The reality of human rights in Morocco's Southern Provinces "is victim of a false propaganda," Orio said at a conference of Moroccan and Spanish human rights activists.

   This reality is "different from that which the majority of the Spanish public opinion imagines," he said, calling for "seeking information on the reality in this region, through the various means available, or get in there to assess it before making any judgment."

   Writer Mariano Sanz Navarro, who authored a book on the Sahara, said he could notice the progress in human rights achieved in the region when he travelling there to prepare his book. 

   "When I was preparing my book (...) I could meet with any person I wanted without any problems," he said. His book, Viaje por el Sahara occidental, "A Journey through Western Sahara" tries to provide a closer look at the Sahara, its culture and people.

   Other participants have deplored the use of the human rights issue by the pro-Polisario, and denounced the oft-repeated breaches of human rights by the Polisario separatists leaders, who enclose thousands of Moroccan civilians in the Tindouf camps, southwestern Algeria.

   A delegation of social society activists has paid a two-day visit to the Seville during which is has met with a number of MP from the left-wing (PSOE) and right-wing (PP) party representatives in Andalsia.

   The meetings allowed for showcasing the socio-economic and human rights progress in Morocco, and particularly in the Sahara, and correct a number of ideas about the region, which Morocco regained after Spain pulled off in the mid-Seventies.

   Several Spanish politicians and rights activists have praised this tour, asking for multiplying this kind of initiatives, but also pleading for stronger ties with Morocco.

Source: MAP
News and events concerning Western Sahara issue / Corcas