Chahid Al Hafed (refugee camps), Nov 27, 2013 (SPS) - Eighty three years have passed since the creation of the Saharawi National Council (Parliament), formerly the interim Saharawi Council, on 28 November 1975, an event which laid the foundation of the Saharawi State, as regional and international truth.
Ceremonies marking the occasion began yesterday, Wednesday, across all the wilayas and institution of the Saharawi Republic (SADR) and expected to end today, Thursday.
Saharawi Parliament was established on 28 November 1975, just two weeks following the signing by Morocco and Ould Daddah regime in Mauritania of Madrid Tripartite Accords, to replace the Saharawi Assembly formed by the Spanish colonialism.
On 28th November 1975, about 67 members out 101 of the Saharawi Assembly met in the Gelta region, in Western Sahara, and issued a famous statement known as the “Gelta Statement”, in which they declared the dissolution of the latter and to join the ranks of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro, known as the Polisario Front.
It first acted as an interim National Council, before emerging in its present form as a real legislative body (parliament) in the year 1995.
In 1966, Spanish colonization formed the 101-member Saharawi Assembly, three years after the United Nations included Western Sahara in the list of the non-self-governing territories and asserted the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination.
In 1966, the UN, for the first time, passed a resolution calling for this self-determination to be exercised by referendum.
On 31 October 1975, Morocco and Ould Daddah regime of Mauritania invaded Western Sahara as Spain, former colonial power, withdrew.
In 1991, the UN brokered a ceasefire between the two parties to the conflict of Western Sahara; the Polisario Front and Morocco, to organizing a referendum in which the Saharawi people could vote on the future of Western Sahara, but unfortunately that referendum has never taken place due to Morocco´s obstacles. (SPS)
090/089