Moroccan Sahrawi women stage demonstration against pro-Polisario meeting in Brussels
Morocco, Politics, 5/18/2001

A group of Moroccan Sahrawi women, member of the Sahrawi-Moroccan solidarity association of Europe (ASSME), have staged a demonstration in Brussel Thursday to protest the holding of a pro-polisario meeting on Sahrawi women.

The demonstrators, who were joined by other Moroccans settled in Belgium, contested the meeting's right to speak on behalf of Sharawi women, and blamed the organizers for having invited polisario-manipulated women who only defend their own interests as well as women of Algerian origin.

The demonstrators, who were brandishing the Moroccan flag, chanted slogans underscoring the Moroccan identity of the Sahara, and denouncing the blatant violations of human rights in the polisario-controlled camps in Tindouf in south-western Algeria. They also distributed photos and documents on the torture and exaction practices of the polisario against the population forcibly detained in the camps.

The organizers of the meeting called the police to evacuate the demonstrators, but the latter continued their protest movement outside the conference hall.

The organizers were also blamed for their biased stand as they allowed in journalists of Algerian origin and Algerian journalists, including the correspondent of the Algerian news agency APS, while Moroccan journalists were not allowed access to the conference hall.

The polisario, an Algerian-backed separatist movement, is claiming the independence of the Moroccan Sahara southern provinces that were formerly under Spanish rule. The provinces were recovered by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

Previous Stories:
  Kuwaiti parliamentary delegation renews backing to Morocco's territorial unity   (5/17/2001)
  Morocco responded positively to UN call for a new political solution to Sahara issue, prime minister   (5/4/2001)
  Sahara dossier evolution seems going in right direction, French president   (5/3/2001)

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