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SPS Commemoration of the Saharawi Republic’s 30th anniversary in liberated territories of Western Sahara 27.02.06
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Tifariti (liberated territories), 27/02/2005 The festivities that mark the 30th anniversiy of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic started Monday in Tifariti under the presidency of the President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, with the presence of many official delegations who came to affirm their support to he decolonisation of the Western Sahara, which is militarily occupied since 1975 by the Kingdom of Morocco.
Battalions from the 7 Saharawi military regions opened the celebrations with parades, before an important Saharawi audience coming from the different Saharawi refugee camps, who crossed hundreds kilometres to commemorate this anniversary.
In the official platform was noticed the presence of two Algerian Ministers, Mohamed Cherif Abass, Minister of the Moudjahidines and Abdelkader Messahel, Minister in Charge of African and Maghreb Affairs, in addition to high responsibles and Ambassadors of the Governments of South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Kenya, Guinea Bissau, Cuba, Nigeria, Mauritania and East Timor.
Many other imminent guests coming from the different continents were also present to the festivities, mainly representatives of political parties, Parliaments, Mayors, NGOs, civil society and Medias, who came to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Saharawi Republic, which was proclaimed in February the 27th 1976 in Bir Lehlu after the hurried withdrawal of the Spanish coloniser.
The activities of this morning were concluded by a speech of the President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, while another still military parade is planed for this afternoon, and will be followed by the destruction of a part of Polisario Front’s stocks anti-personal mines, the organisers said. (SPS)
010/090/000/TRD 271150 feb 06 SPS
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SPS Mr. Abdelaziz: the Saharawi people reject the autonomy proposed by Morocco
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Tifariri (liberated territories), 27/02/2006 (SPS) "The Saharawi people reject, totally and in the details, this idea of autonomy", proposed by Morocco, which "can not pretend to have the right to talk on behalf of the Saharawis", the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, declared in his speech on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, on Monday in Tifariti.
Mr. Abdelaziz noted that the Moroccan preposition is "a complete contradiction to the UN’s Charter and to the tens resolutions of the UN’s Security Council", adding that it can lead the region to "dangerous deterioration and insecurity with unforeseen consequences ".
The Head of the State, also stressed that the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic by Saharawis in the liberated region of Tifariti, is a clear "message" to the international community and to affirm that "any solution to the conflict of Western Sahara passes by the respect of the will of Saharawis, and thus the respect of their inalienable right to self-determination through a free, just and impartial referendum".
President Abdelaziz, further recalled that the Saharawi population in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, who "opted for peaceful, civilised and democratic uprising" against the Moroccan colonialism, advocate only to exercise their right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN’s Charter.
This uprising "is an irrefutable proof on the failure of any approach that aim to deny to the Saharawi people their right to freely elect on their independence", he said. (SPS)
010/090/100 271495 Feb 06 SPS
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SPS Algeria will continue supporting the Saharawi people until the enforcement its right to self-determination, Bouteflika affirms
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Tifariti (liberated territories), 27/02/2006 (SPS) The Algerian President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, affirmed that his country will continue supporting the Saharawi people until the enforcement of the international legality in the Western Sahara, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, of which SPS received a copy.
"As a neighbouring country to the two parties to the conflict, and being faithful to its own history, Algeria will continue assuming its responsibilities so as can prevail the settlement dictated by the international legality that consecrates the right of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara as a fundamental and unavoidable parameter for a solution to this problem, which has got the sad singularity of being the last problem of its kind in the African continent", he reiterated.
Here is the complete text of the letter, of which SPS received a copy.
"His Excellency Mohamed ABDELAZIZ
President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic
Sir and dear brother,
The proclamation, in February the 27th 1976, of of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic constitutes a crucial stage in the struggle of the Saharawi people for the liberation of their homeland.
The celebration, Today, of the 30th anniversary of this proclamation represents a strong moment in the affirmation of the identity of the Saharawi people. It is for me a joy, in this important occasion, to address you Mister President and dear brother, as well as to the Saharawi people my best and warmest congratulations. I would also like to hail the endurance of your people, who forged the respect of all those who appreciated the fairness of your resistance and recognised these sacrifices in the trials imposed on you.
This celebration takes place in a particular context, which is characterised by the successes realised by the Saharawi diplomacy, which enlarged the international audience of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and renewed the impulse of the solidarity with its people. It is also organised in a moment when the unity of the Saharawi people and its determination to freely determine its future is further reaffirmed.
The last year was particularly rich with lessons. The developments that happened on the ground had, in fact, testified on the vitality of the Saharawi personality and contradicted the attempts to occult its reality.
It is out of fidelity to its own history and pushed by its unshakable faith in a Maghreb ideal and a will to assume its responsibility in a spirit of fraternity, good neighbourhood and shared prosperity that Algeria decided to be supportive to the Saharawi people, whose emancipation was differed by colonialism before making of its territory the bet and the theatre of ambitions and claims that can never occult Saharawi inalienable and legitimate rights.
As a neighbouring country to the two parties to the conflict, and being faithful to its own history, Algeria will continue assuming its responsibilities so as can prevail the settlement dictated by the international legality that consecrates the right of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara as a fundamental and unavoidable parameter for a solution to this problem, which has got the sad singularity of being the last problem of its kind in the African continent.
By renewing, to you, to the authorities of the Saharawi people, my warmest congratulations in this memorable occasion, I would like you, Mister President and dear brother, to accept the expression of my highest and brotherly consideration.
ABDELAZIZ BOUTELIKA
President of the Algerian Popular and Democratic Republic." (SPS)
060/090/100 271050 Feb 06 SPS
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SPS Polisario destroyed more than 3.000 Anti-personal mines
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Tifariti (liberated territories), 27/02/2006 (SPS) Polisario Front destroyed, Monday in Tifariti, a part of its stock of mines, indicated a spokesperson of the Saharawi Ministry for Defence, in charge of this operation, which took place in margin of the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Saharawi Republic organised in this liberated territories.
Intervening during the ceremony, which took place under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, the Saharawi Minister of Defence, Mohamed Lemine Bouhali, underlined that this initiative illustrates the Saharawi people choice of "a just and lasting peace in the region on the basis of the respect of their legitimate rights to freedom and independence ".
The Minister deplored that Morocco "is still refusing to destroy its stock of mines, an dis obstinate to maintain the military wall of separation and to intensify the repression in the Saharawi occupied territories".
On her part, the President of the Geneva Call, Mrs. Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey, congratulated the Polisario Front "for this courageous initiative by hic hit took the path of the humanity. She launched an appeal to the international community to exercise pressures of Morocco so as to push it follow the example of the Polisario Front and destroy its mines, which "do not differentiate between the step of a child or a soldier".
The Geneva Call is an international humanitarian constituted in 2000 by members of the International Campaign against antipersonnel mines, working for the engagement of the parties that did not sign the Ottawa Convention in the struggle against mines. It offers a complementary mechanism to the Convention, which allow these actors to adhere the norms of interdiction of mines signing the Act of Engagement. To this date, 27 movements signed the Geneva Call.
Rabat, which is not a signing party of the Ottawa Convention of 1997, installed millions mines in the region, all along the wall of send of more than 2.000 kilometres, which is also fortified with heavy weapons, trench, barbed wires and soldiers cutting the Western Sahara and its people in two parts from the north to the south. (SPS)
010/090/000/TRD 272025 feb 06 SPS
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SPS The African Union expressed its "deep support" to the "just Saharawi cause" and to the Baker Plan
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Tifariti (liberated territories), 27/02/2006 (SPS) The African Union (AU), expressed, Monday, its "deep support" to the "just Saharawi cause" and to the Baker Plan for the self-determination of the people of the Western Sahara and "will resolutely support you in your struggle for dignity, the inalienable right to self-determination and to freely chose your destiny", declared the AU’s Commissioner in charge for infrastructure and energy, Bernard Zoba.
He AU, "by my presence within you, would like to reiterate its deep support to your just cause and express you once again its solidarity", declared Mr. Zoba, during a speech he pronounced in Tifariti, in the liberated territories of the Western Sahara, in margin of the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Saharawi Republic.
The President of the UA Committee, Mr. Alpha Oumar Konaré, "who was not able to come to Tifairiti, charged me to represent him. He is on another hand supporting the Saharawi people in this historical moment", Mr. Zoba underlined.
The Pan African organisation "fully supports the efforts deployed in this snes, in particular the UN’s, aiming to enforce the Baker Plan, which is unanimously supported by the international community for a peaceful, just and lasting solution to a conflict that over lasted ", Zoba said.
"We form the hope to see the international community assume its responsibilities for the triumph of the legality conforming to the international law", he further said.
The African official expressed his "thanks to the authorities of the Saharawi Republic for the agreeable invitation that allowed to see the realisations of this courageous people, despite of the many faced difficulties".
"I can ensure you that the information I got Today from my presence within you will be honestly transmitted to all the members of the AU’s Committee", he concluded. (SPS)
010/090/700/TRD 272048 feb 06 SPS
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SAHARA
PRESS SERVICE