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Algiers, Jan 22, 2014 (SPS) - The Prime Minister of Algeria Mr. Abdelmalek Sellal has received Tuesday in Algiers the United Nations Secretary General's Personal envoy for Western Sahara, Mr. Christopher Ross, said Sellal's Office in a statement.
 

The audience, which took place in presence of Algeria's Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs Mr. Madjid Bouguerra, allowed the two sides to "discuss the situation in the region and issues of common interest," the source said. (SPS)


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Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), Jan 21, 2014 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz issued Monday a presidential decree providing for the installation of a national committee to suppervise the preparation of the election of members of the Saharawi National Council (Parliament), said a source from the Presidency of the Republic.

Addis Ababa, Jan 21, 2014 (SPS) - The African Union’s Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) has adopted the Annual Report of the African Union Commission for 2013, expressing support for "a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara which provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara."

Algiers, January 20, 2014 (SPS)- Algeria and Mali have reiterated their support for a "mutually acceptable political solution" to the question of Western Sahara "in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly ."

Algiers, January 19, 2014 (SPS) - Former Algerian Prime Minister Ali Benflis expressed Sunday  in Algiers his commitment to "support the organization of a referendum of self-determination under the auspices of the United Nations in Western Sahara".

Copenhagen, Denmark, January 19, 2014 - An International Conference about Western Sahara, jointly organized by the Danish United Nations Association (UNA) and the Metropolitan University College Saturday in Copenhagen. The Conference was attended by distinguished speakers and more than 150 participants.

Paris (France), January 19, 2014 (SPS ) - Members of the Saharawi community in France held Saturday a meeting to discuss the establishment of the first Sahrawi sports association abroad  in Les Mureaux town, the outskirts of Paris, according to the Ministry of Occupied Territories and Community Abroad.

Murcia (Spain), Jan 17, 2014 (SPS) - The Regional Government of Murcia has decided to send specialized medical missions to the Saharawi refugee camps, in a meeting held Thursday between Mr. Mohamed Labat Mastafa, Polisario Front Representative, and Mr. Leopoldo Navarro, Director General of Social Policies in the Health and Social Policy Council of Murcia.


The two sides also discussed "vacations in peace" programme.

Sale (Morocco), Jan 17, 2014 (SPS) - The Saharawi political prisoner and student, Cheick Banga, will start as from today, Friday, an open hunger strike to protest Sale prison administration’s refusal to give him a room to study, reported a Saharawi media source.


Cheick Banga was arrested on November 2010 in Gdeim Izik protest camp.


The Moroccan military court in Rabat sentenced him to three years in prison. (SPS)


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Bir Lehlou (liberated territories), Jan 17, 2014 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz has demanded “an urgent action” by the United Nations to protect the Saharawi civilians, who are subject to Morocco’s violence and repression.

El Aaiun (occupied territories), Jan 16, 2014 (SPS) - More than 50 Saharawis were injured in a Moroccan repressive forces’ crackdown on a peaceful demonstration organized Wednesday in the occupied city of El Aaiun, capital of Western Sahara, informed a Saharawi media source.


The demonstration held as a response to a call launched to support the national campaign for expanding MINURSO mandate to include human rights monitoring in Western Sahara, as to demand the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination, said the same source.

Brussels, Jan 16, 2014 (SPS) - The Dutch government has asked the European Commission to provide clarifications on its imports of tomatoes from Western Sahara, as quoted by the Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW).


In his reply to parliamentary questions on 17 December 2013, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans stated that the Dutch Government would support an EU-wide approach with regard to the labeling of products from Western Sahara, rather then introducing a certificate of origin by itself, said the source.

Chahid Al Hafed (refugee camps), Jan 15, 2014 (SPS) - Saharawi Youth Union (UJSARIO) has deplored the barbaric practices by Moroccan apparatus against the defensless Saharawi citizens in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, especially the late events in the occupied city of El Aaiun.

Addis Ababa, Jan 15, 2014 (SPS) - Minister of National Defense Mr. Mohamed Lamin Bouhali said that the Saharawi state “is ready to contribute considerably to the establishment of the African Standby Force (ASF),” adding that such contribution will be announced sooner.

El Aaiun (occupied territories), Jan 15, 2013 (SPS) - Moroccan occupying forces heinously attacked on Sunday the Saharawi female citizen Lala Hatra Aram (see the picture), before setting fire to her house, reported a Sahrawi media source.

Chahid Al Hafed (refugee camps), Jan 15, 2013 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz has congratulated the Saharawi people on the occasion of Eid al-Mawlid, Festival of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), celebrated yesterday.

Sale (Morocco), Jan 15, 2014 (SPS) - The group of Saharawi political prisoners of Gdeim Izik, jailed in the Moroccan prison of Salé, stressed Tuesday that MINURSO is the only UN mission which does not have a mechanism of human rights monitoring.


These prisoners recalled "the incessant calls from international human rights defending organizations and the UN Secretary General’s call in his latest report for the implementation of a UN mechanism to monitor human rights in Western Sahara."