Brussels, 12/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - A conference on the fate of women in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria was held at the European Parliament (EP) on Friday 8 March with the participation of Liberal MEP Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck (ALDE, Belgium). Expressing her support for the Sahrawi women illegally confined in Tindouf camps, she said, in a press release, that the aim of the conference was to allow those women to speak out, in order to draw attention to their plight. The women in the camps, she added, are deprived of their most basic rights and often fall victim to exclusion and sexual aggression.
The Sahrawi women are deprived of freedom of movement and of expression and are subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment, said two former victims of the Polisario Front, Maghlatta Dlimi and Khadijatou Mohamed, it is reported by the Moroccan press agency.
Arguments and counter-arguments are put forward from time to time and MEPs are often called upon, sometimes unequivocally, to determine who is right and who is wrong in this thorny issue that is poisoning the political situation of the region and hampering the Maghreb's integrity.
One European observer explains that this cannot have a permanent effect as the annual review of the dossier by the UN Human Rights Committee draws near. The subject is regularly discussed by a sub-group at the European Parliament dedicated to the matter. Last week, four of its members attempted to visit the area concerned to assess the situation first hand but they were turned back by the Moroccan authorities (see EUROPE 10801). The ALDE and GUE/NGL Groups at the EP protested against this, highlighting the need for respect to be shown to the European Parliament. Mohamed Sidati, who represents the Polisario Front in Brussels, said the EU cannot remain indifferent to the arbitrary expulsion of its members and to this display of bad will on the part of a country that has undertaken to abide by the law and that, in consequence, receives aid from the EU.
And yet, it was expected that access would be refused. Official Moroccan channels had given notice that this would be the case shortly before, it is confirmed within Parliament. Norbert Neuser (S&D, Germany), who heads the Sahara Intergroup at the EP, apparently received a letter shortly before this informing him that Morocco did not accept hostile “lobbying” operations inside its borders, and saying that it was convinced it was victim to manifest bias although it plays a peaceful role within the EU/Morocco Joint Parliamentary Committee.
Moroccans ask for caution to be exercised in the perception of the situation in the context of the war in the Sahel-Sahara region bordering on the disputed zone, and given the dangers of recovery by the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It is true that the Polisario Front remains somewhat cautious when speaking of the security threat in the region.
Generally speaking, the role played by the Sahrawi front, supported by Algiers, is disputed, including in its management of the camps for which the EU allocates humanitarian aid. The Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is said to have recently pointed a finger of blame at aid embezzlement, but the report is for internal access only. (FB/transl.jl)