Following in the footsteps of President Ferhat Mehenni who spoke yesterday, the Prime Minister of the Kabyle Provisional Government in Exile (Anavad), Mr Zidane Lafdal, spoke at the Palais des Nations on Friday, the last day of the 11th session of the Minorities Forum. which takes place from 29 to 30 November 2018 at the UN headquarters in Geneva.
To recall that yesterday, President Ferhat Mehenni, in pleading the cause of Kabylie and the peaceful struggle of the Kabyle people for their self-determination, has denounced before the international community the Algerian creation of stateless Kabyles.
The intervention of Prime Minister Zidane Lafdal is to listen and see on the WebTV of the United Nations, between 01:16:30 and 01:18:40.
Below is the transcript of Prime Minister Zidane Lafdal’s intervention at the 11th session of the UN on the question of minorities:
Madam President, Honorable Members of the Bureau, Honorable Representatives of Minority Peoples and NGOs, After Mr Mehenni’s presentation on the statelessness of the Kabyles targeted by the Algerian repression, I would like to reflect on those of the peoples.
Let’s say globally that “All people without a state is a stateless people”. Denial of existence is the worst kind of pain that is inflicted on a people. Issuing identity papers to its members in the name of a nationality that is not theirs, may appear for an external look as a chance whereas this is only an additional punishment. To be imposed a nationality that is rejected is always colonialism.
Thus, the people of Kabylia has suffered the unbearable status of stateless since 1857, being forcibly included in the French-Algeria became, as since 1962, this state has reduced them to the rank of internal enemy which must be erased until their soul.
After a war lost in 1965, Kabylia is waging a peaceful political struggle against military violence as in 2001, with what is known as the Black Spring, during which no fewer than 130 people were killed.
The only way to put an end to this unbearable situation is the organizing of a referendum of self-determination. To expose the mountains of injustice (repression, denials and discrimination of all kinds) that Algeria is subjected to Kabylia, a Memorandum was sent in this sense to the Secretary General of the UN on 28/09/2017, the Kabylie is waiting for the official response from the United Nations.
Moreover, we request the sending of a mission of the United Nations and the European Union to verify in the field our unbearable status of stateless people.
Thank you. Zidane LAFDAL