Morocco: More Human Rights Violations

Moroccan police have allegedly beaten up and verbally abused a female activist from Western Sahara who claimed her right to her passport, seized by the invading Moroccan authorities, so as to be able to travel. Aminetu Ameidan was beaten on the morning of July 13 in El Aaiun, the capital of Occupied Western Sahara. Hillary Clinton, where do you stand?

Photo: Morocco: More Human Rights Violations

Morocco: More Human Rights Violations

The Saharawi human rights activist, Aminetu Ameidan, was attacked yesterday morning, July 13, by a group of Moroccan police when she demanded that her passport be handed over at the police headquarters in the Moroccan city of El Aaiun, the occupied capital of Western Sahara, informed the Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations committed by the Moroccan State (AVGHRV).

According to the same source, the Saharawi activist Aminetu Ameidan suffered insults apart from physical attacks.

The ASVDH stresses that this is one more example of daily human rights violations by the Moroccan authorities in the occupied territories, where the Saharawi people are victims of their own country. They are appealing to all international organizations to intervene immediately to end this series of crimes committed by the state by Morocco against defenseless Saharawi citizens.

Since 1975, nobody has cared about Western Sahara, while Morocco raped its women

The Moroccan armed forces invaded Western Sahara in 1975 (the Green March), annexing it after the Spanish walked out of their last colony in northern Africa and promptly sent thousands of Moroccan citizens southwards to repopulate the territory, altering the ethnic and nationality balance.

In 1991 the UNO brokered a peace agreement between the Moroccan armed forces and the Polisario Liberation Front, under which the UNO and Morocco promised to organise a referendum on self-determination. Morocco has since blocked and stalled at every turn, defying international law. Meanwhile around 200,000 Saharawi refugees brave the stark conditions of the Algerian desert in Tindouf, across the border.

The quandary regarding the referendum is the terms under which it is organised : on the population/ethnic balance in 1975 or the current one after so many Moroccans poured southwards ?

The Plight of the Saharawi

A colony left bare when the colonial power (Spain) walked out, left to their own devices, to confront a more powerful and cruel neighbour (Morocco) who eyed their rich phosphate reserves and possible oil fields, while the international community turned its back on them (the Saharawi people from Western Sahara), the Moroccans did what they wanted, and continue to do so. They are raping the soul of Western Sahara and the Saharawi people.

Why have the UNO and the international community been incapable of honouring the commitment to hold a referendum in the country, since this was the objective of MINURSO back in 1991, twenty years ago.

This, because Morocco has systematically stalled while courting the favours of Washington with an anti-Socialist rhetoric and no doubt the greasing of palms. Is this a foreign policy based upon morals?

Meanwhile Morocco’s authorities have been brutally repressing any Saharawi who stands up for their rights. Women are tortured, raped and beaten (there is a vast array of photographic evidence on the Net), people are incarcerated in horrific conditions without trial. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented the crimes.

It is time for the international community to take stock as to where it stands. Turning a blind eye to the GateS of Hell, Morocco, is no longer an option.

Hillary Clinton, where do you stand? With the Saharawi people, or with the cruelty, the human rights outrages and the callous disregard for international law perpetrated by Morocco?

Sources: SPS

Associação de Amizade Portugal – Sahara Ocidental

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY