According to Spanish news agency "Europa Press" which quotes members of the federal executive committee of the Spanish socialist workers' party (PSOE), Zapatero asked the said committee to spread information on the dismantling of Gdeim Izik camp and acknowledged that such information "could be difficult to accept by groups that have been always close to the polisario front."

    The PSOE cannot spare itself the trouble of disseminating these pieces of information though they could be "painful and difficult to accept" by groups that have been always close to the polisario, underlined these sources quoting Zapatero as saying.

    According to the members of the PSOE's federal executive committee, "the Sahara conflict has stirred debate within the party which voiced its concern over the unrest caused by this issue" in Spain.

    However this concern, which is has no relation with how the issue would impact the party during elections, stems from the need to keep the party's members and activists, as well as the Spanish society, informed of the truth about Laayoune's events, "a truth that would not be always easy to accept."

    Zapatero, the sources went on to say, commended the stand of the government and the PSOE which opted for "cautiousness", affirming that Spain's reaction was in line with that of other countries.

    At a press conference following the executive committee's meeting, the organizing secretary of the PSOE Marcelino Iglesias said that his party was right in choosing cautiousness over haste, especially that the information, which was later on confirmed, stated that no massacre was committed as claims the polisario.

    The situation concerning the incidents of Laayoune has become clearer and we know now that 11 members of the security forces were killed, as well two Sahrawis, including one hit by a car, an official of the PSOE said.

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