Urgent actions
Western Sahara update
| BBC Television 2002 |
Fantastic response to urgent action
War on Want supporters have flooded the Foreign Office with demands for a referendum on Western Sahara. A total of 2,445 postcards were sent to the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, which called for Britain to take a lead role in the UN Security Council in organising the long-delayed referendum on independence for the Saharawi people.
Officials and ministers at the Foreign Office are said to be surprised and impressed by the volume of correspondance they receive on Western Sahara, given that it is supposed to be a "forgotten" conflict. They have commented on the arrival of lots of postcards once or twice last year.
Most of the people of Western Sahara live in harsh conditions in desert refugee camps, first set up 27 years ago when Morocco invaded their country. Others live under Moroccan military occupation and hundreds have "disappeared". The Western Sahara Campaign UK (WSC)would like to thank all the War on Want supporters who sent postcards Government. The cards also asked Britain to stop arms sales to Morocco until the dispute is settled: the UK recently broke its own ethical guidelines by refurbishing Moroccan artillery stationed in Western Sahara.
UN mandate to be extended another two months James Baker, Kofi Annan’s personal envoy to the Western Sahara has given the parties two more months to respond to his latest proposals. Baker’s tour of the region took him to Rabat, Algiers, Tindouf and Nouakchott for discussions with heads of state in his latest attempt to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. He has not yet revealed publicly what his revised offer is, but has invited comments from the parties to be given by March 1st. MINURSO’s mandate, which currently expires on January 31st looks likely to be extended until the end of March by the UN Security Council
For more information, contact the Western Sahara Campaign UK, Oxford Chambers, Oxford Place, Leeds LS1 3AX website: wswc@gn.apc.org, www.wsahara.net or www.arso.org
Saharawi activist detained Human rights activist Ali-Salem Tamek has been imprisoned for two years in Morocco for "undermining the internal security of the state". He is a prominent member of the Western Sahara branch of the Forum for Truth and Justice. Tamek's conviction was based on his belief that Western Sahara should be an independent state, and a statement made by three former Saharawi prisoners of conscience during questioning of Moroccan security forces in 1999. Allegations were also made that Tamek had received funds from the Polisario Front, the pro-independence movement based in Algeria. You can write to Mr Tamek at No d'ecrou 86401
Hay M
No 1 ch 43
Prison de Sale
Rabat
Morocco UN meeting fails the Saharawi 170,000 Saharawi refugees who have waited 27 years to exercise their right to self-determination will have to wait longer still for an end to their tragic exile. The UN Security Council, meeting under the UK’s chairship, declined to opt for UN envoy James Baker’s despised “framework proposal” for a semi-autonomous Western Sahara within a Greater Morocco. Instead they chose to reaffirm the Saharawis right to self-determination and extended the UN’s regional mandate for another six months. The move was widely seen as a defeat for the Morocco and its allies, including the US, who have been pushing the Baker plan. The resolution unanimously approved by the 15-nation body expressed the council's determination to "secure a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people" of the northwest African territory. A big thanks to all those who took part in the War on Want Urgent Action on the Security Council meeting on Western Sahara. It certainly seems that the co-ordinated campaign by pressure groups around the world had an effect and that those backing the Baker plan backed down and Saharawi self-determination is back on agenda. Now we need to keep pressing the UK government and others to ensure that self-determination become a reality.
Most of the people of Western Sahara live in harsh conditions in desert refugee camps, first set up 27 years ago when Morocco invaded their country. Others live under Moroccan military occupation and hundreds have "disappeared". The Western Sahara Campaign UK (WSC)would like to thank all the War on Want supporters who sent postcards Government. The cards also asked Britain to stop arms sales to Morocco until the dispute is settled: the UK recently broke its own ethical guidelines by refurbishing Moroccan artillery stationed in Western Sahara.
UN mandate to be extended another two months James Baker, Kofi Annan’s personal envoy to the Western Sahara has given the parties two more months to respond to his latest proposals. Baker’s tour of the region took him to Rabat, Algiers, Tindouf and Nouakchott for discussions with heads of state in his latest attempt to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. He has not yet revealed publicly what his revised offer is, but has invited comments from the parties to be given by March 1st. MINURSO’s mandate, which currently expires on January 31st looks likely to be extended until the end of March by the UN Security Council
For more information, contact the Western Sahara Campaign UK, Oxford Chambers, Oxford Place, Leeds LS1 3AX website: wswc@gn.apc.org, www.wsahara.net or www.arso.org
Saharawi activist detained Human rights activist Ali-Salem Tamek has been imprisoned for two years in Morocco for "undermining the internal security of the state". He is a prominent member of the Western Sahara branch of the Forum for Truth and Justice. Tamek's conviction was based on his belief that Western Sahara should be an independent state, and a statement made by three former Saharawi prisoners of conscience during questioning of Moroccan security forces in 1999. Allegations were also made that Tamek had received funds from the Polisario Front, the pro-independence movement based in Algeria. You can write to Mr Tamek at No d'ecrou 86401
Hay M
No 1 ch 43
Prison de Sale
Rabat
Morocco UN meeting fails the Saharawi 170,000 Saharawi refugees who have waited 27 years to exercise their right to self-determination will have to wait longer still for an end to their tragic exile. The UN Security Council, meeting under the UK’s chairship, declined to opt for UN envoy James Baker’s despised “framework proposal” for a semi-autonomous Western Sahara within a Greater Morocco. Instead they chose to reaffirm the Saharawis right to self-determination and extended the UN’s regional mandate for another six months. The move was widely seen as a defeat for the Morocco and its allies, including the US, who have been pushing the Baker plan. The resolution unanimously approved by the 15-nation body expressed the council's determination to "secure a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution which will provide for the self-determination of the people" of the northwest African territory. A big thanks to all those who took part in the War on Want Urgent Action on the Security Council meeting on Western Sahara. It certainly seems that the co-ordinated campaign by pressure groups around the world had an effect and that those backing the Baker plan backed down and Saharawi self-determination is back on agenda. Now we need to keep pressing the UK government and others to ensure that self-determination become a reality.
