Aminatou Haidar, a champion of peaceful resistance in the disputed African territory of Western Sahara, won Oct. 21 a leading international peace award. "This prize gives me the courage to pursue the non-violent struggle that I have been leading since I was 23," Haidar told AFP after receiving the award in New York from The Train Foundation along with a check for USD 50,000."I have been threatened with arrest on my return," added the 42-year-old rights activist who lives with her two children in Laayoune, the main city in Western Sahara.Morocco annexed the phosphate-rich northwest African territory after the withdrawal of colonial power Spain in 1975, leading to a bitter guerrilla war with the Polisario Front. It ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. (AFP)
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