W.Sahara activist arrives home after hunger strike in Spain

[Ghost Dog]

Source: Raw Story/AFP

Western Sahara independence activist Aminatou Haidar arrived back in the disputed Moroccan territory early Friday on a medically equipped plane from Spain's Canary Islands where she had been on hunger strike for over a month, the Moroccan authorities announced.

Haidar, 42, was released from hospital in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands late Thursday, declaring triumph in her protest at being exiled.

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/afp/W_Sahara_activist_arrives_home_afte_12172009.html

---

See also:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7258317

Thanks, Hillary.

[Ghost Dog]

1. Here's more (how come you didn't know?):

Intense negotiations to save the life of Saharan hunger striker Aminatou Haidar and allow her to return to her home in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara bore fruit Thursday night, when she was loaded by stretcher into a plane leaving the Canary Islands.

Intense international negotiations led to an agreement that would allow the Saharan activist to return home without either side abandoning its position. Haidar would not make the apology Morocco had demanded - saying that she had abandoned her citizenship – nor would Morocco need to admit wrong doing in deporting her when she attempted to return to Western Sahara after receiving the Civil Courage Prize in New York. Among the elements of the proposed agreement, not yet disclosed publicly, was the possibility of a royal pardon, which would allow Morocco to accept her return to the territory without insisting on an apology.

Haidar said she would resume eating only after landing in the Saharan capital. The 42-year-old mother of two, who has been called the Saharan Ghandi, launched her hunger strike November 16 at Lanzarote airport in the Canaries, after Morocco refused her return to Western Sahara. seized her passport and deported her.

Negotiators were racing against time. Haidar was taken to hospital in an ambulance early Thursday, with doctors warning that she might be suffering irreversible organ damage.

Saharauiak

Spanish artists and film stars, including an Oscar-winning director, made a video promoting her cause that became popular on YouTube. British artists and intellectuals appealed to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to help. Amnesty International joined the urgent appeal to keep Haidar alive. The Robert F Kennedy Center for Jusatice and Human Rights sent staff to be with her in the Canaries, and conducted an interview with her, also widely circulated. A growing number of legislators in Europe and the United States have been issuing statements supporting Haidar.

The Defense Forum Foundation, a group advocating a strong defense policy, organized a protest at the Moroccan embassy in Washington DC at noon Thursday. Armed with a petition, a delegation was allowed into the embassy, where the ambassador met with them for around 40 minutes, promising to deliver their appeal to Morocco’s king. Demonstrators then marched to the Spanish embassy, where their petition was also accepted.

The unusual coalition of supporters – spanning both national and ideological boundaries – is understood to have spurred greater efforts to negotiate an end to the standoff between Haidar and Moroccan authorities. Media coverage has been increasing, with the prospect of mounting public awareness – and negative publicity for Morocco, whose tourist industry is economically important.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has been urging a solution that would save Haidar’s life, now ants to focus attention on the dispute that has deadlocked Morocco and Saharan independence activists. He has asked his envoy, Ambassador Christopher Ross, to re-intensify his efforts to forge a long-term agreement.

/.. http://allafrica.com/stories/200912180001.html

---

...Haidar’s deportation has been condemned by human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and on 27th November, US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly issued a statement stating that “he United States remains concerned about the health and well-being of Sahrawi activist Aminatou Haidar, recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Train Foundation’s 2009 Civil Courage Prize. We urge a speedy determination of her legal status and full respect for due process and human rights.”

She has also had messages of support from around the world including from Nobel Literature Laureate Jose Saramago, Noble Peace Prize Laureate President Ramos-Horta and film director Pedro Almodovar. Actor Javier Bardem wrote to her saying "I’m sorry that because of work commitments overseas I cannot be there in Lanzarote but my thoughts are with you." Haidar has also had a number of high profile visitors, including Spanish actor Guilliamo Toledo who has slept beside her on the airport floor for the past ten days. A delegation from the Robert Kennedy Foundation arrived in the Canary Islands at the weekend and are scheduled to stay with Haidar for a number of days. Meanwhile, in occupied Western Sahara over 200 women have been on hunger strike in solidarity with Haidar for over a week.

/... http://en.afrik.com/article16556.html

[Lucky Luciano]

2. Interesting story. The Western Sahara is so desolate and

almost nobody lives there - this may be the first time I have seen it in the news in my memory. I will take note of this.

[Ghost Dog]

3. Please do the research.

Actually, I heard (in Marrakech) that the Moroccan Royal (Alauite) Family is originally from

Sahara

and that, apart from the brief European intromission, all those tribal lands have been, essentially under Islam, one these last 1200 years or so...

and that, if present-day Morocco were to lose its 'Saharan Provinces', the King would fall.

There should be a referendum, and, perhaps, a negotiated high degree of autonomy for W. Sahara

inside Morocco.

... As for the personal story of this activist, Aminatu/Amainatu Haidar, as I say, please do the research.

Thankfully, Spain has found the way to help Morocco find the way to help her family to do the humanitarian thing. Let's hope she, and they, survive.

Ojalá.