AMINETOU HAIDAR´S HOME IS SORROUNDED BY THE MOROCCAN OCCUPIDER´S ARMY

The saharawi women express their condemnation to the repression of the moroccan army in the occupaded cities of Western Sahara.

Since that the famous saharawi human rights activist, Aminetou Haidar, returned to her home in the capital of Western Sahara, El- Aaiún, two weeks ago, she has declared several times to the international media that she has been like been in a prison due to the great deployment of the moroccan occupider army in every street.
Mrs. Haidar has made very recently the following interview via telephone:
Q: would you please describe the situation around you?

A: The Moroccan troops are still holding sway on the streets and other paths that lead to my house and stiffened security all around impeaching my neighbors to come to see me. They are forced to show their identity cards to prove that they live nearby my house.

Q: What about media, did they succeed to approach you?

A: Journalists are not allowed to talk to me except those who were present on my arrival Friday early morning, but when declarations, concerning my denial of the allegations that I have officially apologized to the king and that I recognized my Moroccan nationality leaked, the Moroccan authorities ordered their security forces to tighten the rope. Journalist couldn’t get in touch with me except through phone calls.

Q: What’s the link between your return to Al Ayoun and the apology to the Moroccan King?

A: I have denied these allegations; I didn’t accept any conditions since there aren’t any and no apology to any party whatsoever.

Q: Did you think of death while going on hunger strike?

A: we are doomed to die one day or another, but one cannot live without dignity. I have given my youth and life to my people and this part of my struggle.

Q: Is it true that the French president Nicholas Sarkozy was behind your return?

A: I cannot assert that Sarkozy’s intervention weighed in the balance, but what is certain is that the American and European pressure on Morocco and even France has forced the Moroccan side to yield and accept my return.

AMINETOU HAIDAR RETURNED TO HER HOME

The saharawi women would like to express their joy for the Aminatou Haidar´s return to her house in the occupied El-Aaiun, capital of Western sahara. The famous saharawi human rights activist is today with her children thanks to her strong determination in defending the dignity and the freedom of the saharawi people. She has spent thirty two days on hunger strike due to her forced depportation by the moroccan occupiders authorities on november 14th.

Mrs. Haidar´s return to her home is a triumph of justice and the respect of human rights´s principles and the a victory of the saharawi cause.
The govenment of the United States, France and UN and EU put pressure on the moroccan government to return the saharawi R.F. Kennedy awarded.
Mr.Jeremy Corbyn, British Labour Party Member of Parliament and Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group and Mr.Stefan Simanowitz, journalist and Chair of the Free Western Sahara Network have written the following:
Yesterday human rights activist Aminatou Haidar called off her 32 day hunger strike and was allowed to fly home to Western Sahara without making any concessions to the Moroccan authorities who had deported her to Lanzarote. Her homecoming represents a significant victory for the Saharawi people whose last taste of real political success came over three decades ago when the Spanish colonizers agreed to leave Western Sahara. That victory proved to be hollow when, in 1976, the Moroccan’s unlawfully occupied most of the territory.

The month-long standoff that had been playing out on the volcanic Canarian Island of Lanzarote between the Moroccan government and Haidar, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, reached its dramatic denouement late on Thursday night. A day that had started with Haidar’s hospitalisation ended with the 42-year old mother of two being flown home on a special Spanish military plane equipped with medical equipment. Her return followed intense diplomatic pressure involving the UN and the governments of several nations including Spain, France and the US. It also represents a significant victory for the Saharawi people whose last taste of real political success came over three decades ago when the Spanish colonizers agreed to leave Western Sahara. That victory proved to be hollow when, in 1976, the Moroccan’s unlawfully occupied most of the territory.

Aminatou Haidar has been campaigning for Western Saharan self-determination for over two decades. Her hunger-strike had been staged very publicly in Lanzarote airport terminal in protest at her unlawful deportation by Moroccan authorities after she had refused to write her nationality as Moroccan on a landing card when returning from a trip abroad. The Moroccans were insisting that before she could be readmitted, Haidar recognise the sovereignty of Morocco and apologise for having questioned it. This she refused to do.

In the early hours of Thursday morning Haidar had asked to go to the hospital following a bout of severe abdominal pain and vomiting blood. Doctors who examined her said she was severely dehydrated and expressed fears that she could be nearing an irreversible deterioration that could result in her death even if she were to abandon the hunger strike. However, as the day progressed, concerns about her health turned to excitement as whispers about a resolution to the crisis began to circulate.

At around 10pm local time, Haidar was stretched to a waiting ambulance and driven from the hospital to the airport. She boarded the aircraft with her sister, Laila Haidar, and doctor Domingo de Guzman Perez Hernandez, director of Lanzarote Hospital who has been caring for her from the start. The aircraft took off at 10.30pm and landed at Hassan I airport in Laayoune, Western Sahara’s largest town, just after midnight. Her passport was returned to her by a customs officer and according to a Moroccan Interior Ministry statement, Haidar completed the usual customs and police formalities.

At the airport she was met by relatives including her children and was driven with them back to her home where Haidar, who had continued to fast on the the plane, tasted her first food for over a month. Dozens of her supporters congregated around the house until the early hours of the morning. An earlier larger gathering was dispersed by Moroccan police.

With international concern for Haidar building the Moroccan’s had been under increasing pressure to readmit Ms Haidar. Over the past week alone, statements were made by UN General Secretary Ban ki Moon, and on Monday Hilary Clinton flew to Madrid to discuss the matter with the Spanish Foreign Minster, Miguel Ángel Moratinos. Ironically it was Clinton’s visit to Morocco in November during which she appeared to implicitly endorse Morocco’s “autonomy” proposal that might have encouraged the Moroccans to crack down on Saharawi activists including Haidar. After her visit, the King Mohammed VI gave a speech in which he branded as "traitors" anyone who questioned Moroccan sovereignty over her "Saharan provinces" and days later Haidar was deported. The quiet diplomacy by the Obama administration to resolve the crisis might well be a way of avoiding what might otherwise have been seen as a foreign policy embarrassment.

Ultimately a combination of diplomatic pressure, mass mobilisation of civil society groups around the world and negative coverage in the media would appear to have persuaded the Moroccan’s to allow Haidar to return home without having to any concessions. "She is returning without conditions having been placed and without apologising," said Carmelo Ramirez, president of FEDISSAH a Spanish Western Saharan solidarity organisation.

Whilst Haidar’s return is a significant victory, the dust will have to settle before independence campaigners can assess whether this debacle has taken them any closer to the long-awaited referendum for self-determination in Western Sahara. Whilst the level of international awareness of the situation will undoubtedly push the matter up the international agenda, the bitterness of the dispute will not have done anything to create the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect that UN Special Envoy to Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, had hoped to foster when he met the parties for talks about talks in August.

In addition the personal safety of Aminatou Haidar is far from guaranteed. As well as concern about any permanent damage inflicted to her health by the hunger strike there are also fears that the Moroccan authorities might mete out some form of punishment now that Haidar is back under their control. Haidar has endured over four years of imprisonment and torture in the past and her situation and that of other human rights defenders such as the seven awaiting trial by military tribunal in Rabat, remains precarious. Haidar however was upbeat as she boarded the plane in Lanzarote. "This is a triumph, a victory for international rights, for human rights and for international justice" she said, her face breaking into a smile for the first time in many weeks.

The Moroccan decision to let her return to her family owes a great deal both to international diplomacy, particularly that of the Obama administration, and to the mass mobilisation of civil society groups around the world that made politicians sit up and take notice. It is now incumbent on politicians and civil society to use the momentum generated over the past weeks to ensure that Western Sahara is granted the referendum on self-determination that has been unlawfully obstructed for so long.

CONMEMORATION OF UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

On the occasion of the conmemoration of another anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, December 10th, the saharawi women would like to launch an urgent appeal to all the peace-loving people to continue to support the saharawi human rights activist, Aminatou Haidar, who is on a hunger strike since she was depported for more than three weeks ago by the moroccan occupiders authorities and also for condemning this unhuman and unjust situation that is suffering the Saharawi Gandhi, as she is world-known due to her peaceful struggle for justice and respect of human rights in her country: Western Sahara.

On this accasion, the R.F. Kennedy 2008 Human Rights Award, Aminatou Haidar, has published the following letter:
Today is the 10th of December, International Day of Human Rights. During this day, when such a sacred day for Humanity is commemorated, a day for ideals and principles which guarantee basic rights; I, who have always been a human rights defender, am on the 25th day of my hunger strike because of injustice and lack of respect for Human Rights.

Today, after being thrown out illegally from my country by the Moroccan Authorities, after being illegally retained at this airport in Lanzarote by the Spanish Government and being separated from my children against my will, I feel more than ever the pain of those Saharawi families separated for more than 35 years by a wall more than 2.600km long.

Today, as each day, I suffer thinking about my colleagues in jail, I suffer thinking about those seven human rights activists that are going to be judged by a military court and who are threatened by death penalty because of an arbitrary decision by the Moroccan Government. I think about the Sahrawi people, oppressed daily by the Moroccan police in the Western Sahara. And I think about their future.

On this International Human Rights Day I congratulate all those free people around the world who defend basic rights, and who sacrifice themselves to achieve peace around the world, and at the same time I make them an urgent call to protect the rights of my people, the Saharawi people. Today is also an important day for hope, and I want to take advantage of this to ask the whole world and especially all the mothers around the world to support my reclaim, which is to return to the Western Sahara.My wish is to hug my children, to live with them and with my mother, but to live in dignity.

Today I want to thank the civil society for its solidarity and its continuous defence of the legitimate rights of the Saharawi people, and also its solidarity with me during these difficult days.

Aminatou Haidar, Lanzarote Airport, December 10th, 2009

A BRAVE SAHARAWI WOMAN: SYMBOL OF A PEACEFUL PEOPLE

Voices from all over the world are expressing their worry about the health of The Saharawi Human Rights activist, Aminatou Haidar, who is on hunger strike for three weeks because was expelled by the moroccan occupider authorities after a trip to New York where was awarded by the 2009 Courage Prize given by the Train Foundation. From the highest international organizations to the regionals and national ones and also some of the european political parties expressed their concerns about the unhuman situation of the " Saharawi Gandhi" as Mrs. Haidar is internationally known.

For example, United Nations Secretary General Office said in a statement:

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, remains concerned about the condition of Western Sahara activist Aminarou Haidar who has been on a three-week-old hunger strike at a Spanish airport, his spokesman said Monday.

The secretary general reiterated the appeal made last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for Spain and Morocco "to consider any measure that could facilitate a resolution of the issue and end the current impasse," spokesman Martin Nesirky told a press briefing.

"The UN is looking for ways it can help to resolve Ms. Haidar's situation," he added.

Haidar has been consuming only sugared water since November 16, days after Moroccan authorities denied her entry to her native Western Sahara, a disputed territory annexed by Morocco in 1975, allegedly confiscated her passport, and sent her back to Spain's Canary Islands.

"I will continue with my hunger strike until there is a solution," the award-winning activist, who campaigns for the Western Sahara's independence from Morocco, told AFP in an interview at the airport on the Spanish Canary island of Lanzarote.

Spain had offered to give the 42-year-old mother-of-two refugee status or Spanish citizenship so she could be allowed to return home but she rejected both options on the grounds that she did not want to become "a foreigner in her own home."

Morocco annexed the Western Sahara following the withdrawal of colonial power Spain, sparking a war with the Polisario Front independence movement. The two sides agreed a ceasefire in 1991, but UN-sponsored talks on its future have since made no headway

AMINATOU HAIDAR: SYMBOL OF THE SAHARAWI PEOPLE´S DIGNITY

The women from the Africa´s last colony, Western Sahara, express once again their unconditional support and solidarity with the Saharawi Human Rights activist, Aminatou Haidar, who is today on her twenty-first day of hunger strike.
Mrs. Haidar, is still undertaking an unlimited hunger strike in Lanzarote airport, defending her legitimate right to go back to her town city: the occupaied El Aaiún where she lives with her family.

Last Friday the Spanish government put under her disposition a special plane that was supposed to take her back to the capital of Western Sahara, El Aaiun, accompanied by officials from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign affairs.

In the last minute, the flight was canceled. Morocco says his authorities never agreed to give the permission to the flight, while the Spanish officials said they received Rabat’s agreement on Friday before it was canceled again.

This misunderstanding, between the two governments, according to many observers may be the prelude to a new crisis between Madrid and Rabat, especially that all Spanish political parties are now criticizing the Spanish government’s weak attitude before the humiliations inflicted to Spain by Morocco.

In fact, many voices raised asking the Spanish government to put pressures on Morocco to resolve Aminatou Haidar’s issue before it is too late, knowing that her doctors have openly declared that her physical conditions entered a very crucial state.

In her 21 day of hunger strike, the activist suffers from many diseases, doctors in Lanzarote airport said. She is weak, she can hardly speak, she fainted many times since last Wednesday, but they also said she is completely determined to continue the protest.

International organizations joined the campaign of support to Aminatou. the UN high commission for human rights, the UN commission for Refugees, the African Union Commission, the UN Secretary General, and many others expressed concerns about her state, and called on Spain and Morocco to find a quick solution to this embarrassing case.

The issue, is getting bigger than just a case of an activist who is fighting for her legitimate rights. For many medias and organizations, it became an opportunity to raise the question of human rights in the whole territory of Western Sahara, and most of them start asking the UN to deploy additional efforts to resolve the problem of the last colony in Africa, and to monitor human rights situation in the region.

In her latest reaction to her failed return to Western Sahara, Aminatou Haidar said yesterday in a press release, that Spain and Morocco are both responsible of any tragic outcome of her hunger strike.

She said that she is not negotiating with Morocco or Spain on her situation, she is rather just fighting for a basic right, the right to travel freely to and from her occupied country. This determination owes her an international respect, recognition and solidarity. And everyone hopes this situation be resolved before a tragedy happens, because the activist said she is willing to die struggling for her dignity and freedom and will never give up or compromise.