Regular meeting of the executive of the UNMS at the headquarters of the National Union of Sahrawi women.

Regular meeting of the executive of the UNMS on 29 May 2019 at the headquarters of the National Union of Sahrawi women. The meeting chaired by the Secretary general, Minetu Laraas, aims to evaluate the working period between March and May at the central and regional level and the establishment of initiatives on the occasion of the holy month addressed to the most Needed. The Meeting also addressed substantive issues in the field of foreign affairs, cooperation and some other points related to the work of the Organization in general.

The National Union for Sahrawi women appreciates the role of women in the institutional construction of the Sahrawi state, the promotion of Sahrawi society and its contribution to the advancement of national institutions and their positive role in strengthening of the same.

The National Union of Sahrawi women praises the role of Sahrawi women and their struggles in the occupied areas, the south of Morocco and the Moroccan universities, as well as the high morality and the provision demonstrated by Sahrawi women in the occupied territories To confront all kinds of oppression that particularly affects Sahrawi women in the occupied territories.

It also condemned Moroccan abusive practices and brutal treatment of Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons, as well as expressing their solidarity with the mothers of the 15 abducted youth.

The National Union of Sahrawi women takes the opportunity to congratulate the Sahrawi people wherever they are in the occupied territories, the diaspora, and in the refugee camps on the occasion of the end-of-Ramadan party.

Saharawi representative in Spain meets with the director for Maghreb in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain

The representative of the Frente POLISARIO to Spain, Jira Bulahi Bad, met with the General Director for the Maghreb, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Eva Martinez Sanchez, to address the latest developments in Western Sahara and the peace process led by the UN.

The parties regretted the recent resignation of the envoy of the Secretary General for Western Sahara, Horst Kohler, highlighting his effort to end the situation of blockade and the commitment to continue negotiations between the parties, Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to reach to a definitive solution based on self-determination and independence.

The Saharawi representative reiterated the willingness of the POLISARIO to continue supporting the efforts of the UN in the search for a just and definitive solution to the conflict. dubbing as unacceptable the Moroccan obstacles to the process and the lack of will to enforce international legality.

For her part, Eva Martinez Sanchez, has ratified the full support of Spain to the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) and the appointment of a new envoy capable of continuing the dynamics promoted by the former president of Germany , Kohler.

At the meeting, which took place at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, cooperation was also addressed with the Saharawi people in the humanitarian field and support for international organizations working in the refugee camps.

Finally, the parties discussed the work plan for Vacations in Peace 2019 and the processing of collective visas for children and Saharawi monitors.

UNSG regrets his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara demission of former German President, Host Kohler

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, deeply regretted the resignation of former President of Germany, Horst Kohler, to his position and mission as an Personal Envoy for Western Sahara.

In a message sent to the head of the UN, Kohler announces the decision to abandon the position as mediator in the process of decolonization of Western Sahara. The former president justifies such a decision for reasons Health.

Antonio Guterres deeply appreciates the efforts made by Hosrt Kohler, noting that "his constant and intense efforts laid the foundations for a new impetus in the political process in Western Sahara."

The UN Secretary-General expressed his best wishes to the former envoy for the Western Sahara and thanked the parties, Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, for their commitment to the peace process and negotiations promoted by Hosh Kohler.SPS

CEAS-Sahara slams expulsion of foreign observers from Occupied Western Sahara

- The State Coordinator of Associations in Solidarity with the Sahara People (CEAS-Sahara) denounced on Monday the "expulsion" and "lack of protection" of five Spanish lawyers and two Norwegian observers who were going to a trial of a journalist from Western Sahara.

In a statement they indicate that the five lawyers were accredited by the General Council of the Spanish Bar and the Norwegians belong to the Rafto Foundation to witness, as international observers, that trial against the journalist of Equipe Media Nazha el Khalidi, which, finally, has postponed until June 24.

They say that, after being detained yesterday for hours in the transit area of ​​the airport of El Aaiún, they were expelled in a plane to Casablanca, where they have been embarked this afternoon on another flight to Gran Canaria.

They denounce the "silence" of the Spanish Government before the facts, which they interpret as "complicity" in the face of the "systematic violation of the most basic rights" of individuals and peoples.

They claim that Western Sahara is a non-autonomous territory pending decolonization by Spain and "illegally occupied" by Morocco.

They condemn that the Government has not contacted the expelled lawyers to be interested in their state and defend their rights as Spanish citizens.SPS

46th anniversary of Sahrawi armed struggle outbreak to be celebrated

The Sahrawi people will celebrate Monday the 46th anniversary of the outbreak of the Sahrawi armed struggle, in a context marked by the numerous victories snatched by the Sahrawi people, who are still fighting for their right to self-determination.
May 20, 1973 remains a historic event for the Sahrawis who had decided that day, under the leadership of the Polisario Front, the only and legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, to take arms to wrest their independence from the colonization.
On this historical day, a group of Sahrawi fighters decided to attack the Spanish post of El Khanga.
This operation announced the outbreak of the armed struggle in Western Sahara.
This people exist and will survive the betrayal of colonialism, the assaults of reactionary regimes and their manoeuvres," said late El Ouali Mustafa Sayed, first secretary general of the Polisario Front, who martyred on June 9, 197

Sahrawis celebrate 46th anniversary of Polisario Front creation

The Sahrawi people on Friday celebrated the 46th anniversary of the Polisario Front creation (10 May 1973), an event that coincides with achievements, both continental and international, enhanced with a commitment of the Sahrawi people to their right to self-determination.

The achievements made in favour of the Sahrawi cause reaffirm the recognition of the Polisario Front as the only legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people in their struggle for freedom and independence and the Sahrawi’s commitment to inalienable right to a self-determination referendum.

The Sahrawis celebrate this anniversary in the light of unprecedented international and continental developments and an increasing interest to the Sahrawi cause, notably the Security Council’s call for the reopening of negotiations between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco.

On 5-6 December 2018, the United Nations had supervised a roundtable to revive the process to settle the Western Sahara conflict under respect to the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. 

The UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Kohler, had chaired the second roundtable on Western Sahara, in the presence of Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania.

Moreover, the Security Council’s last decision (2468) on the six-month extension of the MINURSO mandate instead of one year reflects the interest the UN body attaches to the Sahrawi cause and its willingness to find a solution ensuring the self-determination of the Sahrawi people, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Council.

The celebration of the 46th anniversary coincides with many political and diplomatic achievements including Western Sahara status as a founding member of the AUO (UA currently) despite the plots of Morocco and its allies.

The AU played a key role in the revival of the Sahrawi cause by constraining Morocco to sit alongside the Sahrawi during the meetings it organized, in addition to the European Union (EU)

HRW denounces misuse of law by Morocco to silence Sahrawi reporter

Moroccan authorities are using a law designed to keep people from falsely claiming professional credentials to bring criminal charges against people trying to expose abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a statement Thursday.

In the latest case, Nezha Khalidi, who is affiliated with the activist group Equipe Media in El-Ayoun, Western Sahara, will go on trial on May 20, 2019, accused of not meeting the requirements to call herself a journalist. Police arrested her on December 4, 2018, as she was livestreaming on Facebook a street scene in Western Sahara and denouncing Moroccan “repression.” She faces two years in prison if convicted, added the organization which defends human rights worldwide.

“People who speak out peacefully should never have to fear prison for ‘pretending’ to be journalists,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities shouldn’t be using a law designed to keep an unqualified person from claiming to be a doctor, for example, to punish people whose commentary displeases them.”

The police released Khalidi after four hours on December 4, 2018, but confiscated the smartphone she had used to film a street scene, which ended with a policeman chasing her. On May 15, she told Human Rights Watch that she never got her smartphone back. The El-Ayoun Court of First Instance will judge her case.

Authorities also arrested Khalidi in 2016, as she covered a women’s demonstration in El-Ayoun on behalf of Equipe Media. The authorities held her overnight and confiscated her camera and memory card, then released her without charge, she told Human Rights Watch.

“Providing information, images, and commentary without official accreditation should not be criminalized the way practicing medicine or driving a truck without a license should be,” Goldstein said. (SPS)