Letter delivered to Gordon Brown on Western Sahara
Free Western Sahara Network | 07.09.2009 22:50 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Social Struggles
To mark the 18th anniversary of the UN ceasefire in Western Sahara, a delegation of campaigners and MP’s will today visit Downing Street to call on Britain to use her role within the UN Security Council to help enforce the terms of the ceasefire agreement and resolve the 34 year Western Sahara conflict. Versions of the letter were sent to the governments of all UN Security Council permanent members.
7 September 2009
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A
Dear Prime Minister
We are delivering this letter on the 18th anniversary of the UN ceasefire agreement between the Polisario Front and Morocco to urge your Government to take immediate steps to resolve the crisis in Western Sahara, now in its 33rd year.
Eighteen years ago today, the Polisario Front (the Western Saharan liberation movement) lay down their arms ending a sixteen year war with Morocco. As part of a UN negotiated ceasefire a referendum on self-determination was promised but has yet to be carried out. In the meantime 165,000 Saharawi’s continue to live in refugee camps in the Algerian desert whilst the rest of the population suffer under an unlawful occupation.
To mark this anniversary we are calling on Britain to use her role within the UN Security Council to help enforce the terms of the ceasefire agreement and resolve this protracted conflict. We are also asking that the government takes swift action to ensure the safety of the Oxford Six, a group of students arrested and beaten after protesting at the refusal of Moroccan authorities to allow them to travel to England for a British Council sponsored peace workshop in August.
Thanks to swift action by campaigners including Amnesty International the Oxford six students were released but they are still facing very real danger. On 27th August one of the students, Ms Nguia Haouassi (19), was picked up by police beaten, stripped naked and theatened with rape. On 2nd September Mr Razouk Choummad (20) was also abducted and tortured for five hours by police.
With such human rights abuses commonplace, it is incumbent on the UN Security Council to install human rights monitoring in occupied Western Sahara as recommended by the OHCHR report and called for in recent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and most recently the European Parliament.
Moreover, after over three decades it is time to put a stop to this egregious violation of international law and ensure that Morocco does not continue to block the long-awaited referendum on self-determination in ‘Africa’s last colony’.
PLEASE JOIN THE NETWORK - www.freesahara.ning.com
Photo by Mina Yamini
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A
Dear Prime Minister
We are delivering this letter on the 18th anniversary of the UN ceasefire agreement between the Polisario Front and Morocco to urge your Government to take immediate steps to resolve the crisis in Western Sahara, now in its 33rd year.
Eighteen years ago today, the Polisario Front (the Western Saharan liberation movement) lay down their arms ending a sixteen year war with Morocco. As part of a UN negotiated ceasefire a referendum on self-determination was promised but has yet to be carried out. In the meantime 165,000 Saharawi’s continue to live in refugee camps in the Algerian desert whilst the rest of the population suffer under an unlawful occupation.
To mark this anniversary we are calling on Britain to use her role within the UN Security Council to help enforce the terms of the ceasefire agreement and resolve this protracted conflict. We are also asking that the government takes swift action to ensure the safety of the Oxford Six, a group of students arrested and beaten after protesting at the refusal of Moroccan authorities to allow them to travel to England for a British Council sponsored peace workshop in August.
Thanks to swift action by campaigners including Amnesty International the Oxford six students were released but they are still facing very real danger. On 27th August one of the students, Ms Nguia Haouassi (19), was picked up by police beaten, stripped naked and theatened with rape. On 2nd September Mr Razouk Choummad (20) was also abducted and tortured for five hours by police.
With such human rights abuses commonplace, it is incumbent on the UN Security Council to install human rights monitoring in occupied Western Sahara as recommended by the OHCHR report and called for in recent reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and most recently the European Parliament.
Moreover, after over three decades it is time to put a stop to this egregious violation of international law and ensure that Morocco does not continue to block the long-awaited referendum on self-determination in ‘Africa’s last colony’.
PLEASE JOIN THE NETWORK - www.freesahara.ning.com
Photo by Mina Yamini
Free Western Sahara Network
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