President of Western Sahara asks Ban Ki-moon to urgently intervene to ensure protection for Saharawi civilians

Bir Lehlou (Saharawi refugee camps) - MAP - The President of Western Sahara and Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz, called Saturday on the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, to urgently intervene to ensure protection for the Saharawi civilians in the occupied territories of Western Sahara.

In a letter reached Saturday SPS, the President of the Republic drew attention of Ban Ki-moon to the brutal attack of the Moroccan occupation authorities on house of Martyr Dambar’s family on last Thursday, which led to 40 injuries.

“It is surprising, deplorable and unacceptable that we are still witnessing today such abhorrent practices and serious violations of human rights in a territory which is under direct responsibility of the United Nations,” the Secretary General of the Polisario Front wrote.

He underlined that the Moroccan government “did not stop committing gross violations and atrocious crimes, but commit a new crime by brutal repression against defenseless Saharawi citizens, for only they demanded the application of the UN Charter and resolutions, including enabling the Saharawi people to exercise its right to self-determination and disclosing the total truth surrounding the killing of Said Dambar and hundreds of other cases of political assassinations and enforced disappearances.”

Mr. Mohamed Abdelaziz stressed that this brutal intervention reaffirmed “the urgent need” to dispatch an international and independent committee to investigate on the flagrant violations of human rights against the Saharawis.

He finally appealed to the UN Secretary General “to end suffering of the Saharawi families through exerting pressure on the Moroccan government to comply with requirements of the international legitimacy, stop thwarting referendum of self-determination as to release Yahia Mohamed Hafed and all the Saharawi political detainees.”