Kamal Fadel - radio interview on Radio Adelaide
May 11th, 2008101.5 FM - Sundays 9 AM (ACST)
Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) is an incorporated non-profit Association which was set up to raise awareness and promote the Saharawi cause in Australia, and to campaign for a free and fair referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people.
The independence struggle in Western Sahara mirrors almost exactly that of the East Timorese. In 1975 when the colonial power Spain withdrew, the neighbouring country, Morocco, invaded. A war ensued until a UN sponsored ceasefire was declared in 1991 when a referendum was promised.
Despite UN pressure Morocco refuses to agree to a referendum.
The independence struggle in Western Sahara mirrors almost exactly that of the East Timorese. In 1975 when the colonial power Spain withdrew, the neighbouring country, Morocco, invaded. A war ensued until a UN sponsored ceasefire was declared in 1991 when a referendum was promised.
Despite UN pressure Morocco refuses to agree to a referendum.
Maori Party calls for ethical investment in fisheries
May 11th, 2008Written by Hone Harawira Thursday, 08 May 2008
Following the revelations in New Zealand media that the fishing company Sealord is involved in marketing fish from occupied Western Sahara, the Maori Party has now released a statement. Sealord is half Maori owned. Read their statement here.
Now the Kiwis get involved in fish plundering too
May 11th, 2008New Zealand, a country which already is a main ally to Morocco in buying the phosphates from the occupied Western Sahara, now also proves to be involved in the distribution of the territory’s fish resources.
Freedom House: Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara still one of world’s ‘most repressive’
May 11th, 2008
7 May 2008 A prominent human rights group has again denounced the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara as one of the ‘most repressive’ situations in the world today.The U.S.-based human rights watchdog Freedom House yesterday released its annual report on the world’s most authoritarian regimes and gravest human rights situations.Titled Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2008, the report classified Morocco’s presence in Western Sahara alongside more well-known human rights catastrophes like China, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.
Human Rights Watch reveals police abuse inquiry a ’sham’
May 11th, 2008New York, May 8, 2008) – Citing “lack of evidence,” Moroccan authorities closed an investigation into police abuse allegations made by two human rights defenders whose testimony the prosecutor refused to solicit, Human Rights Watch said today.
New Zealand’s biggest fishing company being criticised
May 11th, 2008
Radio New Zealand
8th May 2008, 7:19 am
New Zealand’s biggest fishing company is being criticised by a European human rights group for operating in disputed waters off Africa.
The Western Saharan Resource Watch human rights group says Sealord owns shares in the company Europacifico, which processes fish caught by a Moroccan company in waters off Western Sahara.
AWSA letter sent to Impact Fertilisers Aust. CEO
May 9th, 2008“Accepting a phosphate rock shipment from Moroccan authorities in the occupied Western Sahara is a serious violation of 
fundamental ethical norms and international law. It gives the impression of political legitimacy to a brutal occupation, and undermines the UN peace process to find a solution to the conflict. Please put further importations on hold until the conflict in Western Sahara is settled”, Cate Lewis wrote in a letter to the company on behalf of AWSA on 6 May.
Javier Bardem leads Sahrawi support campaign
May 9th, 2008By: thinkSPAIN, Your English Spanish Website, Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Spain’s first Oscar-winning actor, Javier Bardem (photo, is leading a campaign to restore peace and freedom to those living in the Western Sahara, who have spent the last 33 years in refugee camps after the Franco regime handed over sovereignty to Morocco and Mauritania.
Australia Western Sahara Association PRESS RELEASE 28 April 2008
May 1st, 2008Appeal for release of Brahim Sabbar and all Saharawi political prisoners
Today the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) wrote to Mr Chakib Benmoussa, Moroccan Minister of the Interior asking for the release of Saharawi political detainees, held in Moroccan prisons. Brahim Sabbar is the secretary general of ASVDH, the Saharawi Association for victims of violations of human rights for Saharawis living under Moroccan rule and has been in prison since June 2006 (see: http://asvdh.net/english/?page_id=316).
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The Age, 29 April 2008. Western Sahara and Australian foreign policy
May 1st, 2008We can help Western Sahara gain independence
by Kamal Fadel, The Age 29 April 2008
NOW that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s first big overseas trip has concluded, and we have a chance to assess the new direction in Australian foreign policy, we can begin to flesh out his “middle power” agenda. A solid speech or a tough talking doorstop in the exalted atmospheres of international geopolitics do not a policy make. Kevin Rudd needs a hook to hang his “middle power” hat on. There is no better hook than Western Sahara.
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