Category Archives: Political issues

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 >>

European Court ruling threatens Western Sahara contracts

Jan 21, 2016, Menas Associates, Sahara

A landmark ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in favour of the Polisario Front on 10 December has ordered the annulment of a trade agreement between Morocco and the European Union (EU) because it includes the territory of Western Sahara.
The March 2012 trade agreement, which failed to explicitly refer to Western Sahara, left open the possibility that the accord would apply in the disputed region, as both Morocco and the EU clearly intended.

1976 – 2016 : 40 Years of Exile. Swiss Support Committees for the Saharawi petition is launched

January 2016
The Swiss Support Committees for the Saharawi have launched a Petition to the UN Security Council to require the immediate organisation of a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara and they call for worldwide support for this petition. It’s time to find a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.

Please sign – and spread the information around the world!
We need thousands and thousands of signatures…
Campaign for signing the petition: 1 January 2016 – 15 August 2016

Sign the petition >>

Colin Murphy reports on the forgotten conflict of Western Sahara

The Sunday Business Post, 15 November 2015
Colin Murphy reports on his visits to the Polisario-run camps, in Algeria, some years ago and more recently where roughly 100,000 people live a barren existence, without a functioning economy or proper services.
He writes, “On a separate trip to Western Sahara, I met dozens of Sahrawi activists who said they had been arrested, beaten, imprisoned and tortured for activities ranging from graffiti to human rights work to political protest. Among these was Brahim Sabbar, whom I met in Dublin again recently, as he attended an event run by the Irish human rights organisation, Front Line Defenders. (…cont.)

Colin Murphy’s article >>

Global Change, Peace and Security: Western Sahara: The Role of Resources in its Continuing Occupation

13 November 2015
La Trobe Law School announces the publication of the latest issue of

Global Change, Peace & Security, Special Issue: Western Sahara: The Role of Resources in its Continuing Occupation (Issue 27(3), October 2015).

To read about the right to self-determination, political and socio-economic factors that may inhibit its exercise, and the possible consequences of failure to give effect to that right in the context of the Saharawis of Western Sahara and Morocco’s exploitation of Saharawi natural resources, see this latest issue.
The journal is published by Routledge in association with La Trobe Law School.

Global Change, Peace & Security – Special issue: Contents

Activists gather to demand that Morocco’s king stop obstructing Referendum or leave Western Sahara

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 10-11 AM

(Washington, DC)…Human rights activists, including representatives of the US-Western Sahara Foundation, Nonviolent International, Sahrawi refugees and a former MINURSO official, gathered at the Embassy of Morocco Friday, November 6 at 10 am to submit a petition demanding that King Mohamed VI of Morocco stop obstructing the UN planned referendum over Western Sahara or withdraw from their illegal occupation of Western Sahara.
Continue reading →

Australia Western Sahara Association

Working for justice for the Saharawi people