Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-14-Speech-4-166"
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"en.20050414.26.4-166"2
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"Mr President, the resolution we are presenting and voting on today relates to the increasing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Sahrawi camps. We are talking about a commitment made by the parliamentary delegation that visited the camps a few weeks ago, and which we are now fulfilling. Assistance is running out, and we must respond urgently to this situation.
Nevertheless, we must also be very aware that the humanitarian issue actually hides the real problem, which is a political one. Humanitarian assistance is necessary, because the Sahrawi people are obliged to live in camps, far from their homes, and cannot live normal lives in those circumstances. After thirty years with no solution to the conflict, patience is running out in the camps. Some voices are even calling for a return to an armed approach if the situation is not resolved soon. This is very worrying; the European Union cannot ignore this fact. The most worrying thing, however, is that the solution is on the table, it exists and is called the Baker Plan II. It is an imperfect plan, certainly, but it is a plan that the Sahrawi people have accepted, and they have given way significantly on some of their positions. Despite this, the other party, Morocco, refuses to sign it, however.
Europe is looking to Spain, and the Spanish Government must therefore lead the process of resolving this conflict. Let us not forget that the Sahrawi population is in the camps today as a result of incomplete decolonisation, and the main culprit here is the Spanish Government. I would therefore urge President Rodríguez Zapatero to give Spain the kind of role played by Portugal in relation to Timor.
After thirty years of being ignored, of silence and of broken promises, the time has come for the world in general, and Europe in particular, to stop turning its back on the problem and to face it head on. It is time for the Sahrawi people to be granted their fair and understandable request for a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara, in accordance with international law and the United Nations Charter.
Finally, I would also like to express my solidarity with the Moroccan journalist Alí Lmrabet, who has been unfairly convicted of defamation after stating that the people living in the camps are not prisoners but refugees."@en1
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