American NGOs, Human Rights Activists Call on Obama to Protect Sahrawis in Western Sahara

Representatives of American non-governmental organizations and human rights activists sent a letter today to President Barack Obama requesting his immediate help to protect the lives of the Sahrawis in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara.  Protesting their treatment as second class citizens in their own homeland, the Sahrawis have left the city of El Aaiun to set up a tent camp.  They are now surrounded by the Moroccan army which is denying them food and water and restricting access by journalists and international observors.  Already a fourteen year old Sahrawi boy has been shot and killed by the Morrocan army.
"We just had a very contentious election in the United States, but this is an issue in which we all, whether Democrats, Republicans or Independents, agree upon, and we have joined together to appeal for President Obama's intervention," said Suzanne Scholte, Chairman of the U.S. Western Sahara Foundation.  "We are deeply concerned that the Sahrawis are in grave danger for peacefully expressing their fundamental rights, and we have seen those in occupied Western Sahara repeatedly tortured and imprisoned simply for speaking out in support of self-determination, which was first promised by Spain, affirmed by the International Court of Justice and re-affirmed and promised by the United Nations."

The letter, signed by a wide range of organizations and individuals from such left-leaning organizations as the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies to conservative-leaning organizations such as the Defense Forum Foundation, states: "As President of the United States, and the representative of us all, this is an opportunity to show that although Americans share many diverse opinions, our country and our people's commitment to freedom of expression, the rule of law, and the right to self-determination is unyielding."

Because of the deteriorating situation in occupied Western Sahara, the signers called for human rights monitoring to be added to the MINURSO mandate.
Signers also included officials who had served with MINURSO, as well as former Reagan and Clinton appointees including Ambassador Frank Ruddy, an Ambassador for former President Ronald Reagan, and Gare Smith, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for former President Bill Clinton.

Also included were leaders of humanitarian organizations including Dr. Teresa Smith de Cherif of the Sahara Fund and David Lipiatt of We International as well as human rights activists from New York, California, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and other states across America.