Author Archives: appleton

Sahrawis awaiting fulfilment of Ban Ki-moon’s pledges

sprasd.info, Sahara Press Service

LONDON (UK), March 09, 2016 (SPS) – Polisario Front representative in London Mohamed Limam Mohamed Ali said Tuesday that the Sahrawi people are awaiting the fulfilment of the promises UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made during his visit to the Sahrawi liberated territories and the Sahrawi refugee camps….(cont.)

Article >>

Ban Ki-moon rejects Morocco criticism after Sahrawi refugees visit

AfricaNews. 10/03 – 08:16

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday rejected Morocco’s criticism after his visit to the region to restart talks between Rabat and the Polisario Front over Western Sahara, claiming that his goal remained a priority. Mr. Ban visited Mauritania and a Sahrawi refugees camp in Algeria last week in the hope of shifting positions on the conflict that has lasted four decades.

Article in AfricaNews. >>

UN Chief Arrives in Western Sahara as Talks in Crisis

Photo: Ariel Armeno

March 4, 2016 · posted by Independent Diplomat in Blog

“UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to arrive in Western Sahara tomorrow (Saturday 5 March) for the first visit of his tenure. The trip comes at a crisis point for UN talks on Western Sahara following Morocco’s refusal over the last three years to participate in any direct negotiations, its refusal to receive the UN Secretary-General during his current visit to the region, and its killing this week of a Saharawi civilian in the demilitarized buffer zone….(cont.)”

Independent Diplomat post >>

UN Secretary-General’s remarks to press following meeting with Secretary-General of the Polisario Front

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Off-the-Cuff, Rabouni, 5 March 2016

“I am honored to be able to visit here today. I had a very good meeting with Secretary-General [Mohamed] Abdelaziz and I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere thanks for their very kind welcome…..(cont.)”

40 Years in, Western Sahara can count on Cuba & Latin America

Telesur Analysis, 26 February 2016

Morocco’s military occupation of Western Sahara has become “morally indefensible,” a leading Sahrawi rights activist told teleSUR Saturday. The Moroccan occupation is sapping the Western Saharan territory of its natural resources while subjecting the Indigenous population, the Sahrawi to widespread human rights abuses, according to campaigner Cate Lewis. (…cont.)

Telesur Analysis report >>

UN chief plans later visit to Western Sahara

Daily Mail Australia online, 1 February 2016

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Western Sahara later this year where the United Nations is seeking to end a 40-year conflict with Morocco, his spokesman said Monday.
Ban, who steps down at the end of the year, had hoped to travel to the main city of Laayoune in Western Sahara and visit Rabat during his north Africa tour later this week, but no date was agreed with Morocco.

Daily Mail article >>

Time for a Referendum in Western Sahara, says Nick Scott from Independent Diplomat

Nick Scott, 10 February 2016
The World Post, a partnership of The Huffington Post and the Berggruen Institute,

In this article Nick Scott, External Relations Officer at Independent Diplomat, vehemently critiques the argument put forward recently by Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco that Americans ought to “applaud” Morocco because “it is a challenge identifying a strong dependable, and extraordinarily supportive Arab ally in the chaos [of the region].”

Read Nick Scott’s article >>

Canadian Companies buying Non-renewable Resources from Moroccan-occupied West Sahara

Yves Engler, Dissident Voice, February 23rd, 2016

In violation of international law two major Canadian companies are buying the non-renewable resources of Africa’s last remaining colony.
Saskatoon’s PotashCorp and Calgary’s Agrium have partnered with Morocco’s state-owned OCP to export phosphate mined in Western Sahara, a sparsely populated territory in northwestern Africa that was ruled by Spain until 1975.

16th Sahara Marathon coincides for 40th anniversary of SADR declaration

Middle East Eye, In Pictures, Tuesday 23 February 2016

Some 500 runners from North Africa, Europe and North America competed in the 16th Sahara Marathon on Tuesday, organisers said.
The event – which sets off from the Tindouf refugee camp in Algeria – was timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the declaration of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, Saharawi Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmed Lahbib Abdi, told reporters….(cont.)

Middle East Eye article >>

WS struggle for self-determination taken to European courts

David Connett
The Independent, Sunday 24 January 2016

“UN shuttle diplomacy has consistently failed to break the impasse over the fate of the disputed territories. Now the Sahrawi people are trying to break the deadlock themselves – in the courts.

The mineral-rich country on Africa’s north-west Atlantic coast is bounded by Morocco in the north, Mauritania in the south and Algeria to the east. All three countries have taken an active interest in the fate of the Sahrawi – not always altruistically. (…cont.)”

The Independent article >>

Australia Western Sahara Association

Working for justice for the Saharawi people