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Western Sahara: Politics and Government

Mr Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the recent incident at el-Aauin/Gdeim Izak and its effect on the 1991 ceasefire agreement in Western Sahara. [41172]

Alistair Burt: The Moroccan Parliament conducted and published its own investigation into the events in Laayoune and the Gdeim Izik camp.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also visited the territory and issued independent reports.

An official from our embassy in Rabat visited Western Sahara in December 2010 and met with a range of Moroccan officials, international bodies, UN agencies and local non-governmental organisations.

We understand that the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations will send a mission to Western Sahara in February 2011 to assess the activities of UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

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