Algerian NGOs, lawyers plead Western Sahara cause at UN

Several Algerian NGOs and lawyers on Thursday at the United Nations pleaded Western Sahara cause, stressing that the current situation, marked by human rights violations, does not allow further delays, and urged the international community to take more actions to enable Saharawi people to exercise their right to self-determination. Addressing the United Nations Fourth Committee (also known as the Special Political and Decolonization Committee), which auditioned petitioners from several countries on the question of Western Sahara, the vice-president of the Algerian Committee for Solidarity with the Saharawi People, Said Ayachi, voiced concerns over human rights abuses suffered by Saharawi people. "Those violations are committed by Moroccan security forces who have created a climate of fear, fueled by arbitrary executions, torture, enforced disappearances, rape of women and destruction of property," Ayachi said. "It all happens behind closed doors." Western Sahara "is under a military siege and a media blackout, and Moroccan authorities allows rarely (access to the area) for NGOs, the media and international observers," he underlined.