Secretary general of the Saharawi Union of Journalists and Writers (UPES) Malainin Lakhal, currently on a speaking tour of Australia, spoke to Green Left Weekly's Tony Iltis about the human rights situation in Western Sahara and the Saharawi people's long struggle for democracy and self-determination.
Western Sahara
The following opinion piece by Kamal Fadel, the Polisario Representative to Australia, is a response to Moroccos proposal for limited autonomy for Western Sahaha, which would include a regional government with some control over local affairs, cabinet ministries and a local judiciary. This piece was first published in <http://www.onlineopinion.com.au>.
A report released on January 22 by the Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV) showed a sizeable increase in human rights violations in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The report showed that 685 people who had peacefully protested the Moroccan occupation in 2006 were arrested; and there have been regular incidents of torture and arrests of children. According to GfbV representative Ulrich Delius, Moroccos brutal actions against the civilian population in the West Sahara are aimed at intimidating the people and wiping out from the start any criticism of Moroccos arbitrary rule. To view the report, visit <http://www.gfbv.de/report.php?id=22>.
On October 31, Morocco’s allies on the United Nations Security Council — including France, the United States and Britain — blocked a motion to condemn human rights abuses against the people of occupied Western Sahara. Despite reports of Morocco’s escalating repression of the Saharawi independence movement, the resolution passed by the Security Council merely extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), a 15-year-old “peacekeeping” mission that has failed to facilitate a referendum on self determination.
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