Morocco: Protests as 24 Sahrawis tried

2013-02-01

Rabat - Rival protests were held on Friday outside a military tribunal in the Moroccan capital where 24 Sahrawis accused of killing members of the security forces in the Western Sahara in 2010 are being tried.

The politically charged trial, which is being attended by a number of independent foreign observers, has been repeatedly delayed, with the defendants held in custody for more than two years.

The authorities say 11 people died in the clashes, among them members of the security forces, which broke out as the army moved to dismantle the Gdim Izik camp where thousands of local Sahrawis were living in November 2010.

The Sahrawis arrested during the unrest are accused of violence against the security forces, of pre-meditated killing and of mutilating the victims' bodies.

Some 100 people demonstrated outside the court in Rabat on Friday, among them families of the victims, pro-Saharwi activists and relatives of the accused, many of whom were allowed to attend the trial, an AFP journalist said.

Some relatives of the victims remained outside the tribunal, waving banners that read: "We know who the killers are, so where is justice?"

Ahead of the trial, observers and rights groups expressed concern over allegations the defendants were tortured in custody, about the case being tried by a military court, and about the possible death penalty facing the accused, if convicted.

At dawn on 8 November 2010, Moroccan security forces moved to dismantle the Western Sahara camp, near the territory's main city of Laayoune, which thousands of Sahrawis had set up in protest over their living conditions.

The intervention sparked clashes that spread to nearby Laayoune, where businesses and public buildings were looted and torched.

The authorities said 11 were killed in the unrest, while the Algeria-based Polisario Front separatists said dozens of people lost their lives.

Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, in a move never recognized by the international community.

The Polisario Front launched its struggle for independence even before the annexation, with the resulting war lasting until 1991 when the UN brokered a ceasefire, but a settlement of the conflict still remains elusive.

- AFP

Source: News24.
Link: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Morocco-Protests-as-24-Sahrawis-tried-20130201.

Demands for Autonomy Spread

By Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Sep 14 2011 (IPS) - Morocco’s offer of autonomy to Western Sahara to stave off demands for full independence is boomeranging on the kingdom with other regions now demanding similar freedom.

The autonomy proposal for Western Sahara was made at the United Nations in April 2007 to resolve a movement for independence simmering in the former Spanish colony.

The proposal has been consistently rejected by the Polisario front which will settle for nothing less than independence for the resource-rich territory, annexed by Morocco in 1975.

Polisario, which fought a guerrilla war until 1991 to press independence, wants the issue to be resolved through a referendum. Eight rounds of negotiations between both parties in New York have failed.

But, the Moroccan initiative has encouraged activists to launch movements for autonomy in two other regions – northern Rif and Sousse in the south of the country.

In contrast to Western Sahara’s half a million people, Rif has 2.4 million inhabitants while Sousse has a population of approximately three million, according to the last official census carried out in 2004.

Both Rif and Sousse are populated by the Amazigh, an indigenous people, whose language was recognized as an official one along with Arabic under the new constitution, adopted on Jul. 1 this year.

But the problem is not just a linguistic one. “It is completely inconceivable that a single region enjoys autonomy,” Ahmed Khanboubi, Amazigh activist and researcher in political and economic sciences, told IPS.

“If autonomy is applied in one region, it has to be there in the others. Otherwise, it would amount to discrimination against other regions and citizens,” he said.

Other experts swear by the “advanced regionalisation” plan offered by King Mohamed VI in a speech on Mar. 9.

Habib Anoune, an expert in social and economic sciences, told IPS that autonomy for regions other than Western Sahara is a “long-term hypothesis which can be part of reality as well as imagination.”

Advanced regionalisation envisages division of the country into 12 regions with each one of them having an elected council, empowered to make local policies independently of the center.

Khanboubi, however, said that regionalisation has to “emanate from citizens, to serve their interests” and not imposed on them from above. The reference was to the fact that the committee, tasked with drawing up the project, was appointed by the king and not elected democratically.

“It is necessary to take the opinion of citizens, instead of undertaking a cartographic division of the country from air-conditioned offices in Rabat,” Khanboubi said. Rabat, the capital, is 90 km north of Casablanca.

Regionalisation is not a completely new idea in Morocco. In 1971, the kingdom was divided into seven regions, and then 27 years later in 1996 King Hassan II further divided the country into 16 regions.

While a law governing regional councils was also voted in by parliament alongside, they have remained practically without any authority. “All the decisions are taken by governors,” Khanboubi said.

Governors are not elected but directly appointed by the king. The new constitution, approved in July, stipulates governors are appointed by the government.

“We have to end this supervision and let regional councils practice their full competence,” he added.

Anoune’s view is that advanced regionalisation will allow the modernization and democratization of the state by devolving authority from the center to the region.

The sticking point seems to be where to draw the line on democratization.

“The Moroccan state rushed in advanced regionalisation as a response to the movement for autonomy,” said Khanboubi. “In the future the fight for democracy will be in the regions – to establish autonomy.”

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/09/morocco-demands-for-autonomy-spread-2/.

Sahrawis hope for conflict resolution

Despite diplomatic setbacks, Sahrawis are optimistic that the long-simmering conflict will come to an end.

By Najib Daymani for Magharebia in Laâyoune – 06/09/11

Years of confrontation and inconclusive diplomacy have many Sahrawis wondering whether the dormant dispute will finally be resolved.

The latest round of informal Western Sahara talks ended a few weeks ago in Manhasset, New York, with plans to continue the diplomatic dialogue after the autumn session of the United Nations General Assembly.

"By the end of the meeting, each party continued to reject the proposal of the other as the sole basis for future negotiations, while reiterating their willingness to work together to reach a political solution in conformity with the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations Security Council," said UN Western Sahara Envoy Christopher Ross.

Sahrawis, meanwhile, grow increasingly impatient with the stalled negotiations. While some have little hope for their success, others are more sanguine, pinning hopes on the Western Sahara autonomy plan. The initiative, proposed by King Mohammed VI, calls for granting broad autonomy to Western Sahara within the context of extended regionalisation.

Some Sahrawis believe that the autonomy plan will help reunite their community dispersed between the Tindouf camps in south-western Algeria and the cities of the region. Magharebia spoke to Laâyoune residents to get their perspectives.

Mohammed Lamine Ould Didi, a desert tribal sheikh, believes that the parties to the conflict need to take into consideration the humanitarian dimension of the issue.

"The disintegration of Sahrawi families can't be accepted for long," he said. "Therefore, the two parties have to take this matter into consideration in the next rounds of negotiations and give it priority, if they really want to move ahead in reaching an agreement on this issue."

For political science student Mahmoud, the real problem is the lack of political will to achieve a mutually acceptable solution that earns international legitimacy.

Both sides need to conform to the UN Security Council resolutions about the need to activate serious and acceptable ideas for progressing towards the final solutions, he argued. Each party is still adhering to a position which it is sure that the other party will not accept, he added.

"Meanwhile, thousands of Sahrawis are waiting for the unknown," Mahmoud said.

"The solution is in the Sahrawis sitting alone on a negotiations table under the auspices of international community, away from Moroccan and Algerian differences, where they can reach solutions satisfactory to them," said former prisoner Sayyid Ahmed. "In this way, the strategic conflicts that can prevent the Maghreb peoples from realizing full integration can be avoided."

In his turn, Yahdhih, a returnee from the Tindouf refugee camps, argued that a free and fair referendum conducted under the auspices of international community could resolve the conflict, provided that the constituency is restricted to Sahrawis living in the conflict area only.

The autonomy proposal inspires hope, he said, because "it is an important concession on the part of Morocco in this issue after its intransigence about it".

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/09/06/feature-02.

Morocco court frees Sahara activists after two years

RABAT — A Casablanca court released from jail Thursday three activists for the independence of Western Sahara detained for more than two years and on trial for undermining Morocco's internal security.

Ali Salem Tamek, Ibrahim Dahhane and Ahmed Naciri were released just before they were to announce a hunger strike, their lawyer Mohamed Sadqo said.

Their trial has been postponed several times since they were arrested in October 2009 at Casablanca airport on their return from Algeria's western town of Tindouf, a base for the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front.

"We submitted the request for provisional liberty a long time ago. This decision of the court shows that there is not enough evidence to convict them," Sadqo said.

"It is a positive step which comes with out doubt under pressure from the Moroccan authorities. We were going to hold a press conference next Monday to announce the decision of the activists to start a hunger strike."

International rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had long called for their release, saying the charges were politically motivated.

The three men were arrested with four other people, including a woman Dakcha Lachguer, who were not taken into custody pending trial.

Initially a military court in Rabat had accused the activists of spying but in September 2010 but it declared itself incompetent to handle the case, which was referred to the Casablanca court.

The court's questioning had focused on the reasons for their trip to Tindouf, where they met Polisario representatives, and how it was financed.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975.

The Polisario Front, supported largely by Algeria, demands that there be a referendum on self-rule; Morocco has proposed it be allowed autonomy under its sovereignty but not independence.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

AI denounces lack of access to Algeria and Tindouf camps

London - The London-based international human-rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has denounced the lack of access to Algeria, including to the Tindouf camps (southwestern Algeria), controlled by the Polisario separatists.

Malcolm Smart, director of AI's Middle East and North Africa Program, told MAP that the AI hopes to have the same access to Algeria as the one it finds in Morocco.

He noted that the Algerian government informed the organization that it cannot pay visit to the country because of its critical position over the situation in Algeria.

Smart voiced hope that the organization be able to have access to the whole Algerian territory, including Tindouf camps, to shed light on many human rights violations in Algeria.

If we are to compare Morocco and Algeria, we can clearly see differences in approaches. Morocco's approach has made it possible to make considerable accomplishments, he said, adding that they expressed these remarks to the Algerian authorities who have not accepted them.

Smart pointed out that the organization wishes to raise cases similar to that of Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, who was kidnapped and detained by the separatists on the Algerian soil.

12/14/2010
©MAP-All right reserved

Source: Arab Maghreb Press Agency (MAP).
Link: http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/politics/ai_denounces_lack_of6665/view.

Morocco, Polisario to hold more Western Sahara talks

2010-12-12

Morocco and the Polisario will begin another round of unofficial, UN-brokered negotiations next Thursday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Friday (December 10th). "The parties agreed that at the next meeting they will explore innovative approaches to try to create a better environment for progress," Nesirky said. Algeria and Mauritania and the UN will attend the two-day talks as observers. The last round of Western Sahara talks in New York coincided with the deadly clashes in Laâyoune.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/12/12/newsbrief-03.

Moroccan-Spanish relations face crisis after Laâyoune clashes

After the Spain criticized the Kingdom for its actions at the Gdeim Izik protest camp, Moroccan politicians questioned the solidity of bilateral relations.

By Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 07/12/10

A day after the Spanish Parliament condemned Moroccan security services for recent clashes in Laâyoune, Moroccan MPs responded by demanding a review of the two nations' relations.

A statement from the Moroccan Parliament on Friday (December 3rd) said that the Spanish resolution was "biased and hostile to the Kingdom of Morocco in its sovereign, historical and legitimate rights to our restored southern provinces. The resolution also substantially contradicts Morocco's supreme interests and grossly affects our national cause and the feelings of all categories of the Moroccan people."

Moroccan Communications Minister Khalid Naciri echoed Parliament's concerns.

"Considering that the Spanish Parliament's resolution is hostile to Morocco and implicitly takes sides with our country's enemies, while at the same time keeps silent about Algeria although it was mainly responsible for the extreme tension that the region suffers, the Moroccan government considers the positions of the relevant Spanish political parties, which stem from an old complex towards Morocco, to be completely unacceptable."

For its part, the Spanish government tried to contain the situation. Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said December 3rd that "relations between Spain and Morocco are strategic and very important, and will remain so forever".

"I'm sure that this base of confidence will allow the two countries to get past any event or circumstance," Rubalcaba added. "My country will proceed with its policy that aims to enhance the bilateral relations which are very important for the two sides."

For his part, Polisario leader Mohamed Abdelaziz said in a letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that "the Moroccan government is still proceeding, with a stepped up pace, in a dangerous policy, which amounts to ethnic cleansing, targeting the Sahrawi people, especially since its treacherous, brutal attack on al-Karama camp in the Gdeim Izik area, east of Laâyoune, and the ensuing oppression, repressions, crackdowns and destruction, and the resulting deaths, wounds and missing detainees among the unarmed Sahrawi population."

However, Morocco denies that there were any deaths among civilians. Speaking before the European Parliament, Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri said the legislative body relied on faulty data in issuing its resolution condemning Moroccan security services, adding that "the truth has been distorted".

Ana Gomes, a Spanish representative in the European Parliament, alleged that European intelligence agencies report "between 500 and 600 people disappeared" in the Laâyoune events.

Fassi Fihri said that such figures were completely unfounded and that the real deaths were among the Moroccan security forces, which sustained 11 fatalities. The minister added that the Polisario itself didn't talk about these imaginary figures, but only talked about two deaths among civilians, who he claimed were later found out to still be alive.

Many Moroccans condemned the European Parliament's resolution and blamed the Spanish People's Party for issuing it. Tensions were further strained when some Spanish media outlets, including the country's largest paper, El País, used images of victims from Gaza in their coverage of the Laâyoune clashes.

Abdelillah Benkirane, Secretary-General of Morocco's Justice and Development Party (PJD), said that the European Parliament's resolution was issued with incitement from the Spanish People's Party which "behaves as if Spain and Morocco are two hostile countries, while the two countries try to maintain their relations".

Moroccan Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, who also heads the National Rally of Independents (RNI), denounced the "hysterical behavior demonstrated by the Spanish People's Party to influence the European Parliament's resolution on Laâyoune events", adding that the Moroccan people would never relinquish an inch of their soil.

Nabil Benabdallah, Secretary-General of Party of Progress and Socialism, said that the European Parliament's resolution featured a distortion of facts and didn't point out to what's going on in the Tindouf camps.

In his turn, Thami El Khyari, Secretary-General of the National Democratic Forces Front, said that the European Parliament's resolution was not appropriate and was issued under the influence of some political circles and institutions of the Spanish People's Party.

He noted that the European Parliament's resolution didn't take into account all the data confirmed by international human rights organizations, and just walked in the footsteps of people who oppose the Kingdom's territorial integrity.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/12/07/feature-01.

Morocco to review Spanish ties after Sahara condemnation - Summary

Thu, 02 Dec 2010

Madrid/Rabat - Morocco reacted testily Thursday to a Spanish legislative condemnation of violence in Western Sahara, saying it would review relations with Spain "from the ground up" in light of the Spanish action.

The Spanish parliament had earlier Thursday voted to condemn recent violence in Western Sahara and urged the Madrid government to express its concern to Moroccan authorities over alleged human rights violations in the region.

All main Spanish parties backed the motion.

But Morocco's Information Minister, Khalid Naciri, said the resolution contained language that Rabat could not accept, reported the state news agency MAP.

He did not say what possible consequences there might be from the threatened review of relations.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists had agreed to support the motion on the condition that it would not directly blame Morocco for the violence that erupted when Moroccan security forces dismantled a protest camp near the Western Saharan capital Laayoune on November 8.

The camp dwellers were demanding social improvements, but Rabat said the camp had been infiltrated by members of the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario. The clashes were followed by rioting in Laayoune itself.

Rabat said only 10 policemen died in the violence, while Polisario spoke of dozens of victims.

The Spanish parliament called on MINURSO, the United Nations force in Western Sahara, to investigate how many people had really been killed or injured. The motion also called upon the Spanish government to intensify its relations with Polisario.

Opposition representatives criticized Zapatero, saying the government had ducked an opportunity to take a firm stance on human rights violations by Morocco.

A group of protesters calling for Western Saharan independence was expelled from the assembly room.

The European Parliament has also condemned the November 8 incidents and voiced concern over the "deterioration" of the situation in Western Sahara.

Morocco occupied Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain pulled out in 1975. It has refused to carry out a UN-proposed referendum on the independence of the desert territory. Polisario rejects its offer of autonomy instead of independence.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356323,sahara-condemnation-summary.html.

Thousands rally in Spain to protest violence in Western Sahara

Sat, 13 Nov 2010

Madrid/Rabat, Morocco - Several thousand people protested in Madrid on Saturday, accusing the Moroccan government of human rights violations in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara,

The demonstrators also criticized the Spanish government, saying that because of political and economic considerations, it sat back and did nothing about the violence.

The protesters included actor Javier Bardem, husband of Hollywood star Penelope Cruz, who called on the European Union and the United Nations to intervene over Western Sahara, which was annexed by Morocco 24 years ago.

Moroccan security forces on Monday raided a camp housing some 20,000 people demanding better living conditions near the Western Saharan capital Laayoune.

Clashes in the city itself followed. The Moroccan government has reported that 12 people died, including 10 police officers. Additionally, 163 people were allegedly arrested.

The Western Saharan independence movement Polisario spoke of at least 19 dead, more than 700 injured and more than 150 missing. It accused Moroccan security forces of torture and rape.

"How much horror is actually needed until the international community protects the Saharan people?" Bardem asked.

Politicians from various parties and the leaders of Spain's two largest unions also took part in the rally, which had been called by citizens' groups that support independence for the Western Sahara.

The Spanish government has criticized Morocco's actions, but did not officially condemn them. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pointed to the importance of the political and economic relations with its southern neighbor.

Madrid has, however, requested "urgent" information from Morocco on the alleged killing of a Spanish citizen during the clashes. It also called on Rabat to stop hindering the work of foreign reporters.

Several Spanish journalists have in the past few days been deported or prevented from entering the West Sahara, which was annexed by Morocco in 1976, months after Spain abandoned the territory.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353395,protest-violence-western-sahara.html.

Spain investigates death of Spaniard in Sahara violence - Summary

Fri, 12 Nov 2010

Madrid - Spain has requested "urgent" information from Morocco on the alleged killing of a Spanish citizen during this week's clashes between protesters and security forces in Western Sahara, Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said Friday.

The Western Saharan man with Spanish nationality was ordered to descend from a bus and hit deliberately by a police vehicle, his family said.

The situation in the Western Saharan capital Laayoune was reportedly tense after Moroccan security forces dispersed a protest camp near the city on Monday.

The raid on the camp was followed by clashes in Laayoune itself. Morocco says 11 members of the security forces and two civilians were killed and dozens of people arrested.

The Western Saharan independence movement Polisario says dozens were killed, more than 4,000 injured and over 2,000 detained. Spanish media quoted local people as accusing Moroccan forces of unjustified violence and of torture.

Rabat denies allegations of police brutality, saying police only arrested people who staged disturbances.

Morocco expelled three Spanish journalists who had managed to enter Laayoune, Jimenez confirmed, urging Rabat to facilitate the work of journalists in the area.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government has come under criticism for its alleged reluctance to criticize Morocco over the recent violence.

Jimenez said Spain deplored the "very serious" events in Western Sahara, but was unable to condemn them for lack of sufficient information. She described Morocco as a "key partner" for Spain.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain pulled out of there in 1975.

Rabat has refused to carry out a referendum on independence foreseen by the United Nations, and is offering the desert territory autonomy instead. Several years of UN-sponsored negotiations have produced hardly any concrete results.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353289,sahara-violence-summary.html.

ANALYSIS: Tension in Sahara creates new obstacles for peace

Thu, 11 Nov 2010

Madrid/Rabat, Morocco - A tense calm reigned Thursday in the Moroccan-ruled Western Sahara, with Spanish media reporting a heavy presence of security forces in the capital Laayoune.

Reports said police and soldiers continued making arrests following several days of clashes in the area. The violence pitting security forces against protesters demanding social improvements or independence was the most serious in recent years.

The streets of Laayoune are practically empty and the city of 200,000 residents has been left without running water, reports said.

Representatives of the independence movement Polisario, meanwhile, say it may resume its earlier, 16-year guerrilla war against Morocco.

Observers said such threats are unlikely to be carried out in the short run, but that they nevertheless reflect an increase of tension that will make it more difficult to break the deadlock in one of the United Nations' longest-running conflicts.

The trouble started a month ago, when Saharan protesters demanding jobs and housing set up a tent camp near Laayoune. It grew to draw an estimated 20,000 people - one of the biggest such protests since the colonial power Spain withdrew from Western Sahara in 1975.

The camp dwellers did not openly back Polisario's campaign for independence, and the Moroccan government initially promised them social benefits.

But this week, Rabat accused Polisario and its backer Algeria of infiltrating the camp. Police were sent to break it up with rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons, according to witnesses.

Rioting later moved to Laayoune, where protesters confronted Moroccan armored vehicles with stones and sticks.

Rabat says 10 members of the security forces and one civilian were killed at the camp and in Laayoune, while Polisario maintains that at least 19 civilians were killed.

Fatalities included a Saharan with Spanish nationality, who was ordered to descend from a bus and then hit deliberately by a Moroccan police vehicle, the daily El Mundo said on its website.

Morocco has claimed Western Sahara as its own since Spain pulled out of the territory and more than 300,000 unarmed Moroccans staged the so-called Green March into the territory in 1975.

Polisario fought for independence until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991. But a planned referendum on independence was never put into practice by Rabat, which is now offering Western Sahara autonomy instead.

Morocco considers the desert region - rich in phosphates, fisheries and possibly even oil - a part of its historical territory, while Polisario sees it as having an independent cultural identity.

Morocco's claim over Western Sahara is one of the cornerstones of its nationalism. It is practically never questioned by Moroccan politicians or commentators, who back the government's crackdowns in the region.

This week's violence was raging just as Rabat and Polisario were resuming their UN-sponsored talks in New York. That was no coincidence, Polisario claimed, accusing Morocco of deliberately derailing the negotiations in an attempt to gain time.

Several years of talks have produced hardly any concrete results. Polisario continues demanding a referendum on independence, while Rabat has won growing support for its autonomy plan from an international community tired of the deadlock.

However, the Moroccan raid on the protest camp was bound to make Western Saharans even more reluctant to accept Rabat's autonomy proposal, Spanish Morocco expert Bernabe Lopez Garcia said.

This week's clashes also deepened the gulf between indigenous Saharans and Moroccans, whom Rabat has encouraged to settle in the territory by giving some of them well-paid government jobs. Sahara residents also enjoy tax benefits and food subsidies.

Moroccan settlers now make up the majority of Western Sahara's population of about 500,000. They played a key role in this week's rioting, looting homes and shops of indigenous Saharans, Spanish media reported.

Tens of thousands of Western Saharan refugees, meanwhile, continue languishing in Algerian refugee camps, where an entire generation has grown up.

The Western Sahara conflict has a high cost not only for Morocco, which pours billions of dollars annually into the territory, but for all of North Africa, where the tension between Algeria and Morocco hampers economic cooperation.

It has also made it difficult for the two to cooperate efficiently against al-Qaeda, which has stepped up its activities in the region.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/353107,creates-new-obstacles-peace.html.

Deaths in Western Sahara camp raid

Raid by Moroccan forces on a Western Sahara protest camp leaves four dead and scores injured, on the eve of peace talks.

08 Nov 2010

At least four people have been killed and 70 injured in a raid by Moroccan forces on a protest camp in the disputed region of Western Sahara, sources on both rival sides have said.

The Gdaim Izik camp, which houses 12,000 Saharawi refugees, had sprung up outside Laayoune, the main town in Western Sahara, four weeks ago, in protest against the deterioration of living conditions in the area.

The violence, which later spread to the streets of Laayoune itself, comes on the eve of talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front movement, which seeks independence for the Western Sahara, in the US aimed at ending the conflict over the region.

Protesters, including women and children, said security forces attempting to shut down the camp used tear gas and beat them with batons.

Morocco said two of its police officers and a firefighter were killed by protesters, while the pro-independence Polisario Front said Moroccan security forces killed a 26-year-old activist during the raid.

Officials said the camp had been stormed to release people being held against their will.

The Polisario Front accused the security forces of injuring hundreds of people in the dawn raid.

Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, the foreign minister in a self-appointed government for the region, said the attack "left hundreds of wounded".

"I can't yet tell you the exact figure, notably if anyone was killed, but the hospitals are full," he said.

He said the Moroccan forces had "repressed in a ferocious and undiscriminating fashion the defenseless civilians who found themselves in the camp".

The Polisario minister also condemned what he described as an "aggressive speech" by Mohammed VI, Morocco’s king, who last week marked the 35th anniversary of the "green march," when thousands of Moroccans headed to the Western Sahara to liberate it from the Spanish colonization.

Mustapha Khalfi, publisher of the Moroccan daily Attajdid, said that the Polisario movement had "politicized" what had begun as a protest over social rights.

The outbreak of violence risked affecting talks in the short term, he told Al Jazeera.

"This social protest will have a negative impact on the negotiations," he said.

Stalled negotiations

Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975 after the Spain withdrew from the area.

The Polisario Front fought against Moroccan rule until the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991.

The current unrest comes as Morocco and the Polisario Front prepare for talks in New York this week.

The Polisario Front wants a UN-organized self-determination referendum, with independence as one of the options.

Morocco has so far rejected any proposal that goes beyond greater autonomy.

The clashes came two weeks after Al Jazeera was expelled from the country, for its coverage of a range of issues including the Western Sahara.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2010/11/2010118211324842212.html.

Morocco postpones trial of 7 Sahrawi activists

2010-11-07

Altercations between Western Sahara activists and prosecutors forced a Casablanca court to postpone the trial of seven Sahrawis until mid-December, AFP reported on Saturday (November 6th). The defendants were arrested in October, 2009 upon their return from the Tindouf camps. Ali Salem Tamek, Brahim Dahane and Ahmed Naciri remain incarcerated. Four other activists, including a woman, were granted provisional release last May.

Source: Magharebia.com.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/11/07/newsbrief-03.

Diplomacy over Western Sahara

Morocco v Algeria
Can yet another bout of talks break a 35-year-old stalemate?

Nov 4th 2010 | LAAYOUNE

DURING the sweltering day, an oddly subdued mood hangs over the sleepy city of Laayoune. Only at night, after the sun has set below the desert horizon and the smell of grilled camel drifts out of the sandwich shops that dot the broad boulevards, does the city come to life. For Morocco Laayoune is a hub for fishing and phosphate mining. For the separatist Polisario movement it is the occupied capital of what should be the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The rebel movement has never come close to running the place—and, as things stand, probably never will. Yet the impasse still blocks the resumption of proper relations between Morocco and Algeria, which has long backed Polisario.

For a good three decades, the UN has been trying to arrange a deal. Sometimes it has seemed close to giving up. But on November 8th-9th representatives of Morocco’s government and Polisario are to meet under the world body’s aegis in Manhasset, New York, along with officials from Algeria and Mauritania, to try to find a solution. If they fail as usual, the bad blood could get worse. The UN’s latest envoy, Christopher Ross, says the status quo is “unsustainable”.

The row has been going on since November 1975, when Morocco’s then king, Hassan II, got 350,000 of his people to mass on its southern border, in order to bully Spain, which controlled Spanish Sahara, as it was then called, into ceding the territory. Spain duly did so. The following month, the Moroccan army marched in, prompting a 16-year war with Polisario fighters backed by neighboring Algeria.

By Moroccan standards, Laayoune is prosperous. The government in Rabat has invested a lot of cash in an effort to win hearts and minds. And yet, despite a ceasefire since 1991, a nervy atmosphere permeates the city. At its eight checkpoints, zealous secret police and UN peacekeepers’ white jeeps stand by. The indigenous people are far from happy.

Since early October thousands of Sahrawis have gathered at Gadaym Izik, ten minutes’ drive outside the city, where they have pitched some 8,000 tents. Campaigners say it is the biggest demonstration since Morocco took control of Western Sahara. But the demands of the tent people are not overtly political. Instead, they are calling for economic equality and a proper say on the exploitation of the territory’s resources. Morocco is renegotiating a fishing agreement with Europe which includes the seas off Western Sahara.

The protests are fraying nerves. After a 14-year-old boy was killed, the authorities said he had been bringing guns to the tented camp, which foreign journalists have been prevented from visiting. Al-Jazeera’s offices in Rabat have been closed because of the satellite channel’s alleged “prejudice against Morocco”.

Native Sahrawis now account for only a fifth of the city’s 200,000-odd people, most of whom are Moroccans lured by subsidies and government jobs. In the mainly Sahrawi district of Maatala, where SADR flags and pro-Polisario graffiti can occasionally be seen, doors are reinforced with steel against police raids.

“Continuing human-rights abuses and the lack of a solution risk radicalizing our young people,” says Aminatou Haidar, a human-rights campaigner and former political prisoner sometimes called “the Saharan Gandhi” for preaching non-violence. In 1999 and again in 2005, riots shook the city. Smaller clashes between separatists and the Moroccan authorities flare up intermittently.

A year ago Ms Haidar was turned back at Laayoune’s airport, apparently for writing “Western Sahara” as her country on her landing card. She spent the next month on hunger strike at an airport in the nearby Canary Islands, which belong to Spain, before the Moroccans were persuaded (apparently by Hillary Clinton, the American secretary of state, among others) to let her back in.

Her expulsion came a week after King Muhammad VI, who succeeded his father, King Hassan, in 1999, had hardened his line against the separatists. “One is either a patriot or a traitor,” he said. “One cannot enjoy the rights of citizenship and at the same time plot with the nation’s enemies.”

Such comments make diplomacy go backwards, says Ms Haidar, who echoes the Polisario view that, as Morocco initially agreed, the territory’s future should be determined by a referendum. But in 2000, after Morocco and Polisario had failed to agree on a range of issues, the UN had to abandon a census that would have enabled a voters’ roll to be drawn up. Since then, Morocco, with a French and American nod, has proposed autonomy as the only solution. Morocco is now proceeding with a plan for a regional authority to be set up as a step towards autonomy.

“The parties…do not yet possess the political will to enter into genuine negotiations on the future of the Western Sahara,” wrote Mr Ross in June. Since then he has been calling on the Group of Friends of Western Sahara, consisting of Britain, France, Russia, Spain and the United States, to stop the stumbling talks between Morocco and Polisario from breaking down altogether. The upcoming meetings are at least partially the result of his efforts.

But it is an uphill task. Earlier this year flights between Laayoune and Tindouf, the nearest big town in Algeria, close to Polisario’s main camps in exile, were hailed as a confidence-building measure. But the flights have since been canceled. Ms Haidar’s treatment and the arrest in Tindouf of Mustafa Salma, a senior Polisario man, after he had declared his support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal, worsened the mood. Mr Ross wants Algeria’s government, Polisario’s main backer, to become a fully-fledged party to the talks, but it has refused so far to join in, saying that only Polisario can speak for the Western Saharans. Along with Mauritania, it will only observe the talks.

“Sahrawis are pawns in the rivalry between Algeria and Morocco,” concludes Eddah Laghdaf, who directs a state-run television station in Laayoune and backs Morocco’s autonomy idea. “We Sahrawis are obliged to choose between Algeria and Morocco, since an independent state would be an Algerian satellite,” he adds. “I choose Morocco as it offers at least a glimmer of hope for democratization.” Algeria, he implies, is a deadlier dictatorship. But that hardly means Saharans are itching to stay under Moroccan control.

Polisario’s SADR is recognized by at least 50 countries today, though the movement says more than 80 governments at one time did so. But African countries, especially, have blown hot and cold, sometimes granting recognition and then withdrawing it, often depending on their relations with Morocco and Algeria. Uncertainty, it seems, is pervasive.

Source: The Economist.
Link: http://www.economist.com/node/17421589?story_id=17421589.

UN: Talks on Western Sahara conflict to resume

Tue, 02 Nov 2010

New York - United Nations talks aimed at settling the decades-old conflict in Western Sahara will resume next week in the United States, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.

Representatives of Morocco, Western Sahara's Frente Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania will meet November 8-9 in Long Island city, said Martin Nesirky.

"Solving the conflict in Western Sahara remains a priority for the United Nations and we hope the next meeting will be productive and will help the parties to move beyond the impasse," Nesirky said.

The parties met in 2009 and most recently in February under the mediation of UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, but any progress made had not been made public.

Ross will also brief the UN Security Council next week on his diplomatic work in the territory.

Western Sahara has been claimed by Morocco and Algeria-backed Polisario Front, the armed group that engaged in brief war against Morocco decades ago. The territory, a former Spanish colony until 1975, has been mostly under Morocco's control since 1976.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/351549,western-sahara-conflict-resume.html.

Tension mounts in Western Sahara - boy reported killed

Mon, 25 Oct 2010

Madrid - Tension is mounting in Western Sahara after Moroccan soldiers killed a 14-year-boy participating in a large-scale protest movement, Spanish media reports said Monday.

Soldiers fired at the vehicle the boy, identified as Nayem el-Gareh, was traveling in, when it did not stop at a checkpoint. Several other people were injured and taken to hospital.

Thousands of people have set up a protest camp at about 15 kilometers east of the Saharan capital Laayoun to demand better housing, jobs and other improvements for the desert region, which Morocco annexed after the colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975.

The protest was not officially associated with the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario, the daily El Pais said. The daily described the protest as the biggest in Western Sahara since 1975.

Morocco had sent officials to negotiate with the protesters, reports said. Moroccan government spokesman Taieb Fassi-Fihri accused Polisario of trying to politicize social questions.

The protest was launched about three weeks before Morocco and Polisario were due to relaunch their UN-sponsored negotiations in New York in early November.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/350208,-boy-reported-killed.html.

Spanish demonstrators arrested by Moroccan police in West Sahara

Sun, 29 Aug 2010

Madrid - A group of Spanish demonstrators were arrested in the West Saharan city of El-Aiun in an unauthorized protest demonstration, Spain's state broadcaster RNE reported Sunday.

The report said that Moroccan security forces moved in to break up the demonstration which was staged to protest against human rights violations in Morocco.

El-Aiun is the capital of the West Sahara, the former Spanish colony which Morocco annexed after Spain's pullout in 1975.

The RNE report said 11 Spaniards were arrested, while three others fled to a hotel. Later, the 14 demonstrators, members of a West Sahara initiative based on the Canary Islands, were being detained in a Spanish cultural centre in El-Aiun.

The group members charged that they were brutally mistreated by the Moroccan police.

A Spanish diplomat was en route to the West Sahara to gain their release and arrange for their return to Spain, the report said.

The incident threatened to add further to Spanish-Moroccan tensions after the recent dispute over border controls in Spain's exclave of Melilla. Morocco accused Spanish border guards of mistreating African travelers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/341547,moroccan-police-west-sahara.html.

Spain in quandary over Western Sahara activist

Madrid (Earth Times - dpa) - Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Monday rejected criticism over the government's handling of the case of Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar, who went into her eighth day of a hunger strike at the airport of the Canary Island of Lanzarote. There was no other solution than Haidar accepting Spanish refugee status or a new Moroccan passport, Moratinos told a parliamentary commission.

Haidar, who has won several human rights awards, defends the independence of Western Sahara, which Morocco annexed after 1975.

The current situation with Haidar began on November 13, when she flew to the Western Saharan capital Laayoun from the Canary Islands.

Morocco barred her entry, because she declared her nationality as Saharan instead of Moroccan. The Moroccan authorities confiscated her passport and put her on a plane to Lanzarote.

The Spanish authorities said she could not travel back to Laayoun, because she had no passport.

The hunger strike of the activist drew support from Spanish film directors, actors and Portuguese Nobel literature laureate Jose Saramago.

Haidar reiterated on Monday that she rejected Spain's offer to resolve the situation by granting her refugee status in order to allow her to travel.

Haidar also rejected the possibility of getting a new Moroccan passport.

The Moroccan ambassador to Spain said earlier that Haidar might get her passport back if she admitted to being a Moroccan national.

Omar Azziman accused Haidar of being an "agent" of the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario Front.

Moratinos has discussed the case with his Moroccan counterpart Tayeb Fassi Fihri.

Morocco is offering autonomy to Western Sahara instead of the referendum on independence proposed by the United Nations in 1991.

Morocco is seen by many observers as stepping up pressure on Saharan separatists, with King Mohammed VI warning that those who were not "patriots" were "traitors."

Spain may grant refugee status to W.Sahara activist

Nov 20, 2009

MADRID — Spain will grant refugee status to a Western Sahara activist on hunger strike in the Canary Islands if Moroccan authorities reject her request for a new passport, the foreign ministry said Friday.

Aminatou Haidar, a winner of several human rights awards, launched a hunger strike at midnight on Sunday to protest against Morocco's decision to expel her from her native Western Sahara.

"The government is ready, if Ms Haidar asks, to grant her refugee status as soon as possible and provide her with all the necessary documents (so she can travel)," the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added this step would only be taken if the Moroccan consulate in Spain turns down her request for a new passport.

Moroccan authorities arrested Haidar on November 13 on her arrival in the Western Sahara capital of Laayoune from Spain's Canary Islands.

Immigration officials immediately sent her back to the archipelago after confiscating her passport. Haidar used her Spanish residency permit to re-enter the country.

In October, Haidar received the Civil Courage Prize from the New York-based Train Foundation for her human rights campaigning in the disputed Western Sahara territory.

The Polisario Front rebel movement has been fighting for the independence of Western Sahara since it was annexed by Morocco after Spain left in 1975.

With Algerian backing, the Polisario Front is holding out for independence.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved.

W.Sahara rights activist says being kept in Spain

MADRID, Nov 16 (Reuters) - A prominent Western Sahara independence campaigner who was expelled by Moroccan authorities from the disputed territory says she is being kept in Spain's Canary Islands against her will, a Spanish rights group said.

Sahrawi rights activist Aminatou Haidar, who won a peace prize in New York last month, arrived in Western Sahara last week but was stopped by Moroccan authorities and then put on a plane to Spain.

Haidar began a hunger strike after landing on the Spanish island of Lanzarote because she was expelled by Morocco and is not being permitted to leave Spain, said the Seville Association of Friends of the Sahrawi People.

"Haidar denounced Morocco for illegal expulsion from the country, the Spanish authorities for abduction in forcing her to enter the country ... and stopping her leaving, and the Spanish civil guard for bad treatment at the airport," the association said.

It said she was in a weak state and the hunger strike was aggravating an ulcer.

Morocco took control of most of the Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain withdrew from the desert territory and fought a low-level war against Sahrawi independence movement Polisario until the United Nations brokered a ceasefire in 1991.

Morocco is now offering limited autonomy for the resource-rich territory while Polisario, backed by Morocco's neighbor Algeria, is holding out for a referendum with independence as one option.

On Nov. 6, Morocco's King Mohammed said it was time for action against traitors threatening Morocco's "territorial integrity", a clear warning to Sahrawi independence activists.

The Madrid government said Haidar would not be allowed to leave Spanish territory until she has some travel papers.

"To leave Spain, she needs a passport or travel documents, which she doesn't have since she claims her Moroccan passport was taken from her," Spain's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Morocco's government denied that Haidar had her passport forcibly confiscated.

"Members of Aminatou Haidar's family were able to talk with her and to witness her signing of declarations made in the presence of the King's prosecutor in which she clearly rejected Moroccan nationality," Morocco's Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri told official news agency MAP.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLG495932.