Category Archives: Political issues

The Runner screened in NSW Parliament

The Runner which is a documentary about the story of the Saharawi champion and long-distance runner Salah Hmatou Ameidan was screened on Wednesday evening 14 May 2014 at NSW Parliament in Sydney (Australia).

The event was hosted by Mr. Jamie Parker, member of Parliament from the Green Party. Mr. Parker spoke during the event and said that the Saharawi cause is a tragedy that has been going on for a long time and that it is a shame the UN has not been able to resolve the case of the last colony in Africa. He said that he visited the Saharawi refugee camps and witnessed the suffering of the Saharawi people who have been forced to leave their homeland and seek refuge. He said that the event is important as a solidarity gesture and he encourage the audience to join the Australia Western Sahara Association and to support the Saharawi cause. Continue reading →

Security Council extends UN Western Sahara mission through April 2015

29 April 2014 – The Security Council today extended for another year the mandate of the United Nations mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire in Western Sahara and organizing a referendum on self-determination for the people of the territory.

The UN has been involved in efforts to find a settlement in Western Sahara since 1976, when fighting broke out between Morocco and the Frente Polisario after the Spanish colonial administration of the territory ended.

In today’s resolution, the 15-member Council extended the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 30 April 2015. MINURSO has been in effect since 1991.

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What is Total doing in Western Sahara?

by Olivier Petitjean
25 April 2014

The French company Total, along with other multinationals, has recently started oil and gas exploration off Western Saharan – a territory which has been under Moroccan occupation for almost forty years. These activities raise ethical issues about consultation with local communities and fair distribution of potential revenues. Saharawi activists have spoken up their concerns for years….

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US and UK students detained in El Aaiun

Today, April 19, two students from the U.S. and UK have been detained at a checkpoint in El Aaiun. Kristina Nygaard, with U.S. passport, and Joanna Allan, a British citizen, had traveled to occupied Western Sahara to learn more about the concerning situation of the Saharaui population and to gather information on human rights violations and natural resources exploitation in the occupied territory.

In one of the many existing checkpoints at El Aaiun, Kristina Nygaard and Joanna Allan were arrested by the Moroccan police. As declared by the students themselves, they have been told that “they are not welcome” and they will be driven in a car, probably to Agadir.

AWSA joins 116 other associations from 22 countries to plead for human rights monitoring by UN in Westen Sahara

Joint letter from humanitarian organisations working in support of the people of Western Sahara

President of the UN Security Council,
Ambassadors of Member States of the UN Security Council,
New York.

16th April 2014

Mrs. President, Ambassadors of the Member States of the United Nations Security Council,

In 1991 Security Council resolution 690 established the mandate for MINURSO to conduct a free and fair referendum for self-determination for the Sahrawi people. 23 years later the Sahrawi people are still waiting to enjoy that inalienable right which is laid out in United Nations resolution 1514 (XV).

In the meantime, Western Sahara remains a colony of Spain, illegally occupied by Morocco and the largest of only 16 remaining non-self-governing territories identified by the United Nations which have yet to be decolonised. Up to 160,000 Sahrawis remain in refugee camps in the desert of neighbouring Algeria, reliant on diminishing international aid. Continue reading →

SADR AWARDS NEW OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION BLOCK TO RED RIO PETROLEUM LIMITED

18 March 2014

The Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is pleased to announce that it has awarded the Bir Lahlou Block to the UK-based Red Rio Petroleum Limited (“Contractor”), effective from 18 March 2014. The award is under the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) terms previously promulgated by the SADR:

http://www.sadrpma.com/petroleum_legislation.php

The Bir Lahlou block is situated in the north-east corner of the Territory of Western Sahara (see map here: http://www.sadrpma.com/licence_offering.php, in the area controlled by the Frente POLISARIO, which leads the Government of the SADR. The block overlies part of the Paleozoic Tindouf Basin, which extends eastwards into Algeria and east and south into Mauritania. The Basin sits over the top of a stratigraphic section of rocks ranging in age from Cambrian to Carboniferous, which is analogous to other sub-Atlas basins to the north-east, and which produce large amounts of gas and oil in Algeria.
Continue reading →

AWSA slams Incitec Pivot for stolen phosphate from occupied Western Sahara

AWSA today condemned Incitec Pivot for their latest import of phosphate rock, due on Sunday from Western Sahara, saying Pivot should stop the trade with Morocco in what is essentially stolen property, as other Australian fertiliser companies (CSBP/Wesfarmers and Impact) have done.

A shipment of conflict phosphate is due to arrive in Portland on 16 March on board the bulk carrier, Eurosun. The ship will discharge only part of its cargo of phosphate rock in Portland and the rest in Geelong on 20 March. Continue reading →

Sons of the Clouds screened in Melbourne

In collaboration between Filmoteca and the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA), The Sons of the Clouds documentary was screened to a large crowd at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne.

The film was introduced by Cate Lewis, Vice-President of AWSA, saying “Every year, in the most remote of the four refugee camps near Tindouf in south west Algeria, a magical, miraculous thing happens,”

“ The Sahara Film Festival takes place on a big screen outside at night. It’s called FiSahara and last October saw its 10th anniversary.”

Continue reading →

DONATIONS NEEDED FOR WESTERN SAHARA REFUGEE CAMP HOSPITAL

SHIPPING CONTAINER TO LEAVE FROM MELBOURNE 2014

MEDICAL SUPPLIES, LAPTOPS, SCHOOL SUPPLIES,

DONATIONS IN KIND DONATIONS TAX DEDUCTIBLE THROUGH UNION AID ABROAD

APHEDA http://www.apheda.org.au (Please specify Western Sahara)

Contact:

Ron Guy 0428 173 970

Georgia Vlassopoulos 0425 702 975

[email protected] – https://awsa.org.au

Fish, phosphates and tomatoes

By Olivier Quarante for
LeMonde diplomatique, Friday 7 March 2014

Morocco exploits Western Sahara’s natural resources

Morocco is making considerable profits from the land and waters of the annexed Western Sahara, and no external power, including the UN, has challenged this.It’s impossible to count the lorries laden with octopus and fish streaming north on the main road between El Aaiun, the major city in the north of Western Sahara, and Dakhla, 500 km south. Continue reading →