SAHARA PRESS SERVICE

Chahid El Hafed, 16/09/2004 (SPS) The establishment of diplomatic relations Wednesday between the Republic of South Africa and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (RASD) "reflects the respect to the Western Sahara people's struggle for their inalienable right to self-determination", reported Wednesday Algerian press agency, APS, stating a South African diplomatic source.
 
"South Africa, which history is a long struggle against the denial of justice to which its people was victim, because of the abominable system of apartheid". The African country which is celebrating now the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of its 3rd president, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, "rightly measures the fairness of this right and the need for a just and final solution", to the conflict of Western Sahara, underlined the same diplomatic source.

The decision of the two African countries to establish diplomatic ties at the level of ambassadors constitutes "a key evolution in the relations of two peoples who already have old relations of solidarity and cooperation", he added.
         
By this decision, "South Africa expresses its attachment to the UN's peace plan for the Western Sahara and calls for a speedy enforcement that will allow the holding of a fair and transparent referendum of self-determination", concluded the same source.
        
Through a joint communiqué signed Wednesday in Cape Town by the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek and Mrs. Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma, South African Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Republic of South Africa and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic had decided to establish diplomatic relations and to have representations at the level of ambassadors starting from September the 15th, 2004.

This South Africa initiative, which was however expected since years, "will bring a highly valued contribution to the return of peace and stability in the northern part of our continent through a fair and balanced approach towards all peoples of the region ", reads the text of the communiqué. (SPS)

060/090/000 161146 SEPT 04 SPS
 

SPS
SADR/ALGERIA/ONU
"Algeria remains attached to the settlement plan, to international legality and the peace accords", affirms Belkhadem

Alger, 16/09/04 (SPS) The Head of Algerian diplomacy, Mr. Abdelaziz Belkhadem, affirmed Tuesday to UN Secretary General's Special Representative in charge of the Minurso, Mr. Alvaro De Soto, that "Algeria remains attached to the settlement plan, to international legality and the peace accords, which was adopted by the United Nations". He emphasised that Algeria will remain ready to help in the enforcement of the Baker Plan, reported Algerian press agency, APS.

After his meeting Tuesday in Algiers with UN Secretary General's Special Representative in charge of the Minurso, Mr. Belkhadem indicated to the Algerian press that his country has reaffirmed its position of principle regarding the conflict over Western Sahara, asserting that Algeria"remains attached to the settlement plan, to international legality and the peace accords", unanimously adopted by the Security Council, referring to "the Peace Plan for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara".

The Algerian Minister for Foreign Affairs had in addition explained to Mr. De Soto that "Algeria is neither the appointed guardian of Saharawis nor is it their spokesperson.  That the parties to the conflict are Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco and that there is a settlement plan and a peace plan elaborated by Mr. James Baker", which remains the only viable optimum solution for the resolution of the conflict.

On another hand, after his meeting with Mr. Abdelaziz Belkhadem, Mr. De Soto declared to the press that he "came charged by UN's Secretary General to search with the parties, to the conflict in Western Sahara and with neighbouring countries, a political solution that can be mutually acceptable, and of course be based on the principle of self-determination of the Saharawi people".

After having visited the two parties to the conflict in Western Sahara, SADR and Morocco, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in charge of the Minurso, Alvaro De Soto, also paid a visit on Tuesday to Algeria before going to Nouakchott, the last stage of his visit to the region.

Receiving M. De Soto last Sunday, Prime Minister, Abdelkader Taleb Oumar, warned that the Baker Plan, " can neither be rearranged nor readjusted" and that it is "an entity, to take or to leave, as defined by its author and as accepted by Polisario Front", stressing that "any attempt aiming to deviate Saharawi people's right to self-determination and independence is dedicated to failure".

On his part, the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, declared last Saturday before the visit of Mr. De Soto that the mission of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative, "can not transcend the framework defined in Security Council's resolutions 1495 and 1541", rejecting " any attempt that tends to deviate the Western Sahara problem out of its framework as a decolonisation problem".

Polisario Front, he added, "reiterates its availability to continue collaborating with the United Nations" for the implementation of Security Council's resolutions 1495 and 1541 and "rejects any attempt that tends to deviate the Western Sahara problem out of its framework as a decolonisation problem opposing Saharawi people to Morocco", opting for "the enforcement of Mr. Baker's Peace Plan, as it is clearly defined as an optimum political solution to Western Sahara conflict". (SPS)

060/090/000 161256 SEPT 04 SPS

 

SPS
SADR/SOUTH AFRICA
Opening of the Saharawi Embassy in Pretoria

Pretoria, 16/09/2004 (SPS) the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, inaugurated Today in Pretoria, the seat of the Saharawi Embassy to South Africa, after the latter's recognition of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic yesterday.
 
The inauguration ceremony was attended by the person in charge of the affairs of the Saharawi Ambassador to Pretoria with the presence of Saharawi African Union's Parliament members, who are in South Africa to attend the constitutive ceremony of the continental Parliament, which will thereafter have its seat in Mid Rand (South Africa).
 
The Saharawi Embassy is located in East Wood in Pretoria, where most of accredit embassies can be found in South Africa.
 
"A great State and a great Nation joined the list of the 76 countries from the five continents who already have recognise SADR", said the minister in front of ambassadors of many countries and South African high officials, who attended the ceremony of inauguration.
 
Through a joint communiqué signed Wednesday in Cape Town by the Saharawi Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mohamed Salem Ould Salek and Mrs. Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma, South African Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Republic of South Africa and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic had decided to establish diplomatic relations and to have representations at the level of ambassadors starting from September the 15th, 2004.

This South Africa initiative, which was however expected since years, "will bring a highly valued contribution to the return of peace and stability in the northern part of our continent through a fair and balanced approach towards all peoples of the region ", reads the text of the communiqué. (SPS)

010/ALG/100/TRD 161609 SEPT 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/EUROPEAN UNION
Constitution of a new intergroup "Peace for the Saharawi people" in Brussels

Brussels, 16/09/2004 (SPS) A new intergroup "Peace for the Saharawi people" was constituted Wednesday in Brussels by more than 50 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from the various political tendencies in the EP and from different member States of the European Union (EU). The MEPs had started their action by hailing the decision adopted by the Republic of South Africa in recognising SADR, reported a close source to the Saharawi representation in Brussels.

Estimating that "peace, stability and cooperation in the Maghreb depend on the success of the decolonisation process of Western Sahara, which must culminate by the self-determination of the Saharawi people", this constitutive meeting allowed this group "to study the principal axis of its action to support Saharawi people right to self-determination", added the same source.

Presenting the current situation of the conflict, Mr. Mohamed Sidati, Minister Delegated to Europe and Member of Polisario Front's National Secretariat, has expressed to the present MEPs "Saharawi people's and SADR Government's thanks".

The Austrian MEP, Karin Scheele, was unanimously elected President to the intergroup and an executive Bureau, which reflects the diversity of the political groups within the intergroup, was also constituted.

The intergroup "Peace for the Saharawi people", which is one of the oldest intergroups in the European Parliament, has as an objective the establishment of peace for the Saharawi people on the basis of the respect of the international legality and the implementation of UN's pertinent resolutions.

"The composition of the intergroup is diversified, its work will focus on reflections and propositions within the framework of the bodies of the EU in order that the latter be actively implicated in the fair and final resolution of the conflict over Western Sahara", underlined the same source. (SPS)

020/090/000/TRD 161614 SEPT 04 SPS

SPS
SADR/SOUTH AFRICA
Africa must mobilise for the decolonisation of Western Sahara, affirms Thabo Mbeki

Midrand (South Africa) 16/09/2004 (SPS) South African President, Thabo Mbeki, called Africa to mobilise to liberate Western Sahara from Moroccan colonial yoke, considering that the current situation the territory as "a subject of great shame" for the black continent.
 
Mr. Mbeki, who was giving a speech during the constitutive meeting of the Pan Africa Parliament in Midrand (north-east South Africa) asserted that the colonisation of Western Sahara is "a subject of great shame and regret for all of us as long as the question of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara remains unresolved".
 
"This impose on all of us the challenge to ensure paying all what is possible to guarantee that this brother people get this fundamental and inalienable right, which defence by our whole continent had brought us freedom", added Mr. Mbeki.

South Africa announced Wednesday its official recognition of the Saharawi Republic, to be the 76 countries recognising SADR so far. (SPS)

010/ALG/700/TRD 161757 SEPT 04 SPS