Swedish Liberal Party, human rights group condemn wave of Moroccan attacks against Sahrawi students
21/05/2007 | Press
The Swedish Liberal Party’s official foreign policy spokeswoman, BIRGITTA OHLSSON, has put a strongly worded parliamentary question to foreign minister CARL BILDT, urging Swedish protest to stop the violence:
Question to minister Carl Bildt : Abuse of Western Saharan students from Swedish Liberal Party’s official foreign policy spokeswoman, BIRGITTA OHLSSON
« Western Sahara is today Africa’s last remaining colony, and occupied since 1975 by its neighbour Morocco. Before that, the country was a Spanish colony. The devastating Moroccan occupation has, for a long time, brought great misery for the Western Saharan population, which has been driven from its country and ended up in refugee camps, with severe suffering in the form of poverty and starvation.
« On May 7, Western Saharan students at the university of Agadir in Morocco held a demonstration against the occupation. This led to their arrest and torture. The event has resulted in more manifestations at other Moroccan universities, ending the same way, with violence and abuse. Western Saharan students have been exposed to systematic attacks. This has been covered in detail by the international media.
« In what ways does the foreign minister intend to condemn the Moroccan abuse and violations of human rights, directed at Sahrawi students? »
Statement of protest from FRIDA JOHANSSON METSO, chairwoman of the Liberal Youth of Sweden (« Liberala Ungdomsförbundet », www.luf.se), condemning the attacks against Sahrawi students and demanding that the Swedish foreign minister act to stop the abuse:
« Bildt, stop being passive in the Western Sahara question!
« For two weeks, a wave of violence has run through Morocco, where violence has been directed against the occupied Western Saharans. This follows an anti-occupation demonstration on May 7, when Western Saharan students at the university of Agadir, Morocco, were brutally beaten and arrested. The Liberal Youth of Sweden believes that the Swedish government has been too passive in this question.
« The Western Saharan people lives under constant oppression and suffers a great lack of human rights. The wave of violence now running through Morocco must be condemned, says Frida Johansson Metso, chairwoman of the Liberal Youth of Sweden.
« The Swedish government must take action against what is now happening, and we demand that this passivity in the struggle for democracy stops. That, additionally, the foreign ministry tells Swedish tourists, in its travel information on Morocco, to be careful not to criticise the Moroccan police, is shameful. The foreign ministry cannot continue to play into the hands of the Moroccan government, Frida Johansson Metso says. »
Likewise, the Swedish human rights organization, the Swedish International Liberal Centre (SILC), which is involved in democracy-promoting projects for Bosnia, Cuba, Russia, Ukraine, Western Sahara, Belarus, Eritrea, and other nations, has released a statement saying:
« Freedom for Western Sahara!
« For thirty years, Western Sahara has lived under Moroccan occupation. The world must not forget the freedom struggle of the Sahrawis. Western Saharan students at the university of Agadir (Morocco) held, on May 7, a demonstration against the occupation, which led to them being arrested and tortured.
« Since then, Western Saharan youth both in the occupied territories and on several other Moroccan universities, have held new demonstrations, which have all been answered the same way. Now the police has begun unleashing Moroccan nationalist organizations on Sahrawis at the universities, with a great number of injured as a consequence, Sahrawi student homes demolished, threats and attacks against people in Western Saharan clothing, et cetera; this is beginning to take the character of a pogrom. It has been noticed internationally, among other things in articles from the major press agencies, but has gotten no attention in Sweden whatsoever. But attention is exactly what is needed to stop it. »
