Mahfoud Ali Beiba

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Mahfoud Ali Beiba Hammad Dueihi
محفوظ علي بيبا حماد
President of the Sahrawi Republic
Acting
In office
10 June 1976 – 30 August 1976
Prime MinisterMohamed Lamine Ould Ahmed
Preceded byEl-Ouali Mustapha Sayed
Succeeded byMohamed Abdelaziz
Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Republic
In office
4 November 1982 – 18 December 1985
In office
16 August 1988 – 18 September 1993
In office
8 September 1995 – 10 February 1999
Minister for the Occupied Territories
In office
1999–2005
Prime MinisterBouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun
Abdelkader Taleb Omar
President of the Sahrawi National Council
In office
11 January 1989 – 2 July 2010
Preceded bySalem Lebsir
Succeeded byKhatri Adduh
Personal details
Born1952
Heart attack
Political partyPOLISARIO
SpouseMuieina Chejatu
ChildrenChaiaa, Fala & Mahfuda

Mahfoud Ali Beiba Hammad Dueihi (

refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria
.

Youth and background

Ali Beiba was born in 1952 in

Moroccan Sahara). He studied in several Quranic schools, then the Primary and Secondary
education at Spanish colonial schools, although he did not finish his studies because of family issues. As a child in El Aaiún, the Zemla Intifada occurred, in which an unknown number of Sahrawi civilians were killed by the Spanish Legion in a demonstration.

Polisario Front

In 1972, after hearing about the Sahrawi

El Aaiún
delegation. He also joined the first cell of special operations within the POLISARIO.

In 1974, he was elected as head of the Political Affairs Committee, during the II General Popular Congress of the POLISARIO. He also accompanied

Khelli Henna Ould Rachid in Mauritania.[2]

On the night of February 27, 1976, he was one of the POLISARIO leaders present in Bir Lehlou during the proclamation of independence of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic by the Provisional Sahrawi National Council. Beiba briefly served as the provisional POLISARIO's Secretary-General, the movement's top post, starting on June 10, 1976, as he had constitutionally succeeded the organization's first leader, El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, who had been killed in combat in Mauritania the day before.[2] After about two months, the III General Popular Congress (GPC) was convened, and in the elections Beiba was replaced by long-standing Sahrawi president Mohamed Abdelaziz, who was last re-elected in 2011.

Following his service as Secretary-General, Beiba held several high-ranking posts in the POLISARIO structure and as a minister of the

vote of no confidence. He was replaced by Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun, who appointed him to the post of minister for the occupied territories. From 2003, Beiba served as president and speaker of the SNC, and in this capacity he was also a member of POLISARIO's executive organ, the National Secretariat. Since 1997, he had been the head of the Sahrawi delegations on the successive negotiations with Morocco.[4]

Death

On July 2, 2010, Beiba suffered a fatal

heart attack at his home in the February 27th camp (Sahrawi refugee camps, Tindouf). The SADR presidency declared a week of national mourning in his memory.[5]

On July 4, a bunch of Sahrawis went to Beiba's family house in El Aaiún to express their condolences and made a collective praying for the deceased. Moroccan police intervened to avoid both the praying and more individuals to come to the house, making some people shouting slogans of support to the POLISARIO and the right of self-determination. Police charged against the protestors who came in with stones and rocks, injuring several of them.[6] The same day, he was buried in a cemetery at the Sahrawi refugee camps, with the presence of the higher authorities of the SADR.

The

National Assembly of Panama approved a resolution on July 8 that regretted Beiba's death, calling it an "irreparable loss".[7]

On July 11, Beiba was replaced by Kathri Aduh as president of the SNC.[8]

Quotes

Some selected quotes:[9]

  • "We use the strength of law, and they have recoursed to the right of force"
  • "Nature never admits the void, as like politics, our cause will have its good end"
  • "If the (Spanish) abandonment of the Sahara was a political mistake of the dictatorship, it is logical that democracy repair it now"
  • "If Sahrawis vote someday to be Moroccans, I will not be a Moroccan"

Legacy

A group of activists headed by the "Western Sahara Occupied Territories Human Rights Observatory" who had tried since late 2010 to make up a

Gaza flotilla, had named the expedition as "Independence Flotilla Mahfud Ali Beiba".[10]

The 13th GPC of the Polisario Front, celebrated between 15 and 19 December 2011 in Tifariti, had been named "Martyr Mahfoud Ali Beiba" in his honour.[11]

On July 2, 2012 a promotion of the

SPLA Special Forces named "Mahfud Ali Beiba" was graduated on a ceremony held at the Sahrawi refugee camps.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ Fallece el presidente del parlamento saharaui Archived 2010-07-29 at the Wayback Machine, Afrol News, July 5, 2010.
  2. ^ a b Bahia M.H. Awah; Conxi Garcia (2010-07-20). "Los hombres que se marchitan como flores. A Mahfud Ali Beiba" (in Spanish). Webislam.com. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  3. ^ Ostos, Manuel (1982-11-05). "Un polisario del 'ala dura', al frente del nuevo Gobierno saharaui" (in Spanish). El País. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  4. ^ "Fallece el Presidente del Parlamento Saharaui" (in Spanish). ABC. 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  5. ^ "SADR declares national mourning for seven days following tragic death of President of National Council". Sahara Press Service. 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-07-03.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "Nombreux citoyens Sahraouis ont été blessés dimanche matin après une violemment intervention de la police marocaine contre les manifestants à Sahara Occidental" (in French). ASVDH. 2010-07-07. Archived from the original on 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  7. ^ "Diputados lamentan muerte de Presidente de Parlamento Árabe Saharaui" (in Spanish). Asamblea Nacional - República de Panamá. 2010-07-08. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  8. ^ "Sahrawi National Council approves successor to deceased Mahfoud Ali Beiba". SPS. 2010-07-11. Retrieved 2010-07-11.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ En la despedida a Mahfud Ali Beiba Poemario por un Sáhara libre, 3 July 2010 (in Spanish)
  10. Publico
    . 2010-09-04. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
  11. ^ 13th Congress: Mahfoud Ali Beiba Archived 2012-09-18 at archive.today SPS
  12. ^ "President of Republic chairs graduation of promotion of Special Forces". SPS. 2012-07-02. Archived from the original on 2013-11-02. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
Political offices
Preceded by President of the Sahrawi Republic
Acting

1976
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Republic
1982-1985
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Republic
1988-1993
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Republic
1995-1999
Succeeded by