Bir Lahlou, Sept 28, 2011 (SPS) -The President of the Republic and the Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz, appealed Tuesday the African Union to act proactively to ensure that the UN assumes its responsibility in decolonising the last colony in Africa.
"The African Union, as a full partner of the UN in its decolonising mission in Western Sahara, should act proactively to ensure that the UN assumes its responsibility in decolonising the last colony in Africa ", wrote the President of Republic in a letter to the Chairperson of the African Union, Jean Ping.
The President called on the organization to intervene urgently to save innocent Sahrawi lives that are under threat in the occupied city of Dajla and to protect Sahrawi civilians in the city against the increasing Moroccan repression
Below is the full text of the letter:
H. E. Dr Jean Ping
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union
Addis Ababa
Bir Lehlou, 27 September 2011
Excellency,
Addis Ababa
Bir Lehlou, 27 September 2011
Excellency
On 25 September, a group of Sahrawis organised a peaceful demonstration in the occupied city of Dajla, in southern Western Sahara, to protest against the savage attack carried out by a Moroccan settler on a Sahrawi fan during a football match between a local team and a team coming from Morocco. With the complicity of Moroccan security forces that were present at the stadium, more Moroccan settlers took part in the attack against the Sahrawis that came to express their solidarity with their fellow citizen.
Despite the peaceful character of the demonstration, Moroccan occupying authorities engaged in terrorising practices and summoned more elements of their police forces to back, protect and instigate the Moroccan settlers to carry on their brutal assault on.
According to the latest information emanating from the occupied city of Dajla, the savage intervention by Moroccan oppressive forces has led to the death of the young Sahrawi Maichan Ould Mohamed Lamine Ould Lehbib, while dozens were seriously injured and many Sahrawi houses and properties were ransacked and vandalised.
An initial list of the injured includes Hamma Ould Balla Ould Ahmed Zein, Mohamed Yahdih Habat, Mohamed Ould Omar Uballa, Sheikh Ould Yahdih Ould Bouseif, Khaled Ould Bouaila, Sid Ahmed Ould Alkaouri, Sidi Ould Ahmed Ould Maichan, Madeh Ould Maichan.
The list of the houses that were broken in and vandalised includes the houses belonging to the following families: Meska, Harmet Allah, Sidi Ould Maichan, Alyien Ana Alla, Agreimish, Lehwaidi, Ahmayada, Hanoun, Cheikh Mohamed Saleh, Biutha Sueilm Ahamed Brahi, Nafi Ould Azraiwil.
The vehicles belonging to the following Sahrawis were damaged and set on fire: Hamada Ould Harmat Allah, 2 vehicles, Brahim Ould Ahmayada, 1 vehicle, Mohamed Adda, 1 vehicle and Wali Salaam, 1 vehicle.
In an alarming move, Moroccan authorities zeroed in on the occupied city of Dajla where the Moroccan Minister of Interior, Taieb Cherqaoui, was dispatched to the city along with the General Inspector of Moroccan Armed Forces and the Force Commander of the Southern Region, General Abdelaziz Bannani. More security and armed forces were transported to the city including some of the forces stationed at the Moroccan military wall.
This entire mobilisation is reminiscent of the savage assault carried out by the occupying authorities on Gdeim Izik Camp and the occupied city of La Aaiun, on 8 November 2010, where Moroccan forces not only brutalised the protestors but also encouraged the Moroccan settlers to follow suit.
In a dangerous situation marked by the tight siege imposed on the city in the absence of independent and international media and observers, the occupied city of Dajla is going through serious developments at this time. More seriously, Moroccan authorities are trying to tighten their grip on a small city situated on a peninsula, where more settlers have established themselves in addition to the hordes of armed and police forces that have been brought in to eradicate and smother the aspirations of the Sahrawis.
Excellency,
The Moroccan presence in Western Sahara is an illegal occupation carried out by dint of military force. This is an unacceptable, illegal and unethical situation. The international community cannot therefore remain idle in the face of the crimes and the grave human rights violations perpetrated against citizens in a territory under the responsibility of the United Nations. The African Union, as a full partner of the UN in its decolonising mission in Western Sahara, should act proactively to ensure that the UN assumes its responsibility in decolonising the last colony in Africa.
We would like to recall our previous warnings about Moroccan Government’s persistent attempts to incite chauvinism and racism and to tighten its grip on the Sahrawi territories under their occupation in order to unleash more repression and terrorise its population.
We call on you to intervene urgently to save innocent Sahrawi lives that are under threat in the occupied city of Dajla and to protect Sahrawi civilians in the city against the increasing Moroccan repression.
The assassination of the young Sahrawi Maichan Ould Mohamed Lamine Ould Lehbib is a cowardly act, which is similar in its method and perpetration to other assassinations committed against Sahrawi civilians such as Hamdi Lembarki, Lekhlifi Abba Cheikh, Baba Khaya, Houssein Lektif, Nadjem Garhi, Brahim Dawdi, Babi Gargar, Hamad Habad and Said Danber.
In the face of this new and repeated terrorising act, it is imperative that the United Nations proceeds immediately to the establishment of a UN mechanism to enable the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to protect monitor and report on the human rights in the territory. The protection of civilians as an international obligation should not be subjected to double standards and discrimination in terms of what is happening in Western Sahara and in other parts of the world.
Any earnest search for a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara must immediately aim to putting an end to this kind of terrorising practices, as what is happening now in the occupied city of Dajla. It also entails the release of Yahia Mohamed Hafed Izza and all Sahrawi prisoners of conscience and the accounting for more than 651 Sahrawi disappeared by the Moroccan State, the stopping of the plundering of the natural resources of Western Sahara and the dismantling of the Moroccan military wall that divides our land and people.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration
Mohamed Abdelaziz
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO
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