Sahara

BY Oscar Kasya * Thirty-three years after it broke ranks with the African Union (AU), then known as the OAU, Morocco was in 2017 readmitted amidst stiff resistance during an AU Summit held in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia. Morocco left the AU in 1984 in protest of the organization’s recognition of the legitimate struggle for independence of Western Sahara, also known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), against Moroccan occupation. The organization admitted Western Sahara as its 51st Sovereign Member State led by the Polisario Front, prompting the angry reaction from Morocco. For starters, Spain which had colonized Western Sahara for about a century, signed a secret colonial agreement with Morocco and Mauritania in 1975 to partition Western Sahara between the two countries wit...

Washington (USA) 18 December 2020 (SPS)- Former US Secretary of State, James Baker III, published an opinion yesterday in The Washington Post, warning against the dangerous possible implications of US outgoing President, Donald Trump, illegal decision to recognise Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Following is the full text of James Baker III’s Opinion as published: -------------------------- “Trump’s recognition of Western Sahara is a serious blow to diplomacy and international law Opinion by James A. Baker III Dec. 17, 2020 at 5:08 p.m. EST James A. Baker III served as the 61st U.S. secretary of state from 1989 to 1992 and as the U.N. secretary-general’s personal envoy for Western Sahara from 1997 to 2004. President Trump’s recent proclamation recogniz...

Bir Lehlu (Sahrawi Republic), Feb17, 2021 (SPS) - The Saharawi National Commission for Human Rights (CONASADH) affirmed that the statement published by the so-called Moroccan Council for Human Rights about its meeting with the human rights activist Sultana Khaya "It is nothing more than a maneuver to cover up the savage crimes suffered by the activist and her family at the hands of the Moroccan security forces." The statement is nothing more than a lie and contradiction to reality, in a despicable attempt that seeks to flee forward and mislead national and international public opinion", condemning the Moroccan continuous crimes in the occupied parts of the Saharawi Republic and expressing its unconditional solidarity with the family of Sidbrahim Khaya. CONSADAH added in its pr...

Tiflet (Morocco), 8 August 2020 (SPS) - Sahrawi civilian prisoner Mohamed Hasena Ahmed-Salem Bourial, in the local prison of Tiflet 2, Morocco, on Friday announced waging a warning hunger strike for 24 hours in protest against the discrimination and racist practices to which he is subjected to in the prison.In a testimony of the sister of the Sahrawi civilian prisoner, Mohamed Hasena Ahmed-Salem Bourial, to the Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners, he was exposed on Wednesday to ill-treatment and confiscation of some of his belongings by the local prison staff and guards, who broke into his cell in an arbitrary and degrading manner aimed at exerting further restrictions against him.Sahrawi civil prisoner Mohamed Hasena Ahmed-Salem Bourial, is in the local prison of...

Ait Melloul (Morocco), 27 September 2020 (SAPS) - Sahrawi civilian prisoner, Brahim Dedi Ismaili, who is serving an unjust and harsh life imprisonment sentence at the local prison of Ait Meloul 2, in the suburbs of the Moroccan city of Agadir, initiated on Friday a 24-hour warning hunger strike, said the Association for the Protection of Sahrawi Prisoners, citing family sources.This protest comes as an expression on the part of the Sahrawi civilian prisoner to condemn all forms of deliberate racial discrimination against him by the prison administration, as he prevented from making phone calls as a basic and declared right.The Sahrawi civilian prisoner held the General Administration of the Moroccan occupation prisons and the prison administration officials fully responsible for ...

Madrid (Spain), 26 December 2020 (SPS) - The League of Sahrawi Journalists and Writers in Europe has strongly condemned the barbaric aggression against Sahrawi activists in occupied El Aiun and Boudjdour by Moroccan occupation forces, expressing its unconditional solidarity with all the victims of Morocco's machine of repression.In a statement released on Friday, the League condemned the aggression against human rights activist Sultana Khaya in the occupied city of Boudjdour, calling on the UN through the MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as international human rights groups to dispatch missions to investigate the horrific crimes of the Moroccan occupation authorities committed against defense...