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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wupost!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!daemon
- From: Christic Institute <christic@igc.apc.org>
- Subject: Sabotage of W. Sahara Peace Plan
- Message-ID: <1992Sep12.033546.8374@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: ?
- Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 03:35:46 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 66
-
- /* Written 6:32 pm Sep 11, 1992 by peacenet in cdp:pn.alerts */
- /* ---------- "Sabotage of W. Sahara Peace Plan" ---------- */
- From: <peacenet>
- Subject: Sabotage of W. Sahara Peace Plan
-
- From crosenberg Wed Sep 9 14:08:04 1992
- From: Charlie Rosenberg <crosenberg>
- /* Written 2:06 pm Sep 9, 1992 by crosenberg in cdp:mideast.nafric */
- /* ---------- "Sabotage of W. Sahara Peace Plan" ---------- */
- From: Ellen Wolpert <ewolpert>
-
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- ON ANNIVERSARY OF CEASEFIRE, UN IGNORES MOROCCAN
- ATTEMPT TO SABOTAGE WESTERN SAHARA PEACE PLAN
-
- September 6 marked the first anniversary of the deployment of the UN
- Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to monitor a cease-fire
- between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front and to begin implementing the UN
- Peace Plan for Western Sahara. The UN Plan is designed to end a 17 years of war
- between Morocco and the POLISARIO Front for control over the former Spanish
- colony of Western Sahara. The UN Plan was originally slated to culminate in a
- referendum based on the Spanish Census of 1974. If implemented, the UN
- referendum would finally end seventeen years of exile for the 165,000 Sahrawi
- refugees and allow the Sahrawis to decide whether Western Sahara becomes
- independent or is integrated into Morocco.
- From the very beginning MINURSO has been unable to carry out its mission
- because of Moroccan obstacles. Besides the numerous cease-fire violations, the
- Moroccan government has transferred thousands of new settlers into the
- territory, claiming that they are Sahrawis eligible to vote. This is a blatant
- violation of the terms of the Peace Plan, which endows the UN with the sole
- authority to determine who can vote and repatriating them into Western Sahara.
- Now, Morocco's inclusion of Western Sahara in the constitutional
- referendum of Friday, September 4, is the latest in a series of attempts to
- undermine viability of the UN Plan.
- However, in New York both the UN Secretary General and the Security
- Council have failed to issue any statements or demands on Moroccan compliance
- with the terms of the Peace Plan. Secretary General Boutrous Ghali, in his
- official report of last month, did not take any position on Morocco's inclusion
- of Western Sahara in the referendum or in the elections of October 16.
- This silence is in sharp contrast to the recent forceful actions by the
- Security Council to protect UN operations in Yugoslavia and Somalia.
- Meanwhile, the US Senate's Subcommittee on Africa will hold hearings on
- September 16 to evaluate US contributions to UN Peacekeeping operations in
- Africa, including Western Sahara. Among the witnesses testifying will be
- Colonel Zapantas, the former head of the American contingent to MINURSO.
- Colonel Zapantas, in a previous Senate investigation on MINURSO, went on record
- to state that the UN Plan for Western Sahara was in serious trouble because of
- Moroccan non-compliance and the US Government's pro-Moroccan policy.
- The Senate hearings coincide with a speaking tour of the US by a
- representative from the Sahrawi refugee camps, Zahra Ramdane. Mrs. Ramdane
- fled after the Moroccan invasion in 1976 and ever since has been separated from
- her family and lived in the refugee camps in southwest Algeria. She will be
- speaking about the prospects for resolving the Western Sahara conflict and her
- experiences as a refugee. The cities she will be travelling to, include
- Raleigh-Durham (NC), Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Amherst, and
- Washington, D.C.
-
- For further information, please contact:
-
- Western Sahara Awareness Project, Inc.
- 179 College Ave
- Somerville, MA O2144
- Tel: (617) 625 8921
- Fax: (617) 628 1332
-
-
-