Before anything, let me recomend you her chanel in you-tube (it's in English) www.you-tube.com/freesahara
I recently read a news about rabab Amidane, very peace of news, she won a prize of peace for students in Norway.
I paste copy here the article that i 've found about the prize and how she is.
from this blog, ¡congratulation friend
and thank you for not stoping for fighting in favour of Human rights in Western Sahara, even, when the international comunity doesn't hear us.
the international comunity give us food but not the most important, our independence, sould be cheaper give mantenance for leaving in a desert where there is nothing than let us use our resources.
thank you and congratulation.
udent Peace Prize goes to Rabab Amidane from Western Sahara
rabab1_510.jpg
Press Release from the Students' Peace Prize, Norway, 3 February 2009.
Published: 04.02 - 2009 10:50
Printer version
Press release
Amidane is awarded the Peace Prize for her work for human rights, students' rights and peace in Western Sahara.
Amidane is contributing to inform the world about the discrimination and the violence that the Sahrawis are exposed to by the Moroccan government. Even
though Amidane uses peaceful means in her fight for human rights, she has been exposed to torture and arrested by the Moroccan police several times.
Documenting violation of human rights
An important part of Amidane's work is to document the situation in Western Sahara by taking photos and writing reports for the Sahrawi human rights organization
CODESA. Amidane publishes a lot of the material on the Internet, such as videos of students being attacked by the police. Publishing the videos has led
to anonymous threats towards the Peace Prize laureate.
Travelling abroad
Amidane travels abroad to tell the rest of the world about the conditions of the Sahrawis in Western Sahara. When she visited Norway in 2007, Amidane met
the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and she asked the Norwegian state to support Western Sahara's demands for independence. By meeting political
leaders and people with a lot of resources, Amidane could make the world recognize the conflict in Western Sahara. In cooperation with Norwegian youth's
political parties and the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, Amidane has been able to make the present conflict in Western Sahara relevant
in Norway.
A Contribution to Peace
“By giving the Student Peace Prize to Rabab Amidane the conflict is becoming more visible, which is an important contribution to peace in Western Sahara,”
claims the member of the Student Peace Prize Committee and former leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjøs. The conflict in Western Sahara
has been going on for more than 30 years, but only a few people know about the violation of human rights committed by the Moroccan government. A referendum
about Western Sahara's right of autonomy should have been carried through a long time ago, but nothing has happened yet. “The Student Peace Prize can contribute
to carry through the referendum, and to a just peace in Western Sahara,” continues Mjøs.
The fight for students' rights and human rights in general is an important part of the fight for peace. That is why it is important to give the Student
Peace Prize to an human rights activist like Rabab Amidane. “There will be no just peace without respect for the human rights”, claims Mjøs. Students are
important resources in the fight for a better society and a just world. “With her peaceful methods Rabab is doing a wonderful job for Western Sahara. The
Student Peace Prize is going to be an encouragement for Rabab and her future work with human rights and the struggle for a peaceful solution in Western
Sahara,” finishes Mjøs.
miércoles 15 de abril de 2009
domingo 9 de noviembre de 2008
the Stealing of Western sahara
Hello friends.
today, I recomend you to read a very good article for understanding the real origen of the problem and why are now on so bad situation. Note that the data are from 1976, and now there is much more habitans.
I leave here the introduction and then the links for get the article because is quite long.
Not only Marocco and spain are the responsibles for our situation, also United State and France are very big responsibles, they always say that they are defending the human rights in the world, but for us there is no Human Rights, not respect for allow us to make a referendum for deciding our future.
OK, Y paste the introduction and below the links.
Thank you
THE STEALING OF THE SAHARA
By Thomas M. Franck *
INTRODUCTION
The Western—or, until now, Spanish—Sahara is a small place, its de¬colonization and the fortunes of its mere 75,000 inhabitants do not attract instant or prolonged public attention. Nevertheless, or, perhaps, in part for that very reason, the disposition of the Sahara case by the United Nations has been monumentally mishandled, creating a precedent with a potential for future mischief out of all proportion to 'the importance of the territory.
The "settlement" of the Saharan issue in favor of Morocco's claim of historic title and the denial of self-determination to the Sahrawi people radically departs from the norms of decolonization established and con¬sistently applied by the United Nations since 1960. This is bound to have an important significance for numerous other irredentist territorial claims such as those of Guatemala on Belize,1 Somalia on Djibouti,2 and Argentina on the Falkland Islands.3 Even as Morocco and Mauritania solidified their hold on the Sahara in February 1976, Marshal Idi Amin of Uganda laid claim to large parts of Kenya and the Sudan on the basis of tribal affinity and history.4 In due course, an Arab Palestine will almost certainly ad¬vance territorial claims against Israel. Indeed it may not be long before Morocco renews its quiescent designs on its partner, Mauritania.5 The
0 Of the Board of Editors. Part of this study was underaken by the author in his
capacity as Director of the International Law Program of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, although the views expressed are his own. The author wishes to
thank Mr. Paul Hoffman, his research assistant at Carnegie, for invaluable assistance.
1 For a recent summary of UN consideration of the Belize case, see The Report of
the Special Committee on the Situation "With Regard to the Implementation of the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, UN
Doc. A/10023/Add.8 (Part III), at 15-29 (1975).
2 The London Times has noted that "if the French withdraw completely, it seems
certain that Somalia, on the model of Morocco in Spanish Sahara, will seize it during
the ensuing troubles between the Issa and Afar factions." The Times (London),
Feb. 8, 1976, at 15 (editorial). For a recent summary of UN consideration of this
issue, see The Report of the Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the
Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Coun¬
tries and Peoples, UN Doc. A/10023/Add.6 (Part II) (1975).
3 Supra note 1, at 3-14.
^The Times (London), Feb. 17, 1976, at 7; id, Feb. 20, 1976, at 6; id. Feb. 25, 1976, at 7.
5 Morocco long opposed the independence of Mauritania. In the historic debate on Resolution 15I4(XV) Morocco accused the French of attempting "to partition Morocco and disrupt its national territorial unity, by setting up an artificial State in the area of Southern Morocco which the colonialists call Mauritania. The population of that area does not even know the word 'Mauritania." If you tell a Bedouin of so-called Mauritania that you are in Mauritania, he will not understand what you are
698 TOE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Yol, TO1
readjustment. This paramountcy of contemporary self-determination over historic claims and the alleviation of ancient wrongs is based on two con¬siderations. First, there is the assumption that any other approach would lead to endless conflicts, as modern states found themselves under pressure to join a general reversionary march backward to a status quo ante of uncertain age and validity. Second, it is widely observed that states or even colonies with established boundaries and fixed populations, however unjustly or serendipitously arrived at, soon develop a cohesive logic of then- own that should not be lightly overriden.
It is for these reasons that African states have insisted that each colony, in the final stage of decolonization, must exercise its "right" of self-deter¬mination within the cortanes of established boundaries. Even though, in some cases, this tends to perpetuate certain historic injustices or cultural hardships, it has been recognized that other alternatives are worse. To at¬tempt a wholesale redrawing of the map of Africa on the basis of ancient claims or of tribal links could only lead to chaos, war, and the unraveling of a continent's state system. Africa's post-independence leaders under¬stood that, while there were injustices, they could better be dealt with through functional arrangements between sovereign states such as regional common services and markets, rights of unhindered movement across frontiers, and, perhaps, federations.
So it was at the insistence of the Third World that the landmark UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,19 while proclaiming that "[a]U peoples have the right to self-determination" 20 also warned that "[a]ny attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations."21 The Organization of African Unity has reenforced the rule that territories must exercise their right to self-determination within established colonial boundaries.22 If a territory wishes to join with one or several neighboring states, it should have the right to manifest that preference in the process of decolonization, but it must be the free choice of the majority in that particular colony, and a territory with recognized boundaries may neither be absorbed nor dismembered against the will of its inhabitants.
UN PRACTICE IN IMPLEMENTING THE RULE OF SELF-DETERMINATION WITHIN ESTABLISHED COLONIAL BOUNDARIES
The record of democracy in the new states (or, for that matter, in a majority of the old) would scarcely overjoy Montesquieu or J. S. Mill. In
i9G.A. Res. 1514, 15 GAOR Supp. 16, at 66-67, UN Doc. A/4684 (1966).
20 Id, Art 2.
si Id. Art. 8.
«OAU Assembly AHG/Res. 17(1), Cairo Ordinary Session, 17-21 July 1984. See also The Charter of the Organization of African Unity, Article 3(3), which pledges "respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each State and for its inalienable right to independent existence."
IS7S] THE STEALING OF THE SAHABA 355
"sleeping dogs of historic title" have tended to be constrained by the inter¬national community's insistence that established boundaries must be re¬spected and can only be changed with the free consent of the people living in each territory. Morocco and Mauritania, by their takeover of the Sahara without the consent of its people, have succeeded in frustrating the application of this norm and have taken the international system a blatant step toward a new set of mutually shared expectations about state behavior—incipient new norms—which are much more likely than their predecessor-rules to be conflict-inducing, even if their outlines are as yet dimly perceived.
The precedent is destabilizing in another, broader, way. The successful Moroccan-Mauritanian use of force to take control of the Western Sahara has strengthened the tendency of Third World states to pursue their na¬tional interest with military self-assertion rather than law and diplomacy, Nothing in international relations succeeds like success and in both Angola and the Sahara the use of force has been shown to work without significant opposition from the rest of the international community. These African events have had their echo in Asia with the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, another place where historic, geographic, and ethnic claims were asserted out of the barrels of rifles.8 To the extent that this lesson is taken to heart, it makes the world an increasingly dangerous place—a considera¬tion compounded by the Third World's leap into sophisticated weaponry.
The disposition of the Sahara case has already had a dramatic effect on world order, Some 80,000 Sahrawis have become refugees,7 creating great hardships as well as a severe strain on the facilities and budget of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. There has been active fighting involving the Algerian-supported Sahrawi liberation movement POLIS All! 3 (Frente Popular para la Liberation de Saguia el ilamra y Rio de Oro), with the Mauritanian Government reporting a two-day battle with heavy casualties in April 1978,8 two months after the Sahara had formally been "pacified" by the Moroccan and Mauritanian armies. Within the Organization of African Unity, the issue has been intensely divisive. Its political com¬mittee in February recommended support for the liberation forces, thereby provoking Morocco and Mauritania to threaten a walkout.0 Although the split was temporarily averted,10 Algeria and others have unilaterally recog¬nized a Saharan government-in-exile and Rabat and Nouakchott thereupon severed diplomatic relations with Algiers.11 It will not be long before other states are compelled to choose sides.12
talking about." 15 GAOR 947, at 1271 (1960) (remarks of Mr. Ben Aboud, Rep¬resentative of Morocco).
*It is estimated that nearly 80,000 Timorese have been killed in the course of the territory's decolonization. N.Y. Times, Feb. 15, 1976, at 11.
7The Times (London), April 2, 1976, at 7.
8 N.Y. Post, April 28, 1976, at 17.
9 N.Y, Times, Feb. 27, 1976, at 3,
'•o Id. March 1, 1976, at 3.
«Id. Feb. 28, 1978, at 6; id. March 8, 1976, at 7.
http://saharaoccidental.blogspot.com/2008/11/historical-document-documento-historico.html
URL of the docs in pdf:
The Stealing...
http://arso.org/TMFranck1976e.pdf
El Robo....
http://arso.org/TMFranck1976s.pdf
today, I recomend you to read a very good article for understanding the real origen of the problem and why are now on so bad situation. Note that the data are from 1976, and now there is much more habitans.
I leave here the introduction and then the links for get the article because is quite long.
Not only Marocco and spain are the responsibles for our situation, also United State and France are very big responsibles, they always say that they are defending the human rights in the world, but for us there is no Human Rights, not respect for allow us to make a referendum for deciding our future.
OK, Y paste the introduction and below the links.
Thank you
THE STEALING OF THE SAHARA
By Thomas M. Franck *
INTRODUCTION
The Western—or, until now, Spanish—Sahara is a small place, its de¬colonization and the fortunes of its mere 75,000 inhabitants do not attract instant or prolonged public attention. Nevertheless, or, perhaps, in part for that very reason, the disposition of the Sahara case by the United Nations has been monumentally mishandled, creating a precedent with a potential for future mischief out of all proportion to 'the importance of the territory.
The "settlement" of the Saharan issue in favor of Morocco's claim of historic title and the denial of self-determination to the Sahrawi people radically departs from the norms of decolonization established and con¬sistently applied by the United Nations since 1960. This is bound to have an important significance for numerous other irredentist territorial claims such as those of Guatemala on Belize,1 Somalia on Djibouti,2 and Argentina on the Falkland Islands.3 Even as Morocco and Mauritania solidified their hold on the Sahara in February 1976, Marshal Idi Amin of Uganda laid claim to large parts of Kenya and the Sudan on the basis of tribal affinity and history.4 In due course, an Arab Palestine will almost certainly ad¬vance territorial claims against Israel. Indeed it may not be long before Morocco renews its quiescent designs on its partner, Mauritania.5 The
0 Of the Board of Editors. Part of this study was underaken by the author in his
capacity as Director of the International Law Program of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, although the views expressed are his own. The author wishes to
thank Mr. Paul Hoffman, his research assistant at Carnegie, for invaluable assistance.
1 For a recent summary of UN consideration of the Belize case, see The Report of
the Special Committee on the Situation "With Regard to the Implementation of the
Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, UN
Doc. A/10023/Add.8 (Part III), at 15-29 (1975).
2 The London Times has noted that "if the French withdraw completely, it seems
certain that Somalia, on the model of Morocco in Spanish Sahara, will seize it during
the ensuing troubles between the Issa and Afar factions." The Times (London),
Feb. 8, 1976, at 15 (editorial). For a recent summary of UN consideration of this
issue, see The Report of the Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the
Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Coun¬
tries and Peoples, UN Doc. A/10023/Add.6 (Part II) (1975).
3 Supra note 1, at 3-14.
^The Times (London), Feb. 17, 1976, at 7; id, Feb. 20, 1976, at 6; id. Feb. 25, 1976, at 7.
5 Morocco long opposed the independence of Mauritania. In the historic debate on Resolution 15I4(XV) Morocco accused the French of attempting "to partition Morocco and disrupt its national territorial unity, by setting up an artificial State in the area of Southern Morocco which the colonialists call Mauritania. The population of that area does not even know the word 'Mauritania." If you tell a Bedouin of so-called Mauritania that you are in Mauritania, he will not understand what you are
698 TOE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW [Yol, TO1
readjustment. This paramountcy of contemporary self-determination over historic claims and the alleviation of ancient wrongs is based on two con¬siderations. First, there is the assumption that any other approach would lead to endless conflicts, as modern states found themselves under pressure to join a general reversionary march backward to a status quo ante of uncertain age and validity. Second, it is widely observed that states or even colonies with established boundaries and fixed populations, however unjustly or serendipitously arrived at, soon develop a cohesive logic of then- own that should not be lightly overriden.
It is for these reasons that African states have insisted that each colony, in the final stage of decolonization, must exercise its "right" of self-deter¬mination within the cortanes of established boundaries. Even though, in some cases, this tends to perpetuate certain historic injustices or cultural hardships, it has been recognized that other alternatives are worse. To at¬tempt a wholesale redrawing of the map of Africa on the basis of ancient claims or of tribal links could only lead to chaos, war, and the unraveling of a continent's state system. Africa's post-independence leaders under¬stood that, while there were injustices, they could better be dealt with through functional arrangements between sovereign states such as regional common services and markets, rights of unhindered movement across frontiers, and, perhaps, federations.
So it was at the insistence of the Third World that the landmark UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,19 while proclaiming that "[a]U peoples have the right to self-determination" 20 also warned that "[a]ny attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations."21 The Organization of African Unity has reenforced the rule that territories must exercise their right to self-determination within established colonial boundaries.22 If a territory wishes to join with one or several neighboring states, it should have the right to manifest that preference in the process of decolonization, but it must be the free choice of the majority in that particular colony, and a territory with recognized boundaries may neither be absorbed nor dismembered against the will of its inhabitants.
UN PRACTICE IN IMPLEMENTING THE RULE OF SELF-DETERMINATION WITHIN ESTABLISHED COLONIAL BOUNDARIES
The record of democracy in the new states (or, for that matter, in a majority of the old) would scarcely overjoy Montesquieu or J. S. Mill. In
i9G.A. Res. 1514, 15 GAOR Supp. 16, at 66-67, UN Doc. A/4684 (1966).
20 Id, Art 2.
si Id. Art. 8.
«OAU Assembly AHG/Res. 17(1), Cairo Ordinary Session, 17-21 July 1984. See also The Charter of the Organization of African Unity, Article 3(3), which pledges "respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each State and for its inalienable right to independent existence."
IS7S] THE STEALING OF THE SAHABA 355
"sleeping dogs of historic title" have tended to be constrained by the inter¬national community's insistence that established boundaries must be re¬spected and can only be changed with the free consent of the people living in each territory. Morocco and Mauritania, by their takeover of the Sahara without the consent of its people, have succeeded in frustrating the application of this norm and have taken the international system a blatant step toward a new set of mutually shared expectations about state behavior—incipient new norms—which are much more likely than their predecessor-rules to be conflict-inducing, even if their outlines are as yet dimly perceived.
The precedent is destabilizing in another, broader, way. The successful Moroccan-Mauritanian use of force to take control of the Western Sahara has strengthened the tendency of Third World states to pursue their na¬tional interest with military self-assertion rather than law and diplomacy, Nothing in international relations succeeds like success and in both Angola and the Sahara the use of force has been shown to work without significant opposition from the rest of the international community. These African events have had their echo in Asia with the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, another place where historic, geographic, and ethnic claims were asserted out of the barrels of rifles.8 To the extent that this lesson is taken to heart, it makes the world an increasingly dangerous place—a considera¬tion compounded by the Third World's leap into sophisticated weaponry.
The disposition of the Sahara case has already had a dramatic effect on world order, Some 80,000 Sahrawis have become refugees,7 creating great hardships as well as a severe strain on the facilities and budget of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. There has been active fighting involving the Algerian-supported Sahrawi liberation movement POLIS All! 3 (Frente Popular para la Liberation de Saguia el ilamra y Rio de Oro), with the Mauritanian Government reporting a two-day battle with heavy casualties in April 1978,8 two months after the Sahara had formally been "pacified" by the Moroccan and Mauritanian armies. Within the Organization of African Unity, the issue has been intensely divisive. Its political com¬mittee in February recommended support for the liberation forces, thereby provoking Morocco and Mauritania to threaten a walkout.0 Although the split was temporarily averted,10 Algeria and others have unilaterally recog¬nized a Saharan government-in-exile and Rabat and Nouakchott thereupon severed diplomatic relations with Algiers.11 It will not be long before other states are compelled to choose sides.12
talking about." 15 GAOR 947, at 1271 (1960) (remarks of Mr. Ben Aboud, Rep¬resentative of Morocco).
*It is estimated that nearly 80,000 Timorese have been killed in the course of the territory's decolonization. N.Y. Times, Feb. 15, 1976, at 11.
7The Times (London), April 2, 1976, at 7.
8 N.Y. Post, April 28, 1976, at 17.
9 N.Y, Times, Feb. 27, 1976, at 3,
'•o Id. March 1, 1976, at 3.
«Id. Feb. 28, 1978, at 6; id. March 8, 1976, at 7.
http://saharaoccidental.blogspot.com/2008/11/historical-document-documento-historico.html
URL of the docs in pdf:
The Stealing...
http://arso.org/TMFranck1976e.pdf
El Robo....
http://arso.org/TMFranck1976s.pdf
I'm here again!
Hello everyone
I'm very happy to be here on the blog again.
Thank you very much for visiting me and sorry for so long time without any post, I'm sure that many people were interesting in my blog.
From now, I will try to write more times. For now, I invite you to come for the demostration on 15th November in Madrid, from Atocha to Plaza mayor, from 12nd untill 14th.
It's the most important demostration each year, because many people from many countries come to stay with us in the demostration.
So, ¡you are welcome for fighting in favour of our independence!
Thank you for all
Mahfud
I'm very happy to be here on the blog again.
Thank you very much for visiting me and sorry for so long time without any post, I'm sure that many people were interesting in my blog.
From now, I will try to write more times. For now, I invite you to come for the demostration on 15th November in Madrid, from Atocha to Plaza mayor, from 12nd untill 14th.
It's the most important demostration each year, because many people from many countries come to stay with us in the demostration.
So, ¡you are welcome for fighting in favour of our independence!
Thank you for all
Mahfud
miércoles 30 de julio de 2008
Hypocrites!
To those who, for so long, have silenced the legitimate claims of the Sahrawi people and their deep cries of anguish and pain.
To those who have systematically kept silent about the atrocities committed by the Moroccan Makhzen civil, military and religious hierarchy against the
Sahrawi people.
To those who looked away or silenced the rousing cries of the Spanish nation in support of their Sahrawian brothers and sisters.
To those who hastily signed shady alliances with a corrupt, criminal, colonial imperialist and genocidal regime.
To those who included the Western Sahara and its native population in the French-American neocon “pensée unique” package.
To those who tried to “encapsulate the Saharan conflict” in order to dedicate their time to more profitable affairs.
To those who advised on and financed the construction and arming of the largest military wall of our times and the widespread land-mining of Sahrawi territory.
To those who came to agreements with the fatuous and irredentist Moroccan Government in order to pillage the natural resources of the Western Sahara.
To those who, in sinister offices and governmental cabinets, coldly laid plans for the ignominious Green March and the infamous, illegal, immoral and politically
suicidal Tripartite Agreement of Madrid in 1975.
To those who, when it suited them, publicly supported the Sahrawi people, encouraged them in their fight against the invaders and assured them that their
“Party” would be with them until the final victory, and who then forgot them and abandoned them to the claws of a criminal regime and its “Africom” allies.
To those who oversaw the “model” Spanish Democratic Transition and then overlooked historic memory, renouncing the possibility of annulling the Tripartite
Agreement signed during Franco’s defamed regime and of recognising the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an independent, sovereign Constitutional
State, free of executioners, pillagers and criminals.
Those who kept silent on the genocidal the massacre of the Saharawi people, strafed and bombed when it was fleeing with napalm, white phosphorus and cluster
bombs from planes manufactured in ‘democratic’ States.
To those who give medals to suspected criminals, and treacherously and secretly sell or give arms to the Alaouite regime, violating the law and silencing
the will of the immense majority of the Sahrawi people.
To those who so quickly forgot that the Sahrawi solidarity movement represented what was “the noblest and best” of Spanish society, in the worn-out words
of the PSOE leader and ex-president of the Spanish Government, Felipe González.
To those who evade their historic, moral, legal and political responsibilities, who do not demand that international law is respected and applied, and who
would give lessons on “morality in the Hamada”.
To those who, in spite of all their attempts to gloss over the reality of the situation and historic evidence, now recognise that Law and Justice are on
the side of the Sahrawi people, but who twist and turn before what they call “political reality” (indulged and encouraged), that is, the rule of force,
invasion and military occupation of Western Sahara, the illegal settlement of hundreds of thousands of foreign colonists, and the daily fierce and systematic
repression of the Sahrawi civilian population.
To those who have tried, and continue trying by any means available, to brand the Polisario Front, and the most peace-loving and patient nation in the world,
as “terrorists”.
To those who have tried to cheat and divide - through sophistry, silence and lies - the Sahrawi solidarity movement.
To those who have never had to sew on a button in the desert, whose only information comes from films viewed from the comfort of their metropolitan, bureaucratic
armchairs, and have not suffered - or have forgotten - the hunger and thirst for Justice.
To those who have generously placed their disinformation resources at the service of the Makhzen spokespeople (mercenaries) and their imperial allies, denying
voice or word to the defenders of Justice and International Law.
To those who demanded the resignation of James Baker, concealing and silencing the denunciation and testimony of experts in the matter, such as that of
the American ex-ambassador, Frank Ruddy, among many others.
To those high-ranking officials heading MINURSO with the explicit brief to prevent the birth of a free, independent and genuine State south of the Moroccan
border, and who have carried out their mission “with pleasure”.
To those for whom the life of a Sahrawian child, woman or elderly person has never been of any importance, whose only interest has been their own well-being,
security, profits and personal interests, and who now protest hypocritically about the suffering of Sahrawian children in the Hamada, that hardest and
most inhospitable of deserts.
To those who, lacking authentic or credible “arguments”, now make use of the Sahrawian children as a new “argument” in order to break the will of the Sahrawi
people and force them to renounce their legitimate and inalienable rights, recognised since 1960 by the UN, the OAU/AU and the International Community,
without even mentioning those who are guilty of and responsible for the tragedy suffered by the attacked and massacred Sahrawi people, a tragedy which
is concealed behind the euphemism status quo.
To those who have not contributed a single school or educational institution, not even one single Spanish teacher (or of any other subject) in order to
preserve the native tongue of Cervantes in the tormented Sahrawi refugee camps, the only Arab nation to preserve Spanish as the official State language.
To those who are now tearing their hair out - or so they would have us believe - before the enormous suffering of this generous, hospitable and grateful
nation, whose patience and desire for peace has been tested to the limit.
To those who have never contributed a single euro in order to feed the impoverished Sahrawi nation (using hunger as a military and political tool), nor
stuck up a sticker, nor handed out a manifesto denouncing the status quo or supporting the Sahrawi cause, and who so generously lend their voices to the
Makhzen cause.
To those who have maintained a blessed silence, or caused it to be kept, regarding the outrages and permanent violations of Human Rights on the part of
the Moroccan authorities, in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara.
To those who deny visas to Sahrawi leaders with the aim of preventing them from attending the International Conference of Legal Experts for the Sahara in
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, so as not to offend the Alaouite regime, or simply "on orders" from above.
To those who put the innumerable letters they receive from readers and citizens indignant about the situation, in a bottomless drawer or throw them directly
into the wastepaper bin, silencing or twisting those questions which really matter to public opinion, lacking the courage to seek the truth and proclaim
it, as it is, to the four winds.
To those who, in order to avoid problems for themselves, have chosen to submit to the diktat of the Makhzen, of the ultra neocon Government of the Empire,
and its elitist and sophisticated French allies.
To those who validate, or accept without question, the entire battery of the illegal, genocidal, occupying invader’s wiles in order to prevent the decolonisation
of the last African colony, using the Sahrawi nation as a negotiating tool, conducting business behind its back and to its cost.
To those who pretend to suffer on behalf of this nation’s youngest members who have been expelled from their land, but have spent thirty three years without
breathing a word about the atrocities committed by the Moroccan authorities.
To those who have tried to fool public opinion by saying or insinuating that the Polisario Front is responsible for the dreadful situation, when it is precisely
the Front which has spent more than thirty years protecting their nation, denouncing the situation to the international community, building a State in
exile, a free and democratic society, and ceaselessly searching for a legitimate, dignified and lasting solution in accordance with the most fundamental
principles of International law.
To those who trick the Moroccan nation and divert their attention away from their real issues and from the causes and origins of their real problems, inflaming
them and making them believe that the Sahara belongs to them, in contrary to all international resolutions and reports.
To those who would have us believe that the Polisario Front - an international liberation movement - should concern itself with “democratising” the difficult-to-classify
Moroccan political regime, contravening (as has the CIA, throughout their history) the internationally recognised principle of not interfering in the internal
affairs of other countries, and avoiding any mention of how the Alaouite regime “treats” those, be they Sahrawi or Moroccan, who dare ask for justice and
freedom for their people. This responsibility, which if at concerns anyone at all, concerns the international community and the great political powers,
they give as if it were a gift to the Polisario Front!
To those who avoid suggesting a solution similar to that applied to the decolonisation of East Timor, the erstwhile colony of Portugal invaded by Indonesia
and now a free, independent and sovereign nation thanks to the painful struggle of the Timor nation and the correction of Portugal’s former mistakes.
It is incoherent, absolutely incoherent, that Portuguese leaders today refuse to approach the Western Sahara problem in the same way, but entirely “comprehensible”,
given the Azores photograph.
To those who applied chapter VII of the United Nations Charter to the case of Kuwait, or to the pirate ships of the Indian Ocean, but refuse to apply the
same international legal provisions to the Makhzen pirates, demanding and obliging the Moroccan Government to leave their colony, invaded and illegally
occupied with blood and arms, and to give its immediate consent to the referendum on self-determination ordered by the UN (“MINURSO”), leaving all options
open and with legal, democratic guarantees.
To those who imposed the independence of Kosovo, regardless of international law, and deny even the possibility of this option to a nation which has the
legal support of the international community.
To the ignorant and reactionary cave-dwellers of traditional Spain who, even today in the 21st century, dare to blame the Sahrawi nation for its tragic
situation, because they “wanted to gain independence from Spain”, ignoring the history of so many decolonisation processes (a million dead in the case
of Algeria) and the typical “reactionary reaction” of the metropolis; and who still believe, even today, that the colonised nations owe their lives to
the metropolis.
To those who, instead of making good use of the legal instruments available to Humanity (such as Chapter VII of the UN Charter) in order to bring about
a peaceful and effective solution to “conflicts” such as that in Western Sahara (so obvious that legal experts classify it as res ipsa loquitur, it speaks
for itself), would have us swallow the farce of sitting two absolutely unequal parties around a "negotiation" table: one party obviously responsible (res
ipsa loquitur), arrogant, armed to the teeth and with their occupation accomplished and financed, and the other, absolutely helpless and unprotected, whose
only arms are to have right and international law on their side, the historic experience of all decolonisation processes, and the overwhelming support
of society and of the International solidarity movement in favour of the Sahrawi people’s cause.
To all of these, this insignificant world citizen, entirely in his own name and accepting all personal responsibility, levels the accusation of action or
omission, and calls them hypocrites.
Luis Portillo Pasqual del Riquelme
Translated by Faitma Y., revised by Mary Rizzo, Tlaxcala
To those who have systematically kept silent about the atrocities committed by the Moroccan Makhzen civil, military and religious hierarchy against the
Sahrawi people.
To those who looked away or silenced the rousing cries of the Spanish nation in support of their Sahrawian brothers and sisters.
To those who hastily signed shady alliances with a corrupt, criminal, colonial imperialist and genocidal regime.
To those who included the Western Sahara and its native population in the French-American neocon “pensée unique” package.
To those who tried to “encapsulate the Saharan conflict” in order to dedicate their time to more profitable affairs.
To those who advised on and financed the construction and arming of the largest military wall of our times and the widespread land-mining of Sahrawi territory.
To those who came to agreements with the fatuous and irredentist Moroccan Government in order to pillage the natural resources of the Western Sahara.
To those who, in sinister offices and governmental cabinets, coldly laid plans for the ignominious Green March and the infamous, illegal, immoral and politically
suicidal Tripartite Agreement of Madrid in 1975.
To those who, when it suited them, publicly supported the Sahrawi people, encouraged them in their fight against the invaders and assured them that their
“Party” would be with them until the final victory, and who then forgot them and abandoned them to the claws of a criminal regime and its “Africom” allies.
To those who oversaw the “model” Spanish Democratic Transition and then overlooked historic memory, renouncing the possibility of annulling the Tripartite
Agreement signed during Franco’s defamed regime and of recognising the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as an independent, sovereign Constitutional
State, free of executioners, pillagers and criminals.
Those who kept silent on the genocidal the massacre of the Saharawi people, strafed and bombed when it was fleeing with napalm, white phosphorus and cluster
bombs from planes manufactured in ‘democratic’ States.
To those who give medals to suspected criminals, and treacherously and secretly sell or give arms to the Alaouite regime, violating the law and silencing
the will of the immense majority of the Sahrawi people.
To those who so quickly forgot that the Sahrawi solidarity movement represented what was “the noblest and best” of Spanish society, in the worn-out words
of the PSOE leader and ex-president of the Spanish Government, Felipe González.
To those who evade their historic, moral, legal and political responsibilities, who do not demand that international law is respected and applied, and who
would give lessons on “morality in the Hamada”.
To those who, in spite of all their attempts to gloss over the reality of the situation and historic evidence, now recognise that Law and Justice are on
the side of the Sahrawi people, but who twist and turn before what they call “political reality” (indulged and encouraged), that is, the rule of force,
invasion and military occupation of Western Sahara, the illegal settlement of hundreds of thousands of foreign colonists, and the daily fierce and systematic
repression of the Sahrawi civilian population.
To those who have tried, and continue trying by any means available, to brand the Polisario Front, and the most peace-loving and patient nation in the world,
as “terrorists”.
To those who have tried to cheat and divide - through sophistry, silence and lies - the Sahrawi solidarity movement.
To those who have never had to sew on a button in the desert, whose only information comes from films viewed from the comfort of their metropolitan, bureaucratic
armchairs, and have not suffered - or have forgotten - the hunger and thirst for Justice.
To those who have generously placed their disinformation resources at the service of the Makhzen spokespeople (mercenaries) and their imperial allies, denying
voice or word to the defenders of Justice and International Law.
To those who demanded the resignation of James Baker, concealing and silencing the denunciation and testimony of experts in the matter, such as that of
the American ex-ambassador, Frank Ruddy, among many others.
To those high-ranking officials heading MINURSO with the explicit brief to prevent the birth of a free, independent and genuine State south of the Moroccan
border, and who have carried out their mission “with pleasure”.
To those for whom the life of a Sahrawian child, woman or elderly person has never been of any importance, whose only interest has been their own well-being,
security, profits and personal interests, and who now protest hypocritically about the suffering of Sahrawian children in the Hamada, that hardest and
most inhospitable of deserts.
To those who, lacking authentic or credible “arguments”, now make use of the Sahrawian children as a new “argument” in order to break the will of the Sahrawi
people and force them to renounce their legitimate and inalienable rights, recognised since 1960 by the UN, the OAU/AU and the International Community,
without even mentioning those who are guilty of and responsible for the tragedy suffered by the attacked and massacred Sahrawi people, a tragedy which
is concealed behind the euphemism status quo.
To those who have not contributed a single school or educational institution, not even one single Spanish teacher (or of any other subject) in order to
preserve the native tongue of Cervantes in the tormented Sahrawi refugee camps, the only Arab nation to preserve Spanish as the official State language.
To those who are now tearing their hair out - or so they would have us believe - before the enormous suffering of this generous, hospitable and grateful
nation, whose patience and desire for peace has been tested to the limit.
To those who have never contributed a single euro in order to feed the impoverished Sahrawi nation (using hunger as a military and political tool), nor
stuck up a sticker, nor handed out a manifesto denouncing the status quo or supporting the Sahrawi cause, and who so generously lend their voices to the
Makhzen cause.
To those who have maintained a blessed silence, or caused it to be kept, regarding the outrages and permanent violations of Human Rights on the part of
the Moroccan authorities, in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara.
To those who deny visas to Sahrawi leaders with the aim of preventing them from attending the International Conference of Legal Experts for the Sahara in
Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, so as not to offend the Alaouite regime, or simply "on orders" from above.
To those who put the innumerable letters they receive from readers and citizens indignant about the situation, in a bottomless drawer or throw them directly
into the wastepaper bin, silencing or twisting those questions which really matter to public opinion, lacking the courage to seek the truth and proclaim
it, as it is, to the four winds.
To those who, in order to avoid problems for themselves, have chosen to submit to the diktat of the Makhzen, of the ultra neocon Government of the Empire,
and its elitist and sophisticated French allies.
To those who validate, or accept without question, the entire battery of the illegal, genocidal, occupying invader’s wiles in order to prevent the decolonisation
of the last African colony, using the Sahrawi nation as a negotiating tool, conducting business behind its back and to its cost.
To those who pretend to suffer on behalf of this nation’s youngest members who have been expelled from their land, but have spent thirty three years without
breathing a word about the atrocities committed by the Moroccan authorities.
To those who have tried to fool public opinion by saying or insinuating that the Polisario Front is responsible for the dreadful situation, when it is precisely
the Front which has spent more than thirty years protecting their nation, denouncing the situation to the international community, building a State in
exile, a free and democratic society, and ceaselessly searching for a legitimate, dignified and lasting solution in accordance with the most fundamental
principles of International law.
To those who trick the Moroccan nation and divert their attention away from their real issues and from the causes and origins of their real problems, inflaming
them and making them believe that the Sahara belongs to them, in contrary to all international resolutions and reports.
To those who would have us believe that the Polisario Front - an international liberation movement - should concern itself with “democratising” the difficult-to-classify
Moroccan political regime, contravening (as has the CIA, throughout their history) the internationally recognised principle of not interfering in the internal
affairs of other countries, and avoiding any mention of how the Alaouite regime “treats” those, be they Sahrawi or Moroccan, who dare ask for justice and
freedom for their people. This responsibility, which if at concerns anyone at all, concerns the international community and the great political powers,
they give as if it were a gift to the Polisario Front!
To those who avoid suggesting a solution similar to that applied to the decolonisation of East Timor, the erstwhile colony of Portugal invaded by Indonesia
and now a free, independent and sovereign nation thanks to the painful struggle of the Timor nation and the correction of Portugal’s former mistakes.
It is incoherent, absolutely incoherent, that Portuguese leaders today refuse to approach the Western Sahara problem in the same way, but entirely “comprehensible”,
given the Azores photograph.
To those who applied chapter VII of the United Nations Charter to the case of Kuwait, or to the pirate ships of the Indian Ocean, but refuse to apply the
same international legal provisions to the Makhzen pirates, demanding and obliging the Moroccan Government to leave their colony, invaded and illegally
occupied with blood and arms, and to give its immediate consent to the referendum on self-determination ordered by the UN (“MINURSO”), leaving all options
open and with legal, democratic guarantees.
To those who imposed the independence of Kosovo, regardless of international law, and deny even the possibility of this option to a nation which has the
legal support of the international community.
To the ignorant and reactionary cave-dwellers of traditional Spain who, even today in the 21st century, dare to blame the Sahrawi nation for its tragic
situation, because they “wanted to gain independence from Spain”, ignoring the history of so many decolonisation processes (a million dead in the case
of Algeria) and the typical “reactionary reaction” of the metropolis; and who still believe, even today, that the colonised nations owe their lives to
the metropolis.
To those who, instead of making good use of the legal instruments available to Humanity (such as Chapter VII of the UN Charter) in order to bring about
a peaceful and effective solution to “conflicts” such as that in Western Sahara (so obvious that legal experts classify it as res ipsa loquitur, it speaks
for itself), would have us swallow the farce of sitting two absolutely unequal parties around a "negotiation" table: one party obviously responsible (res
ipsa loquitur), arrogant, armed to the teeth and with their occupation accomplished and financed, and the other, absolutely helpless and unprotected, whose
only arms are to have right and international law on their side, the historic experience of all decolonisation processes, and the overwhelming support
of society and of the International solidarity movement in favour of the Sahrawi people’s cause.
To all of these, this insignificant world citizen, entirely in his own name and accepting all personal responsibility, levels the accusation of action or
omission, and calls them hypocrites.
Luis Portillo Pasqual del Riquelme
Translated by Faitma Y., revised by Mary Rizzo, Tlaxcala
domingo 13 de julio de 2008
The life in the refugees camps II
Hello again
When I was living in the refugees camps, we used to wake up at 6.45AM for having Break-fast and for going to the school. Good time!
We had to be at 8AM, few minutes before everyone was waiting outside with the teacher, if you arrive late, take care! the director could fight you using an stic on your hands.
I remember one time that I was late , then, I choise to jump the wall than come in by through the door.
For break time, we used to eat meat of camel, eggs or some times just nothing because there wasn't anything for eating.
I knew that many children went to Spain during the summer, but if you wanted that, you sould study quite a lot.
I got the oportunity for going to Spain when I was 9 years old . I have been for almost two months. It was a very good oportunity to meet with other people, know an other culture so different of us and the most important, to leave the desert and the high temperature which is round 56 degrees Centium, get a medical revision and eat well.
At last years, the life conditions in the desert started to be a litle better, because the people started to sell diferent thing, not food, but more kind of clothes, shoes and solar panels.
The most important changes come when when the people could buy fridges, since 2001 the people could buy fridges, consequently more kinds of food, drinks, etc.
Saharauis like to buy kitchens, oven, better carpet, etc.
Lastly, you can buy movile phones, aparatus for getting electricity from the solar panels, etc.
I will write more in the next post!
When I was living in the refugees camps, we used to wake up at 6.45AM for having Break-fast and for going to the school. Good time!
We had to be at 8AM, few minutes before everyone was waiting outside with the teacher, if you arrive late, take care! the director could fight you using an stic on your hands.
I remember one time that I was late , then, I choise to jump the wall than come in by through the door.
For break time, we used to eat meat of camel, eggs or some times just nothing because there wasn't anything for eating.
I knew that many children went to Spain during the summer, but if you wanted that, you sould study quite a lot.
I got the oportunity for going to Spain when I was 9 years old . I have been for almost two months. It was a very good oportunity to meet with other people, know an other culture so different of us and the most important, to leave the desert and the high temperature which is round 56 degrees Centium, get a medical revision and eat well.
At last years, the life conditions in the desert started to be a litle better, because the people started to sell diferent thing, not food, but more kind of clothes, shoes and solar panels.
The most important changes come when when the people could buy fridges, since 2001 the people could buy fridges, consequently more kinds of food, drinks, etc.
Saharauis like to buy kitchens, oven, better carpet, etc.
Lastly, you can buy movile phones, aparatus for getting electricity from the solar panels, etc.
I will write more in the next post!
sábado 12 de julio de 2008
The life in the refugees camps
Hello friends!
I'm so sorry, I'm writting this post quite late, I had some problems with blogger which didn't allow me to write a post or check the blog!
Now,it's OK and I hope that I can write frequently and not so late.
I'm sorry for my english grammar, if you find any mistake (I have many mistakes), please send me an e-mail!
Ok, now I will write about the contens of the title of this post.
I would like to write more than one post about the life in the refugees camps, so, I will write how was the life when I was living there and how the refugees camps changed untill now and of course, how is the real situation now.
I have lived in the refugees camps for ten years. When I was ten years old, I went to Spain in order to solving some health problems and now I'm living with a spanish family but I go everyyear to the refugees camps in oder to visit my family who is still living in the refugees camps.
When I was living there, the people was living in tends, without electricity, without runing water like now.
The diference, it's that the people before we had to use gas for all, not only for cooking, just also for getting light. Before to come to Spain, I've never seen a fridge, an television, washing machine, a normal road (there is only desert), an a computer, an a train, a sink, etc, etc.
As almost everychind, we were very happy, the people sould shared all, even when you don't food, the neighors gave you food. I sould say that before we didn't have shops for buying food or other things, just the gobernnamental shops for buying some shoes, some clothes, sugar, tea or cigarretes and few more things.
We were depending only on the humanitarian help.
When I went to the school, we got two notebooks, a pin and pintures for each three mongs, but never text books and you never could found a book for reading at school or during your free time.
Each year, the government gave us shoes and clothes.
Each month, the government give food coming from United nation and from european countries.
The life was very hard, sometimes we couldn't eat but the children always were happy because we didn't realize what is happening and how is the real situation and why we were living in the refugee camps, for us was something very normal, I've never been in Western Sahara, my real country, which sould be free and independent.
OK friend, for the next post I write more about our life in the refugee camps, I hope that I write tomorrow and not so late as before!
See you soon!
I'm so sorry, I'm writting this post quite late, I had some problems with blogger which didn't allow me to write a post or check the blog!
Now,it's OK and I hope that I can write frequently and not so late.
I'm sorry for my english grammar, if you find any mistake (I have many mistakes), please send me an e-mail!
Ok, now I will write about the contens of the title of this post.
I would like to write more than one post about the life in the refugees camps, so, I will write how was the life when I was living there and how the refugees camps changed untill now and of course, how is the real situation now.
I have lived in the refugees camps for ten years. When I was ten years old, I went to Spain in order to solving some health problems and now I'm living with a spanish family but I go everyyear to the refugees camps in oder to visit my family who is still living in the refugees camps.
When I was living there, the people was living in tends, without electricity, without runing water like now.
The diference, it's that the people before we had to use gas for all, not only for cooking, just also for getting light. Before to come to Spain, I've never seen a fridge, an television, washing machine, a normal road (there is only desert), an a computer, an a train, a sink, etc, etc.
As almost everychind, we were very happy, the people sould shared all, even when you don't food, the neighors gave you food. I sould say that before we didn't have shops for buying food or other things, just the gobernnamental shops for buying some shoes, some clothes, sugar, tea or cigarretes and few more things.
We were depending only on the humanitarian help.
When I went to the school, we got two notebooks, a pin and pintures for each three mongs, but never text books and you never could found a book for reading at school or during your free time.
Each year, the government gave us shoes and clothes.
Each month, the government give food coming from United nation and from european countries.
The life was very hard, sometimes we couldn't eat but the children always were happy because we didn't realize what is happening and how is the real situation and why we were living in the refugee camps, for us was something very normal, I've never been in Western Sahara, my real country, which sould be free and independent.
OK friend, for the next post I write more about our life in the refugee camps, I hope that I write tomorrow and not so late as before!
See you soon!
domingo 1 de junio de 2008
Saharaui students under represion
Hello
Today I would like to recommend you the following chanel: www.you-tube.com/freesahara and http://www.saharawi-students.org/
where you can see and read about the repression of saharaui students and maroccan students(members of a party in favour of the democracy of Marocco).
Since May 2005, the students have been organizing big demostrations and manifestations to gain the independence and freedom of Western Sahara.
Saharaui students have been repressioned by the maroccan authorities strongly because they demand the rights and many of them are imprisoned.
Being student in Marocco is very hard and is a big risk.
The best you can do is to see and read the references at the beginning of this text.
The International community is doing just nothing because Western Sahara is a very important place for stealing our natural resources for the developed countries, so, it's better to silent us because the European Union, United State, Japan and the most developed countries are only interested in the economy but the Human rights are a secondary aspect.
That happens not only in Western Sahara and Marocco, that happens also in many countries, specially African countries like the Republic of Congo, Sudan, etc.
Where are the United Nations?
Unfortunatelly I can't be positive for the future, of course, we are going to continue making demostrations and as many things as possible in order to get our independence and the freedom for Western Sahara. United States, France, the Government of Spain, some contries of European Union, etc, won't stop us.
Only a part of the societies is interested in our conflicts and know something about Western Saara and what happens in Darfur.
Fortunatelly , there are many countries which help us not only for Humanitarian Help, but also by recognizing the Republic of Sahara, recognizing Polisario Front as our representatives. These are countries such as Norway, Algerie, Uruguai, more than 80 countries.
Thank you saharaui students for making so many demostrations even when the maroccan authorities repress our rights for self-determination.
Today I would like to recommend you the following chanel: www.you-tube.com/freesahara and http://www.saharawi-students.org/
where you can see and read about the repression of saharaui students and maroccan students(members of a party in favour of the democracy of Marocco).
Since May 2005, the students have been organizing big demostrations and manifestations to gain the independence and freedom of Western Sahara.
Saharaui students have been repressioned by the maroccan authorities strongly because they demand the rights and many of them are imprisoned.
Being student in Marocco is very hard and is a big risk.
The best you can do is to see and read the references at the beginning of this text.
The International community is doing just nothing because Western Sahara is a very important place for stealing our natural resources for the developed countries, so, it's better to silent us because the European Union, United State, Japan and the most developed countries are only interested in the economy but the Human rights are a secondary aspect.
That happens not only in Western Sahara and Marocco, that happens also in many countries, specially African countries like the Republic of Congo, Sudan, etc.
Where are the United Nations?
Unfortunatelly I can't be positive for the future, of course, we are going to continue making demostrations and as many things as possible in order to get our independence and the freedom for Western Sahara. United States, France, the Government of Spain, some contries of European Union, etc, won't stop us.
Only a part of the societies is interested in our conflicts and know something about Western Saara and what happens in Darfur.
Fortunatelly , there are many countries which help us not only for Humanitarian Help, but also by recognizing the Republic of Sahara, recognizing Polisario Front as our representatives. These are countries such as Norway, Algerie, Uruguai, more than 80 countries.
Thank you saharaui students for making so many demostrations even when the maroccan authorities repress our rights for self-determination.
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