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South Africa to host conference on occupied Western Sahara

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Pretoria, March 24, 2019 (SPS) - South Africa will host the SADC Solidarity Conference on Western Sahara, scheduled for 25 to 26 March 2019 in Pretoria. The conference will be in support of Sahrawi people’s right to freedom and self-determination.
The 38th Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of SADC, held on August 2018, approved the convening of a solidarity conference.
This conference will allow the Heads of State and Government to express the region’s support for decolonization and right to self-determination for Western Sahara, on the basis of the values and principles that have guided Africans’ quest for independence, said the Regional Organization in a statement issued on the eve of this event.
Co-hosted by South Africa and Namibia, the two-day solidarity conference with Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) constitutes, according to South Africa's minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu, an important step to provide support for the struggle of Sahrawi people for independence.”
Sisulu highlighted, in a statement to South Africa’s press, her country’s commitment to its principled position in favour of Sahrawi people’s inalienable right to self-determination and freedom.”
“South Africa is committed to working with SADC for the freedom of Western Sahara people and this must be done in our lifetime,” Sisulu said
“South Africans will be free only when Sahrawi people and Palestine are free,” she added
“The SADC solidarity conference with Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) was inspired by recent UN-AU attempts to close this chapter of Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara which systematically has been denied the right to self-determination, said Dr Garth Le Pere, Extraordinary Professor at Pretoria University
The conference provides an opportunity to underscore the serious humanitarian plight of the Sahrawi people, compounded by the gross violation of human rights,” he added. (SPS)
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