UN urges Rabat to allow Western Saharan hunger striker back home

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has urged Moroccco to allow Western Sahara activist Aminarou Haidar to return home. The 42-year-old has been on a hunger strike in a Spanish airport for the past three weeks.

AFP - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for Western Sahara activist Aminarou Haidar, who is on a three-week-old hunger strike at a Spanish airport, to be allowed to go home.

Haidar has been consuming only sugared water since November 16, days after Moroccan authorities denied her entry to her native Western Sahara, a disputed territory annexed by Rabat in 1975, allegedly confiscated her passport, and sent her back to Spain's Canary Islands.

"I'm following the case (...) and I've been in touch with both governments," Pillay told a news conference.

"I'm especially concerned about her health conditions. I hope for a quick resolution. I'm calling for Aminatu's right of return to her country."

Haidar, a 42-year-old award-winning mother of two who campaigns for the Western Sahara's independence from Morocco, has said she will continue her hunger strike "until there is a solution".

Spain had offered to give her refugee status or Spanish citizenship after Morocco expelled her on November 14 so she could be allowed to return home, but she rejected both options on the grounds that she did not want to become "a foreigner in her own home".

Morocco annexed the Western Sahara following the withdrawal of colonial power Spain, sparking a war with the Polisario Front independence movement. The two sides agreed a ceasefire in 1991, but UN-sponsored talks have since made no headway.

Morocco has pledged to grant the territory widespread autonomy, but rules out independence.

A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he remained concerned about Haidar's condition.

The secretary general reiterated an appeal made last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for Spain and Morocco "to consider any measure that could facilitate a resolution of the issue and end the current impasse," spokesman Martin Nesirky told a press briefing.

"The UN is looking for ways it can help to resolve Ms. Haidar's situation," he added.
 

Date created : 2009-12-08