The Second International Conference of solidarity with Saharawi Women held under the motto of " Woman and Resistance" which has taken place in the Saharawi Refugee Camps from March 20th to 22nd where a huge number of foreign delegations have participated mainly from Africa, Europe and both Americas has adopted important decitions among them the need of strenghthening the relationship among the whole women´s organizations and to help the saharawi women in all the fields mainly in the international arena.
Winnie Mandela was one off the participants in this historical event of solidarity with the saharawi women. In her intervention in the symposium the historial southafrican woman leader said that she will led the international support and solidarity with the women from the last african colony: Western sahara, and will deploy a great campaign all over the world on the saharawi people´s struggle for peace and justice.
The participants sent the following letter to the president of the Commission of the African Union.
Mr. President
We, the women participating in the Second Annual International meeting of Solidarity with the struggle of the Sahrawi women for their right to self-determination and independence, which takes place in the Sahrawi refugee camps under the theme "Women and resistance," in the presence of women from different continents, while expressing our support for the struggle of the Sahrawi women and people, we call upon the African Union to intervene to complete the liberation of the African continent by decolonizing one of its full fledged members, a found of the African Union and last African colony through the organization of a free, democratic and fair referendum to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise its inalienable right to self-determination, granted him by the international conventions, especially the Charters of the United Nations and African Union.
Mr. President
The meeting is held under deep concern to Sahrawis about the human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara and southern Morocco, in particular the deteriorating situation of human rights activists on hanger strike in Sale prison to demand their release or a fair trial.
We urge you to urgently intercede with the Moroccan state to release all those detained Sahrawi political prisoners in Moroccan prisons and unveil the fate of hundreds of missing persons and prisoners of war still unaccounted for.
We urge you and the international community to exert pressure on the Moroccan regime to comply with the international legitimacy and stop its ongoing human rights violations against Sahrawis, documented by credible international organizations and bodies, through expanding the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to include the monitoring and reporting on the situation of human rights in the region. We also demand the immediate cessation of the illegal looting of natural resources of Western Sahara and dismantlement of the wall of shame and humiliation, which divides the Saharawi people and its land and contaminates the environment with millions of anti-personnel mines, thus constituting a crime against humanity and nature.
Mr. President
The independence, stability and progress of the African continent is above all a responsibility of Africa, a requirement that can only be achieved through the contribution to solve the question of Western Sahara by decolonizing it, via the organization of a free and democratic referendum, where the Sahrawi people can choose their own future and thus turn the last page of the history of colonialism in our continent and contribute to its growth and its women work side by side with their sisters in Africa to erase the vestiges of colonialism and lead their peoples to a better future.
