Pasar al contenido principal

Saharawi minister calls for breaking the media blackout imposed by Morocco over the Saharawi territories

Submitted on

Smara (refugee camps), Feb 27, 2012 (SPS) - The Minister of the Occupied Territories and Communities Abroad, Mr. Mohamed Ould Akik, called Sunday from the Wilaya of Smara, Saharawi refugee camps, to put “an end to the media blackout imposed by Morocco over the Saharawi occupied territories, where human rights being violated daily.”

“The media blackout imposed on the Saharawi occupied territories, where the Moroccan regime continues its daily abuses to human rights and brutal repression against the Saharawis, must be halted,” said the Saharawi minister, in a meeting with a French civil society’s delegation who are visiting the Saharawi refugee camps on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of SADR proclamation.

Mr. Ould Akik denounced Morocco’s disregard to the international laws through its obstruction to the work of human rights organizations, calling on the international civil society, as a whole and French in particular, to raise awareness of the public opinion to the Saharawis situation.

He regretted on the UN failure in performing its task regarding the Saharawi issue, denouncing complicity of some countries, including France which backed the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and prevented the implementation of the UN resolutions.

Mr. Ould Akik recalled that there are 82 Saharawi political prisoners still incarcerated in the Moroccan jails in difficult conditions, while still there more than 680 disappeared.

The French delegation denounced from the Saharawi liberated territory of Mehbes the policy perpetuated by the French Government towards the conflict of Western Sahara, which thwart the efforts aiming to hold a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara.

The delegation, which includes elected, trade unionists and lawyers, has gathered before the Moroccan military wall (known also as the Wall of Shame) that separates Western Sahara Territory. (SPS)

090/089/TRA