from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Western Sahara Weekly news -Weeks 5,6 -- WEEKLY NEWS original french WEEK 05 28.01.-03.02.2001 26.01.01 Sit-in Dozens of Saharawi unemployed organised a sit-in in Rabat in front of the Ministry of Employment. They denounce the policy of marginalisation and deportation of Saharawis from the occupied territories and southern Morocco, as well as repressive practices such as the inhuman treatment suffered by the Saharawi students imprisoned in Marrakech. (SPS) 26.01.01 Occupied territories The Moroccan Minister of Economy and Tourism has signed an agreement with the managing chairman of Club Méditerranée, which is asking Morocco to install the means and the infrastructure necessary for a huge programme of investment and expansion by the Club. Figuring among the six new sites planned is a nature resort at Dakhla in the occupied territories. The Moroccan press comments that "it is, moreover, one of the first international operators to set up in the Moroccan Sahara". 26.01.01 Military presence The Canary Islands press reveals that two American ships of commercial appearance, equipped with depleted uranium arms, are sailing in the ocean around the Canary Islands since about 2 weeks with the agreement of Spain. They would be part of the support for a rapid intervention force of the American army on the model applied in the Gulf and Yugoslavia. This presence could serve for an intervention in the Congo or in Western Sahara, hotspots on the near African continent. 26.-28.01.01 Chile The Socialist Party of Chile has voted for a resolution on Western Sahara during its congress in Santiago. It asks 'insistently' that all the obstacles hampering the implementation of the settlement plan should be lifted. (Saharawi Ministry of Information communication, SPS) 28.01.01 Diplomacy The Saharawi Ambassador in Angola was received by Sam Nujoma, president of Namibia, to whom he gave a message from the SADR president. Namibia reaffirmed on this occasion its solidarity and support for SADR and its firm support of a fair and complete implementation of the UN settlement plan. (Saharawi Ministry of Information communication, SPS) 31.01.01 Sale of arms The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Robin Cook, created surprise and consternation when he revealed that his government had given the green light to a sale of arms to Morocco amounting to 3.5 million pounds. It concerns spare parts for canons stationed on the Moroccan defensive wall in Western Sahara. The first request was refused in 1998 because of the conflict in Western Sahara. By way of excuse, the minister argued that the United Nations, when consulted, had presented no objections, Morocco not being subject to UN sanctions. The affair aroused much criticism and protest. Tess Kingham (Labour MP), NGOs such as War on Want and the Western Sahara Campaign regretted that Great Britain should be helping Morocco in this way to prepare for a new war in the Sahara, while for the last ten years the international community has been asked to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. The NGO, War on Want, is contemplating a judicial procedure against what it considers to be a violation of the directives of the Foreign Office and the European Union concerning export of arms. COMING UP... 09.02.01, Limoges, France, 20h30, CCSM Jean Gagnant: "25 ans de Solidarité Européenne avec le Peuple Sahraoui". Conférence de Pierre Galand, Président de la "Coordination des Comités Européens de Soutien au Peuple Sahraoui". Organisation: Comité Limousin de Solidarité avec le Peuple Sahraoui, Ligue des Droits de l'Homme et Les Amis du Monde Diplomatique. 22.02.01, Rome, Palazzo Marini, via del Pozzetto 158, 10.00 - ore 17.00, Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the SADR, organised byr ANSPS and Comitato interparlamentare Italia-Sahrawi. (info: e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]). 27.02.01, Geneva, Switzerland: 25th anniversary of the SADR, Reception 19 h., Forum, Hôtel Le Grenil, 9, avenue Ste Clotilde, 1205 Genève-Jonction. 27 février, Refugee camps: Sahara Marathon 19 March to 27April, Geneva: 57th session of UN Human Rights Committee NEW PUBLICATIONS [External links to newspapers may not be valid after some days because the servers are restarted] english - Saharan Stasis: Status and Prospects in the Western Sahara, Charles Dunbar, The Middle East Journal, Volume 54, N. 4, Autumn 2000. http://www.mideasti.org/articles/dunbar.html - Running For A Cause, Al Lara, The Hartford Courant, USA, 22.01.01. http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?eeid=873447&eetype==Articl e&myurl==&print==&print.x=&print.y==8 - Polisario ready for desert war with Morocco, Philip Sherwell, The Daily Telegraph, London, 28.01.01. http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac= *********** subject: Western Sahara News week 6 2001 Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: arso <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 Reply-To: western-sahara-news- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [western-sahara-news] Weekly news, week 06 / 2001 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------- eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups Click here for more details http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/16969/_/981904975/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- WEEKLY NEWS -original french WEEK 06 04.-10.10.2001 05.02.01 Sit in Having still not been heard, several dozen Saharawi students have again taken up their demonstration in front of the Ministry of Employment in Rabat demanding their right to work.(SPS) 06.02.01 Statements In a statement to the daily «Acharq Al Awsat», Arabic daily printed in London, the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Benaïssa emphasised that «the question of the Moroccan Sahara constitutes an impediment to getting the Arab Union of the Maghreb up and running». He strongly criticised the role of Algeria who «harbours an armed group which threatens the sovereignty and stability of its neighbour». He claimed that the UN settlement plan for Western Sahara «has unfortunately not been concluded» and repeated that Morocco is ready to «present a paper setting out a global conception for a political solution for the conflict in the Sahara, based on taking account of the specific needs of the region such as decentralisation and democracy in the context of Moroccan territorial unity and sovereignty». In his reaction published on 07.02 the Saharawi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek expressed his agreement with his Moroccan counterpart, saying that «without peace the Maghreb cannot realise itself >as an economic, political and socio-cultural entity». But, for Ould Salek, the entire responsibility for the 25 years of war and waste that has resulted falls on Morocco. He deplores the fact that the means deployed have not instead been put to use to develop the Maghreb Union. Morocco puts the blame on Algeria, Ould Salek believes, with the intention of hiding the struggle of the Saharawi people, following the model of other colonialist regimes in the recent past. Ould Salek concludes that only the peace plan can bring a fair and definitive solution to Western Sahara, because it «remains the sole way capable of permitting the Saharawi people to choose its destiny freely. It would therefore be pointless, now or in the future, to substitute for it some other way.» On his side Mr Belkhadem, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, repeated before the press that «a peace plan adopted by the UN exists, it establishes the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and we support the implementation of the UN peace plan». COMING UP... 28 of February 2001: End of the MINURSO mandate in Western Sahara. Australia Sydney , 27.02.01, 12 pm, Moroccan Consulate, 11 West St, North Sydney, «FREE WESTERN SAHARA» Protest Morocco 's occupation, org. by WESTERN SAHARA ALLIANCE. More info contact: Stephanie Brennan 0411 239 934, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] English - Labour faces flak over weapons work, Birmingham Post & Mail, 02.02.01, p. 9 Britain broke Morocco gun ban: Artillery spares sent despite pledge to stay neutral over Western Sahara, Nicolas Pelham, The Observer, UK, 04.02.01. - Saharan rebels stranded in camps: In the field Casualties of the stalemate between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario rebels, 100,000 refugees subsist on aid, Rory Carroll in Tifarity, The Guardian, UK, 07.02.01. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4132213,00.html - Commentary: Globalisation friend and foe, Catherine Matheson, The Guardian, London, 08.02.01, p. 14. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4133142,00.htm ~~~~~~ A R S O Association de soutien a un referendum libre et regulier au Sahara Occidental Address: cp 2229 CH-2800 DELEMONT 2 E-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://www.arso.org Tel.:+41 32 422 87 17 Fax: +41 32 422 87 01 " JC _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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