sahara-news.org

The peace caravan, organized in solidarity with the Moroccan project for the Sahara autonomy, and gathering 350 persons : those operating in associations, Moroccans living in Europe and journalists, namely from Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Spain, Tunisia and Algeria, has arrived to Laayoune, on June 17th, after having left Brussels and gone through many European capitals and Moroccan cities.
The Peace Caravan has started its journey from Brussels, more exactly from the European Council headquarters, an opportunity to hand over to European executives letters supporting the Sahara autonomy initiative. Letters denouncing also the living conditions of Sahrawis sequestrated in Tindouf camps, in the Algerian territory. The Peace Caravan has, thus, gone through many European capitals and big cities among which Strasbourg, capital of the European Parliament, Paris, Lyon, Barcelona and Madrid in order to make the European public opinion aware about the importance and credibility of the Sahara autonomy project and about the historical, political and cultural legitimacy of the Moroccan provinces in the South.

Many NGO have denounced at the UN Human Rights Council, holding its meeting in Geneva, their heartfelt preoccupations regarding the serious human rights violations committed against Sahrawis detained in Polisario camps, in Algerian territories.
Thus, thousands of Sahrawis detained by force in these camps in the Algerian desert, are deprived of their rights to express themselves and to move freely, in a flagrant violation of human rights  and the international humanitarian right, as insisted upon by these NGO, in front of the HRC holding its 14th session.
The situation of these sequestrated persons is very precarious especially that they are abandoned to the armed militia of the Polisario separatist group, in the absence of the slightest international protection and the access of UN organizations and NGO to these camps.

Portugal has reiterated, through his Prime Minister, José Socrates, its position in favour of a « political solution » for the regional conflict on the Western Sahara, by insisting on the fact that this solution requires  some realism and a compromising spirit from the different parties.
Lisbon greeted the « serious and credible » efforts made by Morocco to achieve a final solution to the problem, under the auspices of the United Nations, efforts reflected through the autonomy initiative for the Sahara. The position of Portugal, reaffirmed on the occasion of the Morocco- Portuguese committee meeting, on the 2nd June in Marrakech, confirms the position of the international community and the Security Council. The resolution 1920 adopted by the United Nations Organization in April 2010, reiterates precisely the attachment of the international community to the political process. A process made possible and launched by the Moroccan autonomy proposal, as a basis for credible, serious and open negotiations, in conformity with the Security Council clauses.

The European Institute for Research and Strategic studies (EIRSS), based in Brussels, has clearly concluded in one of its last reviews that the sinking of the Sahara dispute and the absence of resolution prospects, have largely worsened the Polisario vulnerability and fragility and highly undermined the movement leadership legitimacy. 
On the international scene, Polisario has been victim, not only of its own fanaticism and its incapacity to negotiate, but also of the geopolitical context, explained the EIRSS, mentioning that the number of States which have recognized the RASD, the imaginary “Sahrawi republic” is in continuous decrease. The only support on which Polisario may still count, is that of Algeria, which manipulates the Sahrawis to “try to destabilize” Morocco, underlines the report.

The « last thing that Africa needs is another dependent and weak State », this is the conclusion reached by the American newspaper, US World Tribune, which has recently published an article on the Sahara issue. For the  newspaper, repeating the opinion revealed in the study achieved par Harvey Sicherman, a close collaborator of the former American State Secretary, James Baker, the option of independence to resolve this problem means the creation of a weak State. The latter would be an easy prey for all envies  among which that of Al Qaida at first level. 
The relevance of the US World Tribune conclusions like those of Harvey Sicherman are based on the observation of tangible facts, in a desert region escaping from state control.
The large zone of the Sahel-Saharan strip has become a refuge for all kinds of traffickers networks (illegal migration, drugs, arms) and groups of terrorists. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) has become specialized in kidnapping many Westerners. The desert triangle including the North of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and South of Algeria has become a hazardous territory and regular troops have difficulties to get there.