffirmation of your commitment to the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, and your promise to spare no effort to help make progress in this regard.
 
Bellow the full text of the letter:
 

Washington, March 22, 2016 (SPS) - The United Nations accused Monday Morocco of "infringing the United Nations charter" and called on the Security Council to act while taking the necessary measures to put an end to excesses of Rabat. 
 
Deputy Spokesman of Ban Ki-moon Farhan Haq affirmed in a press conference that by expelling the MINURSO civil staff, "Morocco infringed the United Nations charter."  
 

Algiers, March 22, 2016 (SPS) - Sahrawi Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek stressed Monday in Algiers that Algeria's stand in favour of the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination through a transparent self-determination referendum supervised by the UN, in accordance with international legality, has provoked a "fierce campaign" and "obstinacy" of Morocco.

Copenhagen (Denmark) March 22, 2016 (SPS) – The Danish Organisation Africa Kontact released Tuesday new report calling on the Danish Banks and pension funds to not finance Morocco’s illegal occupation to Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa.
 
Africa Kontakt indicates in its report that Danish banks and pension funds' investments contribute to Morocco's continued occupation of Western Sahara.

Copenhagen (Denmark) March 21, 2016 –In Press release issued Monday by the Danish Red-Green alliance Party MP and spokesman on Development in the Parliament, Mr. Christian Juhl stressed “It is quite unacceptable that Morocco throws UN staff out of Western Sahara. UN peacekeepers are in the country with a UN mandate to monitor the ceasefire signed in 1991 between Morocco, Polisario and the UN”.

Algiers, 21 March 2016 (SPS) -Secretary General of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Abdelhamid Senouci Bereksi and Representative of the World Food Program (WFP) in Algeria will ink Monday the letter of agreement of 2016 between Algeria, as a host country, and this UN humanitarian agency to cover basic food needs of Sahrawi refugees.  

Bir Lahlou (Liberated Territories), 20 March 2016 (SPS) - Foreign minister Mohamed Salem Ould Salek has vehemently condemned Morocco's "irresponsible decision" to reduce the civilian personnel of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
 
"Saharawi government and the Polisario Front vehemently condemn this irresponsible measure taken by the occupier (Morocco), which must shoulder the full responsibility of the (decision's)   aftereffects if it is applied," Ould Salek said Sunday in a statement.
 

Copenhagen (Denmark) March 19, 2016 – Saharawi delegation, led by the Saharawi Minister of Cooperation, Mr. Bulahi Sid accompanied by the Polisario Front Representative in Denmark, Mr. Abba Malainin, met with officials from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Humanitarian Department (DANIDA), the Foreign affairs Committee of the Parliament, Political parties, various Organisations and media as part of a two day working visit to Denmark.
 

Boujdour (Refugee Camps), 19 March 2016 (SPS) -  The members of the National Council (Parliament) reelected on Saturday  Member of the National Secretariat Khatri Adouh the president of this legislative body for a third term, in the presence of members of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front and SADR government.
 

Washington (United States), 19 March 2016 (SPS) - US Department of State expressed Friday its support to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), following Morocco's measures against the UN body aiming at weakening it.
 
The US Department of State, through its spokesman John Kirby, said Washington knew about Morocco's latest measures to reduce MINURSO personnel.
 
John Kirby, in a news conference, reiterated UN support to MINURSO for the significant efforts it is making.
 

Cairo, March 18, 2016 (SPS) - Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal reaffirmed the support of Algeria to the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and its commitment for a settlement to the Sahrawi conflict within UN process.
 
“The issue of Western Sahara is in the hands of the United Nations and a political negotiation process began between the Moroccan Kingdom and the Sahrawi Republic,” said Sellal in an interview granted to the Egyptian weekly magazine "El Ahram El Arabi.”
 

CHAHID EL-HAFED (Saharawi refugee camps)-President of the Saharawi Committee for Human Rights, Aba El-heyssen has "strongly" condemned the murder of Saharawi citizen Choummad Bad Jouli by Moroccan forces expressing the hope that UN Secretary General's visit to the region will be the beginning of "countdown" for the settlement of the Saharawi issue.

WASHINGTON (United States)- Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center) on Wednesday in Washington called for the creation of an independent mechanism to monitor human rights in occupied Western Sahara.
Moroccan authorities continue to commit serious acts of violence against Saharawi people in the non-autonomous Western Sahara territory, RFK Centre said in its biannual report on human rights violations in occupied Western Sahara, published Wednesday in Washington.

Washington , March 18, 2016 (SPS) - The measures decided by Morocco against the United Nations Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) are "unprecedented" and will affect its ability to implement its mandates, denounced Thursday the UN.
 
"The mandate (of MINURSO) was given to it by the Security Council (...) what we are seeing is unprecedented," said UN Secretary General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, during a press briefing.
 

Twenty four European deputies from four different parliamentary groups called on, Friday, the high Representative of the European Union (EU), Federica Mogherini, to suspend any official participation in the annual meeting of Crans Montana Forum, scheduled for March in Dakhla, in the Western Sahara territories occupied by Morocco.
The deputies’ call comes as a support to the initiative made by the parliamentary of the United Left (Izquierda Unida) Paloma Lopez, who is the vice president of the Solidarity Intergroup for Western Sahara.

Brussels (Belgium) , March 18, 2016 (SPS) -  The European Union (EU) on Thursday reaffirmed its support to the efforts of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to find a solution that will provide for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, and called to maintain the UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).SPS
 
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MADRID- A rally in support of Sahrawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik camp, "unfairly and illegally imprisoned" by Morocco, has been staged in Madrid on Saturday by associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting the Sahrawi cause.
The participants, most of them members of associations and NGOs supporting Sahrawi people in addition to Sahrawi citizens settled in Spain, gathered in front of Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chanting slogans like "Release prisoners !" "Morocco guilty, Spain responsible."

WASHINGTON- United Nations wants to hold a donor conference for the occupied Western Sahara in Geneva before June, the deputy spokesman of the UN secretary general, Farhan Haq, said Monday.
Ban Ki-moon will call for a donor conference to be held before June in Geneva, Switzerland, to provide relief aid to Saharawi refugees in the camps, Haq told reporters.
Ban Ki-moon, who wrapped up Monday a visit to Algeria, said he was saddened by the four decade-long humanitarian tragedy in Western Sahara.

MADRID- Spain's capital, Madrid, will host a meeting on Saturday under the theme "Sahrawi women, 40 years of struggle for independence and freedom," announced Wednesday the delegation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Madrid.
The tribute meeting, which will be marked by the participation of the Spanish association of support to Sahrawi people "amaltéa," aims at highlighting the role of Sahrawi women in the struggle for independence and their place in the Sahrawi society in its struggle against the Moroccan colonizer, said the source.

Chahid Al-Hafed (Saharawi refugee camps), March 18, 2016 (SPS) -The Prime Minister of the Saharwi Republic, Mr. Abdelkader Taleb Omar, chaired yesterday  a government meeting to assess the level of implementation of their programs at of different sectors and institutions.
 
 
In this regard, the meeting also discussed the security situation in the camps and the liberated territories on the eve of the arrival of delegations and Spanish families who start their visits from next week.