Moroccan police attack Sahrawi delegation with aid of loyalist mob
07/04/2010 | Newsletter
Djimi's car
Tuesday evening, upon their returning to El Aaiun, Western Sahara, a Sahrawi delegation led by Mr. Sidi Mohamed Daddach, along with a number of Sahrawi citizens and human rights defenders, were injured to varying degrees by the violent intervention of Moroccan police supported by a crowd of Moroccan settlers.
The human rights militant, former Saharawi disappeared and vice-president of ASVDH, Mrs. Djimi El Ghalia was there on site and reported the facts. She was accompanied by Ms. Ismaili Fatimatou, wife of Mr Daddach, Chairman of Committee for the defense of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara (CODAPSO).
At the airport, they waited with others for the arrival of the delegation of Sahrawi human rights defenders upon their return from a visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps, where hundreds of Moroccan arrived, waving Moroccan flags and chanting racist slogans.
Feeling the danger, Mrs. El-Ghalia Djimi asked, in French, for aid from a MINURSO officer, who was standing there. He said he did not understand French. Making the same request for for assistance in English, the official replied that ‘he is not from here’ and that the matter does not concern him. He therefore did not intervene to protect these women.
According to Ms. El-Ghalia Djimi, most of the mob, some of them dressed in Sahrawi traditional clothing, were actually Moroccan settlers.
It appears they were under the command of two Moroccan officers, Abdul Aziz Anoush and Khalid Baraka.
Inside the airport, employees delayed for over an hour the baggage of all members of the delegation.
Once outside the airport, the Sahrawi activists were beaten with sticks, were stoned and spitted on. Sexual insults were launched against Sultana Khaya.
The stone throwing on Saharawi families cars continued to the exit of the airport until the main road.
The presence of the Moroccan police forces was very visible on the access road to the Erak neighborhood where Mohamed Daddach lives.
The entire neighborhood was under surveillance, preventing the free movement of the Sahrawi citizens.
A demonstration by supporters and friends of Daddach was violently dispersed by the Moroccan police.
Newsletter
El-Aaiun Western Sahara
07.04.2010
