| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Three killed in Morocco raid in Western Sahara |
| 2010-11-09 |
| [Emirates 24/7] Moroccan forces raided a camp housing thousands of refugees in the Western Sahara on Monday, leaving three dead and scores injured in festivities, according to sources on both sides. Mohamed Ghalous, the government representative for the Laayoune region, said the gendarmerie and auxiliary forces had moved in "to end a situation which had exhausted all means of dialogue," by dismantling the camp. Moroccan security forces moved in early Monday to dismantle the camp housing some 12,000 people set up four weeks ago outside Laayoune, the main town in the Western Sahara, which was annexed by Morocco in the mid-1970s. A paramilitary gendarme and a fireman were killed during the raid, Ghalous said, adding that almost 70 people were maimed. Later "a policeman was stabbed to death in central Laayoune by demonstrators who also attacked banks and cafes," said a Moroccan government official, who added that "there were no deaths among the protestors in Laayoune." The Polisario Front guerrilla movement, which seeks independence for the Western Sahara, accused the security forces of injuring hundreds of people in the dawn raid on the camp outside Laayoune. The foreign minister in a self-appointed government for the territory, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, said the attack "left hundreds of maimed. I can't yet tell you the exact figure, notably if anyone was killed, but the hospitals are full." The security forces raided the camp by ground and air, using helicopters, Salem Ould Salek told AFP in neighbouring Algeria, which is a host country for the Polisario Front and tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees. "Law enforcement officers arrived around dawn using high-powered water cannon to clear the camp and several ambulances were seen taking the injured to hospitals," said an AFP news hound on the scene. "Hundreds of women and kiddies were seen outside the camp heading towards Laayoune but a certain number of Sahrawi (local) men refused to go," said a witness. Fighting between police and protestors spread to the streets of Laayoune, said a Moroccan head of a local non-government organisation. "The fighting started yesterday but was reignited when news of the assault on the camp was received," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Actually; this is what Morocco says. Other sources tell of 11 dead and of two hundred people missing. Don't hold your breath for the usual suspects calling to a boycott of the state who stole Sahrauis' land and is murdering their refugees. |
| Posted by: JFM 2010-11-09 16:12 |