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- Press Release: Former Refugees in Washington, DC this week speak out for thousands still held in Pol May 05 2008CONTACT: Calvin Dark202-587-0855For Immediate Release: May 5, 2008Former Refugees in Washington, DC this week speak out for thousands still held in Polisario campsWashington, DC (May 5, 2008) – This week, a group of former Sahrawi refugees held by the Polisario Front in southern Algeria—some for their entire lives—have come to United States to meet with US government officials, media, and human rights organizations. Their mission is to speak out on behalf of their own families and the tens of thousands of other refugees still being held in the tightly-controlled Polisario camps.Among the group of former refugees are: Naba Deddah El Meki (a former Polisario humanitarian aid coordinator who witnessed systematic corruption and theft), Naha Al Salek Sidi (a handicapped mother of two, who was used by the Polisario to solicit medical supplies from international NGOs – supplies which were subsequently sold), Salma Essalek and Said Abderahman (a pregnant woman and her husband who made their nighttime escape through a minefield, chased by Polisario soldiers), Al Afia Hammidi (a mother of five who, with the assistance of UNHCR, last week won the battle to force the Polisario to return her two youngest children) and Brahim Al Selem (a former Polisario police officer who was imprisoned for speaking out against the Polisario, and who has first-hand knowledge of secret prisons for unwed mothers, and the extensive smuggling and contraband network operating in the region).Their testimonies are hardly unique; they represent hundreds of similar accounts witnessed by international organizations, such as the UN High Commission for Refugees and the World Food Program. Too often, the Polisario Front has used the Western Sahara political impasse to distract attention away from this on-going humanitarian crisis. In fact, just two weeks ago, the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum acknowledged that there is also a “moral dilemma” to the situation and lamented that the intolerable status quo is “too readily accepted [. . .] by deeply involved supporters of the Frente Polisario, who do not live in the camps themselves [. . .].”“It is vital for the international community to be aware of these inhumane conditions and denial of refugee rights under international law, including the most basic freedom to leave the Polisario controlled refugee camps,” said Robert Holley, Executive Director of the Moroccan American Center for Policy. “The overall situation in the Western Sahara is not merely a political conflict, but an unconscionable humanitarian crisis that must be addressed.”###The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and an interested public in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.For more information, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org
FINAL_Press_Release05_05_08V3 _2_.pdf - MACP Letter to the Editor of the US News & World Report May 01 2008
Islamic Society in Morocco
April 30, 2008 02:49 PM ET | Permanent Link
"Can Women's Rights Coexist With the Tenets of Islamic Law?" [usnews.com] got it partly right: "to veil or not to veil" is hardly the question, but he failed to mention the landmark progress achieved for women in Morocco.
Not only did King Mohammed VI's proposals emerge after considerable public discussion among many diverse elements of Morocco's civil society, they passed Parliament with the support of a broad coalition of members, including the Islamist PJD party. Directly to the author's question of compatibility of Islamic and universal values, every one of Morocco's reforms was grounded in Koranic texts specifically to demonstrate that the accordance of equal rights to women is compatible with Islam. This was a triumph not only for Morocco, but for women everywhere in the Muslim world, and serves as a model for those who seek to accomplish in their own countries what Morocco has shown to be possible. With respect to the response to 9/11 "from Morocco to Indonesia" ["Why Did So Many Muslims Seem to Celebrate 9/11?" usnews.com], it should be noted that the Moroccan King immediately convened an enormous solidarity service in the cathedral in Rabat. Moroccans have no sympathy for Osama bin Laden, themselves having been subjected to a bloody terrorist attack in Casablanca in May 2003. That tragic event precipitated nearly a million Moroccans pouring immediately into the streets to protest such barbaric behavior, and youth groups from the nation's poorest neighborhoods led the way carrying signs of a red Hand of Fatima that read "hands off my country." Articles that treat the entire Arab-Muslim world as a monolith do not contribute to our understanding of this diverse set of countries and peoples. Rather, such pieces damage our ability to understand each other by reinforcing the inaccurate misconceptions held by both sides.
Robert M. Holley
Executive Director
Moroccan American Center for Policy
Washington
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/letters-to-the-editor/2008/4/30/islamic-society-in-morocco.html - Press Release: UN Envoy Calls for Compromise and Realism in the Sahara Negotiations; Polisario Calls Apr 24 2008UN Envoy Calls for Compromise and Realism in the Sahara Negotiations; Polisario Calls for a Return to WarMoroccan American Center for PolicyWASHINGTON, April 24, 2008 -- This week, in a report and statement to the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General's Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara, Peter Van Walsum, made a brave call for compromise and realism to move towards more substantive negotiations to peacefully resolve the Western Sahara conflict."My conclusion that an independent Western Sahara is not an attainable goal is relevant today because it lies at the root of the current negotiation process," declared Van Walsum, who was appointed as the Personal Envoy for the Western Sahara in 2005 and has mediated four rounds of negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front. "What matters is how political reality and international legality interact to enable us to take the best decisions in real life."Specifically, Van Walsum recommended that the Security Council urge the parties to negotiate "without preconditions on the temporary assumption that there will not be a referendum with independence as an option." This recommendation would open the door for a truly realistic "compromise political solution" as called for in numerous UN Security Council resolutions, and by many in the international community, including the United States, France and Morocco.Immediately following Van Walsum's recommendation to the Security Council, self-proclaimed Polisario leader, Mohammed Abdelaziz, publicly declared that the Polisario "will never give up independence and will return to armed conflict if necessary." Persistent incendiary threats by high-ranking Polisario officials, in an attempt to intimidate the international community, have heightened the tensions in a region already susceptible to threats of terrorism. This has deeply frustrated the efforts of the Personal Envoy to facilitate direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions.Van Walsum also underscored that a compromise solution is imperative to relieve the suffering of the tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees currently held by the Polisario Front in Tindouf, southern Algeria."The main reason why I find the status quo intolerable is that it is too readily accepted (. . .) by deeply involved supporters of the Frente Polisario, who do not live in the camps themselves but are convinced that those who do would rather stay there indefinitely than settle for any negotiated solution that falls short of full independence," said Van Walsum in his report.The Security Council is expected to issue a resolution based on the recommendations of the UN Secretary General and his Personal Envoy before April 30th.*****The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials and an interested public in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.For more information, please visit www.moroccanamericanpolicy.org
FINAL_MACP_Press_Release042308.pdf
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