Mr Ahmed Herzenni meets members of the local coordination body of Nador

The President of the Advisory Council on Human Rights (CCDH), Mr Ahmed Herzenni, received on May 26, 2008, a delegation from the local coordination body for the community reparation programme in the region of Nador.

The delegation, composed of Mrs. Selma Haidar (Noumidya Forum for Family and Development in Nador), Messrs Abdesslam Moukhtari (Tisghassen Association for Culture and Development), Mohamed Bouhama (Association for a Better Tomorrow for the Disabled), Mohamed Tadlaoui (Chouala Association for Social Solidarity in Zaiou), Mohamed Bentamout (Horizons Association for Women and Child) and Said El Berkani (AMDESAJ), came to communicate with the CCDH on questions by local civil society as regards the advancement of the inquiry about the mass grave discovered recently in Nador.

Mr Herzenni said that the Nador 1984 event question has never been forgotten in the CCDH work on the follow-up of the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), even if this discovery was a coincidence and that other pathways have been explored. Mr Herzenni reaffirmed that the number of bodies exhumed was 16, a figure reached by the IER investigations. He also added that a meeting was held with the victims’ families who expressed their willingness to cooperate with the CCDH.

Mr Herzenni explained that the bodies were found in a grave constructed of concrete, excluding any possibility of finding other bodies in the same place. Regarding the declarations of some associations who claim that the number of victims exceeds 16, Mr Herzenni asked to officially provide the names of alleged victims accompanied by complaints from families; otherwise the CCDH would have no reason to open further investigations.

As regards the 1958 events question raised by members of the local coordination body, the CCDH President explained that the problem is that of historical truth that has not yet settled. It was therefore concluded that the local coordination body proposes to the CCDH a work programme on the history and memory of the Rif, enabling a broad involvement of civil society in the region of El Houceima and Nador. This program, based on the memory and history approach developed by the community reparation programme, is expected to be led by a steering committee composed of reference persons in historical research.

In conclusion, Mr Herzenni recalled that the truth is a continuous process and that the future is built by putting in perspective the lessons of the past.