Statement – Message of solidarity and support to the just struggle of the Saharawi people
As the Saharawi people celebrate the 45th anniversary of the proclamation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, in the heat of their just armed struggle for national liberation that resumed on November 13, 2020, as a result of the aggression of the Moroccan armed forces in the Illegal breach of El Guergarat, a demilitarized zone under the ceasefire agreements of 6th September 1991, political parties, social and human rights organizations, academic centers and other Portuguese entities, we convey a message of solidarity and support for the just struggle of the Saharawi people on this important anniversary.
We express our vehement condemnation of the serious and persistent human rights violations to which the defenseless and peaceful Saharawi population in the occupied territories are exposed, examples of which are the violence, physical and verbal harassment that Saharawi activist Sultana Khaya and her family are suffering daily since November last year in the occupied city of Bojador, the tragic situation of Saharawi political prisoners who survive in subhuman conditions, as is the case of the political prisoners of the Gdeim Izik group, Abdallah Abbahah recently threatened with death and Mohamed Lamin Haddi, in hunger strike since 13 January, and the recent cases of torture and arbitrary detention by Ghali Bouhalla and Nafaa Butasufra, among many others.
We call on the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the International Red Cross, human rights organizations to urgently send delegations to the occupied territories of Western Sahara, transformed into an open-air prison, where the Moroccan authorities prevent the access of all international observers who want to denounce the dramatic situation in which the defenseless Saharawi population lives.
We express our strong condemnation of the illegitimate and illegal proclamation of Donald Trump of December 10, 2020, in which he recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, in a sordid transaction that, in addition to violating the rules and practices that govern international relations, also unleashed the Moroccan repressive apparatus, resulting in an unprecedented escalation of violence and brutal repression in the occupied territories. Furthermore, although it has no legal basis, Trump’s proclamation, at the end of his term, represents an additional obstacle to the already shaken dynamics generated by the peace process started in 1991. Thus, we urge the Biden administration to revoke this decision, in the respect for the inalienable right of the Saharawi people, enshrined in international law.
We urge the Portuguese Government to, in the international forums in which it is represented – and at the time when it holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union -, underline the need to protect the Saharawi civilian population and take the measures at its disposal so that international law, United Nations and African Union resolutions, the opinion of the International Court of Justice, as well as the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union are respected.
We reaffirm that a just and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara necessarily involves the respect and realization of the right to self-determination and the national rights of the Saharawi people, as advocated by the Polisario Front, its legitimate representative, and consequently by the end of the illegal occupation of the territories of Western Sahara by Morocco.
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- Bloco de esquerda
- Partido Comunista Português
- Partido ecologista os Verdes
- AAPSO
- Associação de Escritores de Moçambique (AEMO)
- Associação Lusófona para o Desenvolvimento, Cultura e Integração(ALDCI)
- Casa de Moçambique em Portugal
- Casa Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe(CISTP).
- CGTP-IN
- Círculo de Escritores Moçambicanos na Diáspora(CEMD)
- Conselho Português para a Paz e Cooperação
- ERNA- Espaço Rui de Noronha Associação Associação de Escritores da Zambézia(AEZA
- Fenprof
- Movimento Democrático das Mulheres
