Polisario activists assault Swiss woman for asking disturbing questions
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 3/19/2005

A Swiss woman was savagely assaulted in Geneva Friday by polisario activists after she asked questions they did not like at a meeting they held in the offices of the World Meteorological Organisation.

The Swiss citizen simply asked how the polisario could have accepted the Algerian idea of dividing the territory of the Moroccan Sahara when the separatist movement should have placed the territory integrity above any consideration or bargain.

The polisario movement has been claiming the separation of the Moroccan Southern provinces from the motherland since 1975 when Morocco retrieved its Sahara from Spanish rule under the Madrid accords signed at the time by Morocco, Spain and Mauritania.

A report of the UN Secretary General of 19 February 2002, states that the UNSG personal envoy, James baker, was of the view that Algeria and the polisario would be prepared to discuss or negotiate a division of the territory as a political solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

The attacked Swiss woman also asked how can there be discrimination among Sahrawi children living in the polisario Tindouf camps, South-West Algeria, for some are sent for trips to Europe, while others are sent to Cuba for "education" and "training."

Many Sahrawi children are deported to Cuba as a pressure means by polisario to force their parents stay in the Tindouf camps and prevent them from going back to Morocco. In spite of the control, hundreds of people fled the camps to return to the motherland after they were sequestrated for decades in the camps.

Instead of answering her questions the polisario activists attacked the woman, hitting and dealing blows to her and even throwing her on the ground. The Swiss woman was injured in the assault. The WMO security intervened to save the woman from the claws of the attackers and a doctor was brought in. The WMO security also asked the polisario meeting be ended and the people attending leave the offices.

The assault took place some yards away from the Nations Palace where is held the 61st session of the UN human rights commission.

Previous Stories:
  Tindouf, longest human tragedy in current history, Minister   (3/18/2005)
  Algeria strongly weighing in Sahara issue, Algerian journalist   (3/18/2005)
  ICRC briefed on case of Moroccan POWs detained in southern Algeria   (3/16/2005)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search