Monthly Archives: September 2018

Thanks to New Zealand, I have spent all my life in a refugee tent

Najla Mohamed-Lamin in the refugee camp in Algeria where she grew up

By Najla Mohamed-Lamin – a Saharawi refugee now studying in the United States
stuff.co.nz; 21 September 2018

OPINION: I have never been to New Zealand. But what happens in the ports of your country is deeply affecting me and my people. As a refugee, living on the other side of the world, I am disturbed by the role that a country, so far away, can play in the conflict that has made my life so complicated.
A series of articles has recently been published by Stuff, regarding New Zealand’s imports of phosphate rock from Western Sahara. That is my homeland, occupied by Morocco.
New Zealand is the now the only country in the world that buys phosphate rock from Western Sahara. Importers in the United States and Canada have just terminated the controversial imports.
Read article >>

Expert says New Zealand doesn’t need to keep buying phosphate from Western Sahara

Tony Wall, National Correspondent, www.Stuff.co.nz
14 September 2018
New Zealand could easily stop buying “stolen” phosphate from the occupied Western Sahara and use a more environmentally friendly version, a soil scientist and independent fertiliser operator says.
The Stuff series Growing Pain has shone a light on how New Zealand has been thrust into the centre of the world’s most protracted refugee crisis by continuing to buy phosphate from the bitterly disputed region.
The Saharawi people consider the phosphate to be stolen by Morocco, which annexed their territory in the 1970s

Read more >>

FREE MOVIE NIGHT: Western Sahara Mini Docos 6.30-8.30pm, Thurs 20 September Leichhardt Town Hall

The Australia Western Sahara Association invites you to join us for a free film evening

A showcase of two mini-documentaries (30min each) on the plight of Western Sahara – Africa’s last colony and a UN-disputed territory.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A.
Learn about this ongoing and little known conflict that has persisted unresolved since Morocco’s invasion of Western Sahara in 1975

Date:  Thursday 20 September 2018
Where:  Leichhardt Town Hall
Time:  6.30 – 8.30 pm
Details:   https://m.facebook.com/events/478935722575021/

Drinks and nibblies will be available with proceeds going to support awareness-raising for Western Sahara.
Invite your friends and family and make a night of it.   Event flyer attached

Continue reading →

Western Sahara refugees urge PM Jacinda Ardern to step in over phosphate trade

The NM Cherry Blossom, which had been headed for Tauranga, was forced to anchor 4km off the South African coast, costing $10,300 a day.

Charlie Mitchell
Stuff NZ, September 12 2018

Refugees who blame New Zealand for a long-running stand-off in the Western Sahara have made a direct plea to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is among the few Westerners to have visited their camps.
A delegation of representatives from Morroco is in Wellington this week to make their case over the ongoing purchase of minerals from the region by two New Zealand fertiliser co-operatives. Phosphate taken from a mine in the region is considered by the Saharawi people to be stolen by Morroco, which annexed the area in 1975.
The Green Party is calling for a select committee inquiry into the trade and will meet with the Moroccan delegation on Thursday to raise its concerns…

Read full report

NZ’s reliance on ‘stolen goods’

The world’s longest conveyor belt in the Sahara Desert.

A series of three special reports by Charlie Mitchell
Stuff NZ, September 12 2018

* In Part one: Precious rock New Zealand is accused of stealing from the Sahara
*  part two of Growing Pain, a Stuff series, Charlie Mitchell reports on New Zealand’s tarnished reputation as a humanitarian nation in the eyes of those stuck in refugee camps in Algeria.
* In part three of Growing Pain, a Stuff series, Charlie Mitchell explains the strange bind that keeps New Zealand companies returning for more phosphate from Western Sahara.