Vest Sahara

Program:
18:00    Fernisering på fotoudstilling
18:30    Dias- & lydmontage med stemningsindtryk fra
             Saharawi
19:30    Prisbelønnet dokumentarfilm “children of the
             clouds - Moroccan abuses” (2008) af Carlos
             Gonzalez
20:00    Oplæg ved Abba Malainin, deputy
             representative of Polisario Front in Denmark.

- Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa
- Yes, for the right of self-determination for the Saharawi people

Conflict Background:

In 1976, Spain withdrew from the territories of its former colony of

Western Sahara, which up to then had been considered an additional

Spanish province, allowing the military invasion, known as the “Green

March,” of the Sahrawi territory by the Moroccan kingdom. For years the

Sahrawi people had reclaimed their independence, supported by the

international community through the various resolutions of the United

Nations (UN) and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. On

February 27, 1976, coinciding with the departure of the last Spanish

soldier from the territories, the Sahrawi people proclaimed the Sahrawi

Arab Democratic Republic.

In this manner, the war began between the Polisario Front, the

legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, and the kingdom of

Morrocco. The war reached a ceasefire in 1991 through the creation of a

peace plan for Western Sahara mediated by the UN and the Organization

of African Unity. That plan envisioned the reception of the referendum

for self-determination in which the Sahrawi people could freely decide

their destiny. Since that time, the permanent obstacles imposed by the

Moroccan administration have delayed the process, bringing it to the

stand-off situation in which the Sahrawis presently find themselves.

Since that prophetic year, the Sahrawi exodus began: thousands of

Sahrawi men and women who had left their land before the invasion and

subsequent Moroccan repression, crossed the border between Western

Sahara and Algeria. Those who succeeded in traversing this desert

settled in the Algerian Hamada of the region of Tindouf, “the desert of

the desert.” The scarcity of water, electricity, and food add to the

climatic conditions they have to endure. The Sahrawi refugees set up

their jaimas (tents) and day after day have been organizing their camps

with international support.

More than 32 years later, the refugees are still enduring an unjust

exile. There are approximately 200,000 people, mostly women, children

and youths, living in precarious and extremely hard conditions in the

most inhospitable region of the desert, surviving with dignity and

hoping for the realization of the anticipated referendum.

About the movie:
’Children of the Clouds’, a new documentary by the U.S. director and cinematographer Carlos González, reveals the oppressive conditions inside the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara.

Though it is rare for journalists and documentary filmmakers to gain access to the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara, González has gone behind the scenes and even undercover to show things never before captured on video by an outsider.

The documentary features an extended interview with Hmad Ahmad, a Sahrawi human rights defender who has faced repeated beatings and imprisonment for his activism. The film also contains live photage of Moroccan police repression, as well as various images of past and present abuses by the occupying authority.

The film is available here:

http://asvdh.net/english/?page_id=8

Mere info om konflikten i Vest Sahara:
www.arso.org