Shaheed Al hafed (refugee camps), August 11, 2012 (SPS) - The Representatives of organizations, NGOs, universities that were a part of the delegation that concluded Friday evening a solidarity visit to the Saharawi refugee camps have asked the Spanish government to reconsider its decision to bring home the aid workers from the Saharawi refugee camps, in a manifesto signed by members of the delegation.
“We ask the Spanish government to reconsider its decision to repatriate aid workers from the Saharawi refugee camps, because such withdrawal has a negative influence on humanitarian aid and begins to be felt in the shortage of water supply, basic food of the Saharawi population,” stated the manifesto which was read during a dinner hosted at SADR Presidency headquarters by President Mohamed Abdelaziz on honour of the Spanish delegation.
Representatives of Spanish solidarity organizations and civil society who have traveled to the camps expressed satisfaction with the stay in the camps and to the security measures deployed by the Polisario Front.
Reading the manifesto on behalf of members of the Spanish delegation of aid workers, Ms. Maria Rosa Catalina Vila from the Valencia Federation urged the Spanish government to “share information with the Saharawi and Algerian authorities, as well as with the MINURSO and international agencies of cooperation in the case of an imminent threat in order to make joint efforts to arrest the terrorists.”
The signatories of the manifesto indicated that Spain “should not, from its historic and political responsibility, abandon the Saharawi people in this emergent situation,” adding that such policy of isolation aims “to weaken resistance of the Saharawi refugees and break the special ties between the Spanish and Saharawi people.”
They also emphasized the need to find a just and lasting political solution to the Saharawi conflict through the exercise of the Saharawi people to their right of self-determination, underlying that all this would help the peace and prosperity of the region.
Ms. Vila reaffirmed commitment of the Spanish organizations and civil society supporting Western Sahara “to accompany the Saharawi people in their struggle for independence,” extending thanks to the Saharawi people and government for the hospitality they have been shown during their stay in the camps. (SPS)
090/089/TRA