MOROCCO ILLEGAL STAMPS
SAHARA REPUBLIC
SAHARAUI REPUBLICA
1997

Information and Reference of illegal stamps dating 1997 for Sahara Republic according to U.P.U. Circulars 129, 414, 69 and 71

The Universal Postal Union published the following Circular on April 10, 2000 denouncing illegal stamps at the request of the Postal Administration for Morocco. This Circular was validated by M S RAMAN, Assistant Director General of the UPU Secretariat who was the senior officer at that time overseeing philatelic issues. The circular is number 129. You can view it in the linked file below:

UPU Circular Number 129

Here is what was stated in the circular.

Dear Sir/Madam

The postal administration of MOROCCO asks me to inform you of the following:

"Our administration has been informed of the existence of postage stamps bearing the inscription 'République Arabe Sahraoui Démocratique' and various designs.
"We would like to point out that this so-called republic does not exist, that all these stamps are illegal and that their circulation does harm to the international postal service and to collectors.
"In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Acts of the Universal Postal Union, these stamps may not be accepted as a means of prepayment of postage for mail."

Yours faithfully,

M S RAMAN
Assistant Director-General

It has been revealed that a dossier has been found in the United States Postal Museum Archive that sheds more light on who the producer was and is of many of the Sahara Republic counterfeit illegal stamps. The name revealed is indeed Mr. Juan Carlos Marino Montero president of Mayfair International Printing Company at the time. You can view more details on it on the introduction page for Sahara Republic.

The Universal Postal Union published the following Circular on November 18, 2002 denouncing illegal stamps at the request of the Postal Administration for Morocco. This Circular was validated by K J S McKEOWN, Director of Markets of the UPU Secretariat. The circular is number 414. It states:

Dear Sir/Madam

The postal administration of MOROCCO asks me to inform you of the following:

The postal administration of Morocco deplores the fact that illegal postage stamp issues inscribed "République sahraoui" (Saharan Republic) or "Sahara Occidental" (Western Sahara) are still circulating on the international philatelic market, and being sold through various Internet sites and philatelic publications. We wish to stress once again that this alleged republic does not exist, and that all these postage stamps are illegal. The illegal issues of which we are aware are summa­rized below:

– Three souvenir sheets commemorating various aspects of the life of the singer Elvis Presley. Each sheet contains one postage stamp with a face value of 200 ptas.

– One miniature sheet of nine postage stamps commemorating various aspects of the life of the singer Elvis Presley. The face values are 20, 29, 40, 58, 105, 136, 148, 163 and 175 pesetas respectively.

– Three souvenir sheets commemorating various aspects of the life of the actress Marilyn Monroe. The face values of these sheets are not known.

– One miniature sheet of nine postage stamps commemorating various aspects of the life of the actress Marilyn Monroe. The face values are 20, 29, 40, 58, 105, 136, 148, 163 and 175 pesetas respectively.

– One souvenir sheet (with a face value of 200 ptas) and six individual stamps (with face values of 28, 29, 40, 68, 105 and 136 ptas) depicting various breeds of dog.

– One souvenir sheet (with a face value of 200 ptas) and six individual stamps (with face values of 28, 29, 40, 68, 105 and 136 ptas) depicting various types of fire-fighting vehicles.

– One souvenir sheet (with a face value of 200 ptas) and six individual stamps (with face values of 28, 29, 40, 68, 105 and 136 ptas) depicting various types of old cars.

– One series of five postage stamps on the theme of Galileo and space.

– One miniature sheet and a series of five postage stamps on the theme of the 1996 Olympics.

– Another series of five postage stamps depicting various athletes from the 1990 Olympics.

– One series of five postage stamps depicting various desert cacti.

– One miniature sheet depicting camels.

– One miniature sheet depicting a football world cup.

– One miniature sheet depicting scenes from Ancient Egypt.

These stamps have been issued in contravention of the Universal Postal Conven­tion and the Letter Post Regulations and are prejudicial to the integrity and sover­eignty of our country. Consequently, we regard these illegal issues as null and void and worthless whether for postal prepayment or as philatelic or collector's items.

The postal administration of Morocco would be grateful for any information leading to the identification of those responsible for these illegal issues so that appropriate action may be taken.

We also take this opportunity to confirm that the official postage stamps of Morocco are to be found on our site www.bam.net.ma.

Yours faithfully,

K J S McKEOWN
Director of Markets

The Universal Postal Union published yet another Circular on February 23, 2004 denouncing illegal stamps at the request of the Postal Administration for Morocco. This Circular was validated by K J S McKeown, Director of Markets of the UPU Secretariat. The circular is number 69. You can view it in the linked file below:

UPU Circular Number 69

Again The postal authorities condemn all stamps bearing the inscriptions SAHARA OCC. R.A.S.D. and REPUBLICA SAHARAUI and list more of the counterfeits in an annex.

The Universal Postal Union published yet another Circular on March 3, 2008 denouncing illegal stamps at the request of the Postal Administration for Morocco. This Circular was validated by K J S McKeown, Director of Markets Development of the UPU Secretariat. The circular is number 71. You can view it in the linked file below:

UPU Circular Number 71

Again The postal authorities condemn all stamps bearing the inscriptions SAHARA OCC. R.A.S.D. and REPUBLICA SAHARAUI.

We can see a consistent verification of the fact that all of these counterfeit stamps are just that. They are counterfeit illegal stamps and anyone trying to say they are something else using the conflicts between the Republic and Morocco as an excuse is not to be believed. None of these "stamps" ever saw the Western Saharan Desert and were never used there for anything!

For three decades now these illegal stamps have been produced and circulated around the world by the criminal producers and their criminal stamp distributors. It is about time that these illegal stamps be permanently defined as to what they are. Illegal stamps produced by a criminal who has only one intent.
TO RIP YOU OFF!

Excerpts from various online sources of a little history on the Sahara problem.

Western Sahara is a disputed territory on the northwest coast and in the Maghreb region of North and West Africa. About 20% of the territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, while the remaining 80% of the territory is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometers (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at just over 500,000, of which nearly 40% live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara.

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also called Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic or Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, self-declared state claiming authority over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is presently occupied by Morocco. The independence of the SADR has been recognized at various points by some 80 countries, although, beginning in the mid-1990s, a number of them withdrew or suspended their recognition.
The region was a Spanish colony from about 1884 to 1976. After Spain withdrew from the region in early 1976, the Polisario Front—a politico-military organization based in Algeria and composed largely of Sahrawis, the indigenous nomadic inhabitants of Western Sahara—declared the independence of the republic and the establishment of a government-in-exile and fought Morocco and Mauritania for control of the territory. In 1979 Mauritania made peace with the Polisario Front and abandoned its territorial claims, whereupon Morocco annexed Mauritania’s portion and claimed the whole territory. A referendum on whether the territory should remain part of Morocco or become independent was set for 1992 but was repeatedly postponed. After Muhammad VI succeeded his father, Hassan II, to the Moroccan throne in 1999, plans for a referendum stalled altogether, as Morocco indicated that it was no longer open to the idea. Efforts by the United Nations to resolve the conflict from its outset have been inconclusive, and the status of the region remains at an impasse.

End of Excerpts

During all of this time there has never been a postal system in the name of the Western Sahara. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic does not have and never has had any post offices and no postal service so there´s no need for any postage stamps. So any label even if officially issued as a postage stamp by that Republic cannot possibly be regarded as a postage stamp. Yet there are tons of them being sold on the stamp venues as if they are real. Most of the dealers I recognize as major illegal stamp dealers and unscrupulous good for nothing dealers. A majority are already on my lists of illegal stamp dealers.

The bottom line is that all the illegal stamps made in the above mentioned names were produced outside of the area in question and never used for any purpose within the territory even as propaganda labels! Ask yourself....is Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe stamps used as propaganda labels? Those that argue against the fact that these stamps are illegal and should not be bought and sold are just clown dealers who invest in this garbage simply to rip stamp collectors off and want to try to legitimize their criminal minded tactics to profit from it.

Let's Begin!

Obviously, there is no listings in any stamp catalogs for these counterfeit illegal stamps. A major portion are shown in the Colnect online catalog in their Illegal Stamps section though. In the past all of them were termed "Cinderella" in the emissions. Obviously this was by dealer influence to enable selling them. Another thing that I found was the fact that they did not show the Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe counterfeits made in 1996. Why was that? Maybe because it would totally acknowledge the fact that the International Collectors Societies certificates of authenticity are completely bogus as they state:
"This certifies that the accompanied souvenir sheet is an Official Legal Tender postage stamp issue of the Spanish Sahara, recognized by every Postal Authority around the world." As of 2022, I have changed that by uploading all of them into the system.

Illegal stamps are not recognized by every Postal Authority as "official" anything!! The certificates they made for this named "country" proves the society was scamming their members and also invalidates all of the certificates this society, which was owned by a private company, ever made. The connection between the owners of the International Collectors Society and the producer of these illegal stamp souvenir sheets, Mr. Juan Montero is proven by this promotion alone. So what about all the other Betty Boop, Popeye, on and on sheets with these certificates? Do you see it yet?

Many of the illegal stamps are shown in their Illegal Stamps section and are found under Spanish Sahara: Western Sahara.

The Colnect Online Catalog Illegal Stamp Section for Sahara Occ. R.A.S.D.

1997
The Conversion

In 1997 the British criminal producer continues production of counterfeit illegal stamps in the name of the Sahara Republic. For reasons that are still unknown the criminal producer diverted by changing the country name inscription on the majority of illegal stamps produced to REPUBLICA SAHARAUI. My personal theory is because of the attention caused by the production of the 1996 Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe counterfeit sets. You can see the styles used are completely different from all of the previous illegal stamps this producer made inscribed SAHARA OCC. R.A.S.D. except for the 1992 Maya Culture sheet which you can see had a much more "conservative" topic displayed.

The criminal producer did continue to produce sets using the inscription SAHARA OCC. R.A.S.D. in 1997 but virtually phased it out in 1998. I will show on later pages that the criminal and his cronies had several of the older Sahara Occidental sets overprinted with bogus overprints made to "sell off" what obviously are huge stocks that did not sell and continue not to sell well to this day.

Because we now have two differently inscribed country names to deal with, I will present them going forward in two sections. The first section will be entitled "SAHARA OCCIDENTAL" (Western Sahara) and the second section will be entitled "REPUBLICA SAHARAUI (Saharan Republic)" which follows inline with Circular 414.

SAHARA OCCIDENTAL
Western Sahara

1997 Butterflies Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Butterflies Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Football Soccer Francia 1998 Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Football Soccer Francia 1998 Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Soldiers Uniforms Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Soldiers Uniforms Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Trains Locomotives Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Trains Locomotives Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1

REPUBLICA SAHARAUI
Saharan Republic

1997 Antique Cars Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Antique Cars Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Big Cats Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Big Cats Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Birds Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Cactus Flowers Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Cactus Flowers Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Dinosaurs Prehistoric Animals Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Dinosaurs Prehistoric Animals Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Fish Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Fish Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Horses Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Horses Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



1997 Mushrooms Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Set of 6



1997 Mushrooms Counterfeit Illegal Stamp Souvenir Sheet of 1



In 1998 the conversion in the country name change from SAHARA OCC. R.A.S.D. to REPUBLICA SAHARAUI is complete except for one set.

View Next Page here!

References taken from:
U.P.U. Circular No. 129, 414, 69 and 71
Major Stamp Catalogs
Internet Research

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