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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Ban: 'Greatly relieved' by Haidar's return to Western Sahara

Fri, 18 Dec 2009

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed relief Friday that Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar was allowed by Morocco to return to her homeland. Ban said in a statement that he was "greatly relieved that Ms Aminatou Haidar is now home in Laayoune, ending the impasse that led her hunger strike of more than a month."

Ban thanked the Moroccan government for upholding the humanitarian concern in Haidar's demand. He joined his personal envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, to call for the resumption of talks to settle the dispute over Western Sahara, which has been claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front since the 1970s.

Haidar was on her 32nd day of hunger strike when she was allowed on Thursday to leave the Spanish island of Lanzarote to return to Laayoune. She has been defending the independence of Western Sahara, which was annexed by Morocco after Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew in 1975.

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