Tourists are not welcome in Western Sahara - wshrw.org

ASVDH

On Monday, July 16, 2012, the Moroccan police arrested two young Saharawi activists and the five Spaniards they were accompanying.

Karakoub Omar was driving a taxi for transport and was accompanied by his colleague Aziz Meftah. They were on the way to drive the Spanish tourists Eider de Aldia, Itxaso Ganboa, Anaitz Igoa, Oskar Biteri, Oihana Milika toward the beach of Foum El Ouad.

A group of men composed of the Bacha of the city, officers of the general information services and of the direction of surveillance of the territory (DST) arrested, detained and questioned them for more than 3 hours.

Moroccan officials have notified the Spaniards that they should not visit suspects (that is to say the Saharawi activists), risking at least to be expelled from the territory (the Saharawi territory under occupation).

This same week, the Moroccan authorities went to the beach hut of Ms. Djimi El Ghalia and her husband, on the Boulma’airdat beach south-west of El Aaiún to notify them of the prohibition of camping.

El Ghalia Djimi and her husband have been making stays for years at their beach hut. This time they had invited Ms. Michèle Decaster, secretary general of the French organization AFASPA and her granddaughter Lilith, to discover the beach during a visit to the territories of Western Sahara.

It is probably to hinder the freedom of movement and sojourn of the two French women that the authorities have abruptly decided to this prohibition.

 ASVDH

(The Saharawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State)

 Western Sahara, July 18, 2012