Bir Lahlu, August15,2011(SPS) the President of the Republic and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Sunday, drew attention of the African Union(AU) to the waves of repression recently committed By the Moroccan occupation against the Saharawi citizens in occupied part of a member founder of AU, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic(SADR).
“Against the backdrop of the wave of repression unleashed recently by the Moroccan authorities in the occupied capital of Western Sahara, La Aaiún, I would like to address to you this letter to draw your attention to the serious situation in the area resulting from the intensification of these repressive practices.” The President writes to the head of the African Union Commission, Jean Ping,
The full text of the letter is below
H.E. Mr Jean Ping,
Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
Addis Ababa
Bir Lehlou, 14 August 2011
Mr. Chairperson,
Against the backdrop of the wave of repression unleashed recently by the Moroccan authorities in the occupied capital of Western Sahara, La Aaiún, I would like to address to you this letter to draw your attention to the serious situation in the area resulting from the intensification of these repressive practices.
On Thursday, 11th August, the Moroccan forces brutally attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators, followed and maltreated them in the streets of the city of La Aaiún, where more forces were deployed to police and repress the Sahrawi civilians. In particular, the area surrounding the occupation Administration for Energy and Mines was barricaded, where groups of Sahrawi citizens had been assembling peacefully. The groups included workers and pensioners of the Phosboucraa Company, unemployed, victims of gross abuses of human rights, former prisoners of conscience, families of prisoners and disappeared, human rights activists and others.
Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration and the legitimacy of the demands of the protestors, many units from the Moroccan police, the army, the gendarmerie and auxiliary forces were rapidly deployed to disperse and brutalise indiscriminately the demonstrators. Many people suffered serious injuries, including the following:
Bamba Lefghir; Mestihia Bel-lal; Mariam Bourhimi; Fatimatou Dahour; Lekhlifi Sueilem; Nafi Daia; Mutfah-Din Dih; Abdati Daia; Degdga Lashgar; Mohamed Lehuemid; Mohamed Taleb; Sidi Mohamed El-Wali; Lehbib Salhi; Mahmoud Daudi; Niha Labaidi; Fatimatou Hairish; Abayi Abdelaziz; Umlakhut Hassni; Hatra Aram Hatra; Lasida Zagma; Ahmed-Salem Lefghir; Soufi Lal; Dgadi Suleiman; Ghalia Sueyeh; Dardja Sueyeh; Mami Sueyeh; Leila Sueyeh; Gazwani Khalihenna; Ableiha Abba-Ali; Rami Rami; Hassan Zabour; Abderahman Zabour; Brahim Ahrayem; Dahbi Larabas; Brahim Soufi; and Nadjem Hamma.
Similar to what occurred on last Thursday, the Moroccan repressive forces followed and maltreated the demonstrators in many streets of the occupied city such as Djamal Din-Alafghani, Tantan, Mezour, Smara, Lavisit and Hai Matalla. Other group was beaten and brutalised including Mahmoud Haissan and Sidi-Brahim Sueyeh.
Mr Chairperson,
The United Nations is fully responsible for the territory of Western Sahara, which remains on the list of the 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories, and is pending decolonisation through the exercise by its people of their right to self-determination and independence. The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), in which the African Union is represented, is also present on the ground for implementing the UN-OAU Settlement Plan. In view of these facts, it is unacceptable that gross violations of human rights are being perpetrated by the occupying power in Western Sahara, Morocco, whose illegal presence in the Territory is considered null and void by international law and is vehemently rejected by the Sahrawi people.
The Moroccan occupying authorities in Western Sahara seem bent on going forward with the intensification of their brutal repression against Sahrawi civilians who are peacefully protesting against their deteriorating political, social and economic situation owing to the Moroccan occupation of their territory since 31 October 1975.
These alarming developments may lead to incalculable consequences for which the Moroccan State will be the sole and full responsible. We would like therefore to call upon the African Union to intervene urgently to ensure the safety and rights of those defenseless citizens that only demand the implementation of the precepts of international legality and the respect for their inalienable right to self-determination and independence.
Whilst we stress the need for an urgent invention on your part to prevent the worse coming to the worst, we also renew our call on the African Union to work diligently for the immediate establishment of a UN mechanism to enable the UN Mission in Western Sahara to protect, monitor and report on human rights in the Territory.
We also call for the need to put an end to this aberrant, illegal and unethical situation by implementing the dictates of international legality and enabling the Sahrawi people to exercise their inalienable right to freedom and self-determination by means of a free, just and fair referendum.
The achievement of this just and democratic solution entails the ending of the grave violations of human rights perpetrated by the Moroccan State and the release of Yahia Mohamed Hafed Iaza and all prisoners of conscience as well as the accounting for 651 disappeared at the hands of Moroccan authorities. It also necessitates the dismantling of the Moroccan military wall, a crime against humanity that separates Sahrawi families as well as the cessation of the pillage of the natural resources of Western Sahara.
Please accept, Mr Chairperson, the assurances of my highest consideration.
H.E. Mr Mohamed Abdelaziz,
President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO(SPS)
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