We have learned, from sources close to MINURSO, that the Egyptian officer against whom the Sahrawi Sheikh Abdallah Salhi had filed a complaint with the UN Secretary-General has just been dismissed and relieved of his duties.

This information was also confirmed to us by the Sheikh himself who wanted to express his thanks to the Secretary-General for the promptness with which he put an end to the actions of a member of this mission, which undermined the credibility of the UN.

The UN officer, of Egyptian origin, was ordered to return to his country. We remember that Sheikh Salhi had accused him of plotting against peace in the Moroccan Sahara by indoctrinating young Sahrawis and inciting them to demonstrate and attack elements of the security forces.

This is a new blow dealt to the separatists from within and to the plots orchestrated by the Algerian secret services, via the Polisario. This hard blow comes, in fact, after the investigation among Sahrawi demonstrators confirmed that the events in Laayoune were planned and financed by an element of the Algerian secret services by the name of Mahraz Amari who, according to information, was transiting his aid through the CODESA Association, led by Aminatou Haidar.

It should be noted, moreover, that the port authorities of Dakhla asked, on the morning of Saturday 18 May, three members of MINURSO to leave the port where they were photographing boats and fishing vessels that were at anchor in the city's fishing port.

After contacts with the representative of the UN Secretary-General in Laayoune, the latter allegedly gave them the order to leave the port and to send him a detailed report on the facts.

On the other hand, the Moroccan authorities categorically rejected, on Saturday, any act of torture against six Sahrawis arrested following demonstrations in Laayoune, denouncing a “lack of objectivity” from the NGO Amnesty International.

Six Sahrawis, arrested for “violence against law enforcement” and “destruction of public property” on the sidelines of unauthorised gatherings, claimed to have been “tortured” and forced to sign confessions during their interrogation by the police, reported the London-based NGO on Thursday, urging Rabat to open an “independent and impartial” investigation. Among them, El Hussein Bah, 17, also declared that he had been “threatened with rape”, according to Amnesty International (AI).

“What is reported is only pure claims and fabrications devoid of any foundation,” reacted the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior on Saturday in a statement cited by the MAP agency.

The 17-year-old detainee “met the public prosecutor twice, the first time during the extension of his police custody and another time during his presentation before him, without him having been able to note any trace of torture or violence,” it notably specified.

The ministry mentions a “lack of objectivity” on the part of AI, which could have “obtained the information from the Moroccan authorities prior to any position taking”.

Evoking these arrests, the Wali of the Laayoune region, Khalil Dkhil, affirmed to the AFP on Monday that they concerned “six young men, including a minor, who had been photographed while they were assaulting police officers”.