Thu, 17 Dec 2009
Madrid/Lanzarote - Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar was Thursday expected to return from the Spanish island of Lanzarote to the Moroccan-controlled territory on the 32nd day of her hunger strike. A representative of a group supporting the award-winning activist said Morocco had accepted her return without conditions, after barring her entry to the Western Saharan capital Laayoun on November 14.
Haidar would not need a passport, nor would she have to apologize to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, as had initially been demanded by Morocco, Carmelo Ramirez said.
A plane meanwhile landed on Lanzarote to pick Haidar up. Ramirez said she would travel with her sister and a Spanish doctor.
Spanish media said Spain and Morocco had reached a "political agreement" on Haidar's return after her hunger strike brought the two countries close to a diplomatic crisis.
Ramirez said the agreement was reached in talks involving the United States and the European Union.
Haidar would only begin eating again once she had arrived in Laayoun, Ramirez said.
The 42-year-old activist defends the independence of Western Sahara, which Morocco annexed after the colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975.
Haidar launched a hunger strike at Lanzarote airport after Morocco barred her entry to Laayoun, seized her passport and deported her to the Canary Island.
The activist was hospitalized early Thursday for vomiting and stomach pains, but Ramirez said she was fit to travel.
Morocco earlier accused Haidar of being an "agent" of the Algerian-backed Western Saharan independence movement Polisario and refused to return her passport unless she admitted to being a Moroccan rather than Saharan national.
But as Haidar's condition worsened, international pressure mounted on Morocco to resolve the case.
Haidar's return to Laayoun would mark a new phase for the Western Sahara cause, Ramirez said.
Meanwhile in New York, the United Nations Security Council agreed to discuss the Western Sahara conflict, possibly in the coming week, in an attempt to accelerate the stalled negotiations between Morocco and Polisario.
Polisario waged a 16-year war against Morocco until the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
The UN proposed a referendum on independence, but the plan was blocked by disagreements over who would be allowed to vote. Morocco now wants to shelve the UN plan and is offering Western Sahara autonomy instead.
Madrid/Lanzarote - Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar was Thursday expected to return from the Spanish island of Lanzarote to the Moroccan-controlled territory on the 32nd day of her hunger strike. A representative of a group supporting the award-winning activist said Morocco had accepted her return without conditions, after barring her entry to the Western Saharan capital Laayoun on November 14.
Haidar would not need a passport, nor would she have to apologize to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, as had initially been demanded by Morocco, Carmelo Ramirez said.
A plane meanwhile landed on Lanzarote to pick Haidar up. Ramirez said she would travel with her sister and a Spanish doctor.
Spanish media said Spain and Morocco had reached a "political agreement" on Haidar's return after her hunger strike brought the two countries close to a diplomatic crisis.
Ramirez said the agreement was reached in talks involving the United States and the European Union.
Haidar would only begin eating again once she had arrived in Laayoun, Ramirez said.
The 42-year-old activist defends the independence of Western Sahara, which Morocco annexed after the colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975.
Haidar launched a hunger strike at Lanzarote airport after Morocco barred her entry to Laayoun, seized her passport and deported her to the Canary Island.
The activist was hospitalized early Thursday for vomiting and stomach pains, but Ramirez said she was fit to travel.
Morocco earlier accused Haidar of being an "agent" of the Algerian-backed Western Saharan independence movement Polisario and refused to return her passport unless she admitted to being a Moroccan rather than Saharan national.
But as Haidar's condition worsened, international pressure mounted on Morocco to resolve the case.
Haidar's return to Laayoun would mark a new phase for the Western Sahara cause, Ramirez said.
Meanwhile in New York, the United Nations Security Council agreed to discuss the Western Sahara conflict, possibly in the coming week, in an attempt to accelerate the stalled negotiations between Morocco and Polisario.
Polisario waged a 16-year war against Morocco until the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991.
The UN proposed a referendum on independence, but the plan was blocked by disagreements over who would be allowed to vote. Morocco now wants to shelve the UN plan and is offering Western Sahara autonomy instead.
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