Washington, July 27, 2013 (SPS) - Western Sahara issue was at the heart of a debate of representatives from several U.S. media, organized by the foundation “International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)” in Washington.
Under the theme of “rights, resources and refugees: stories about the impasse of Western Sahara issue,’’ the meeting has been particularly run by journalists who have made reports in Western Sahara in 2012 and 2013. They explained to the participants that this is Africa’s last colony.
This panel consisted of Washington Post’s Whitney Shefte, Elisa Barclay from US radio NPR and Jenn Abelson from e Boston Globe newspaper, assisted by Katlyn Thomas, former lawyer at the United Nations Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and Anna Theofilopoulou, former senior official at the UN.
In their interventions, preceded by the screening of a documentary video produced by Washington Post on the Sahrawi issue, the three U.S. journalists have made living testimonies on the political status and the situation of human rights of in the Saharawi territories occupied by Morocco.
In this regard, they noted to the policy of brutal repression perpetuated by the Moroccan authorities against the Saharawi people, pointing to the pressure and obstacles they themselves have suffered, like other Western journalists during reports made in the occupied city of El Aaiun in December and last May.
“Violation of human rights, economic marginalization and social exclusion are the lot of the vast majority of Saharawis living in the territories occupied by Morocco,” they underlined.
“Getting there in Western Sahara was a unique opportunity for me and an invaluable experience to learn more about this forgotten conflict and talk despite constraints,” said Mrs. Barclay of National Public Radio (NPR).
From his part, Dr. Abelson of Boston Globe indicated that despite the fact that the United States and other powers have never recognized the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara, the independence movement, however, remains hampered.
“When the Saharawis thanked me for coming to witness the situation, I felt that what we were doing, as journalists, was important,” argued Ms. Shefte of the Washington Post.
From her part, Ms. Thomas, who had lived for several years in Western Sahara as MINURSO official, lamented the state of status quo of the Saharawi question, adding that the international law confirms that the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination is the basis for any political solution to the conflict of Western Sahara.
Criticizing the refusal by Morocco of the solution of self-determination and recalling that the international community does not recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, Ms. Thomas also criticized the biased position of France, a permanent member of the Security Council, in the side of Morocco.
Registered since 1964 in the list of the non-self-governing territories eligible for the implementation of the 1514 resolution on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa, occupied by Morocco since 1975. (SPS)
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