Category Archives: General

In Western Sahara, women play large role in forgotten struggle for independence

Washington Post, July 8, 2013
By Loveday Morris,

LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara — As dusk enveloped the salmon-pink houses of this capital city, the brightly colored robes of women stood out in a mass of protesters chanting for independence from Moroccan rule……..in a Muslim-majority region where women are often marginalized from politics, women have taken an unusually prominent role in Western Sahara’s independence movement (cont.)

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Western Sahara and the UN – 22 years later

The GlobalDispatches : Politics
By Anna Theofilopoulou, March 31, 2013

The UN is persevering, but time is running out. The real cause for concern should be the growing number of young and disaffected people in the region.

In April of this year, the UN Security Council will engage in the annual ritual of the mandate renewal for the UN Mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). This will involve discussing the report of the Secretary-General …(cont.)

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Western Sahara’s National Day – Moreland flag idea fails to fly

Melbourne Weekly Times, March 4, 2013, 10:53 a.m.
By CHRIS HINGSTON

A PUSH to celebrate cultural diversity by flying other nations’ flags within the Moreland City Council has been stymied.

Last month the council staged a small celebration to mark Western Sahara’s national day, but did not fly the flag outside Coburg Town Hall.
The gesture was a compromise, after a motion put forward by Moreland councillor Lita Gillies to fly the Western Saharan flag raised objections.

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Morocco’s Ambassador to the U.N. responds to a documentary about the country’s treatment of the Sahrawi people

CNN International Edition,  March 6, 2013
Interview by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour

Moroccan Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Mohammed Loulichki, responds to a documentary “Sons of the Clouds – The Last Colony”, presented by award-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem about the conflict over Western Sahara, the last remaining colony in Africa.

Video interview with Moroccan Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr. Mohammed Loulichki >>

MARIEM HASSAN: MUSIC IS MY WEAPON

ABC Radio National, Summer Features, 11.05am Wed 23 January 2013

“On the 9th of November, 2011, one year after the violent dismantling of a peaceful Saharawi protest which Noam Chomsky calls the beginning of the Arab Spring, Hassan performed for her people in exile. Her intense voice marked the moment in history.

During her visit to the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria, Hassan also launched a weapon – a music school. ….(cont.)
Listen to music and read transcript >>

Regional Instability Threatens Already Tense Western Sahara

BY LARISA EPATKO

“Larbass Abid, a Sahrawi, was born in Laayoune — Western Sahara’s largest city and its capital — in 1983..His people have been seeking independence from Morocco since 1976, when Spain abandoned its colonial claim. He’s one of the younger Sahrawis who has taken up the disputed territory’s independence struggle, going as far as helping organize a massive protest in 2010. ….(cont.)

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Photo essay: Scenes of Western Sahara

“No other choice” than self-determination for Western Sahara

Peter Kenworthy, NTA Newstime Africa, 
“There is no other choice but self-determination,” says a lady interviewed in a new documentary about Western Sahara made by 31-year-old English independent film-maker and journalist, Dominic Brown. She is the wife of one of the many activists belonging to Western Sahara’s indigenous population, the Saharawis, who have been imprisoned and tortured for campaigning for independence for Africa’s last colony….(cont.)

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