Category Archives: Political issues

France’s Hollande calls Morocco king to defuse row

Agence France-Presse
February 26, 2014 7:03am

French President Francois Hollande has telephoned Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to soothe diplomatic tensions raised by civil lawsuits filed in Paris accusing Morocco’s intelligence chief of “complicity in torture.”

Morocco, a close ally with strong commercial and cultural ties to its former colonial ruler, had reacted furiously to the announcement last Thursday of two lawsuits filed by an NGO against Abdellatif Hammouchi, the head of its domestic intelligence agency (DGST).

Hollande called the king, who is currently touring West Africa, to reassure him of France’s “constant friendship,” “dispel the misunderstandings” and underline his desire to strengthen ties, the president’s office said Tuesday.

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Western Sahara activists feel full force of Moroccan intimidation

By John Hilary for Poverty Matters Blog
The Guardian, Tuesday 25 February 2014

Western Sahara can only be described as a police state. I was there recently with the first British parliamentary delegation to the occupied territory and everywhere we went we were closely shadowed by undercover agents. Wherever we were driven by our Saharawi hosts, we were tailed by Moroccan police.

Most chilling of all was the heavy police intimidation of a peaceful Saharawi demonstration we witnessed in the capital, Laayoune, the day before we left.

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The state of the Western Sahara

Jadaliyya  11 February 2014
By Allison L McManus

This electronic roundtable of articles describes various historical and political contours of the Western Saharan conflict. It particularly addresses the tireless stream of misinformation and distraction that is produced by state media of Algeria and, especially, Morocco.

This roundtable is most interesting for its inclusion of the voice of the Sahrawi themselves. Many Sahrawi (including those featured in this article) write and advocate quite prominently for their cause.

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Music a potent weapon in the Saharawi struggle

Talking about music might sound strange for people who live in refugee camps and are deeply burdened with many other problems needing to be voiced.

But the huge role music played in the Saharawi people’s struggle for independence leaves me with no choice e but to try to talk a little about the magical role revolutionary songs are playing in my people’s daily fight for self-determination.

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Broadcast of “Broken Families” has been postponed for a week – now Sunday 9 Feb

The broadcast of “Broken Families” has been postponed for a week and is scheduled for transmission on Sunday 9th February at 22.30 GMT. It will be repeated at 09.30 Monday 10th, 03.30 Tuesday 11th and 16.30 on Wednesday 12th.

Screening will take place in UK Parliament
Brahim Dahane is coming to the UK to speak at this event.

On Sunday 9 February 22.30 GMT Al Jazeera is broadcasting a documentary about Saharawi human rights defenders starring Brahim Dahane. Entitled “Broken Families” and it is in a series called Witness. It is possible to stream it live at : http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/

GMT is 11 hours behind Eastern Standard Australian time.

For more info on the “Broken Families” film >>

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Western Sahara Review / Revista del Sahara Occidental 3 now published

January 2014 – Western Sahara Review / Revista del Sahara Occidental 3

Articles in this 3rd edition include:

  • The need for UN ownership of the Western Sahara dispute [written by Mathias Vaa, former Danish diplomat currently working for the non-profit diplomatic group Independent Diplomat, which advises the Polisario Front]
  • Western Sahara and Palestine – economic and legal strategies to end occupation
  • Making music for freedom [Sara McGuinness describes the work she and others along with Saharawi musicians are doing to develop and the way Saharawi music is documented and distributed within the camps and beyond]

Read Western Sahara Review – No.3 >>

Reuters: Simmering Saharan conflict stirred by offshore oil search

Mon Jan 13, 2014
By Lin Noueihed

LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Oil firms stepping up plans to drill off the coast of disputed Western Sahara could be diving into murky legal waters and risk exacerbating one of Africa’s oldest territorial disputes.
Morocco has issued exploration licenses for blocks in the Atlantic waters off Western Sahara, a desert tract that it mostly controls but that is also claimed by an Algerian-backed independence movement that deems those contracts illegal  (cont.)

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Stephen Zunes : Obama Ignores Morocco’s Illegal Occupation and Human Rights Abuses

Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) 20 December 2013
Stephen Zunes
“The Obama’s administration’s policy on Western Sahara constitutes nothing less than a rejection of fundamental principles of international law.
In his meeting with King Mohammed VI, President Obama praised the “reform process” in Morocco even as the country maintains its abusive occupation of Western Sahara…..Late last month, President Barack Obama met with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in Washington for their first face-to-face meeting. The result was a bitter disappointment for supporters of human rights and international law….(cont.)”

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Statement of the government of the Saharawi Republic in response to the 2013 Incitec Pivot Limited Sustainability Report 2013

20 December 2013

The government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (the SADR) unreservedly rejects the statements made by the managing officers of Incitec Pivot Limited, an Australian publicly traded corporation, in its 2013 Sustainability Report.  Particular statements made in the Report about Western Sahara are factually wrong and incorrect as a matter of law.
Investors considering the Report should take note of significant flaws in that part which addresses the import of phosphate mineral rock illegally exported from occupied Western Sahara to Incitec Pivot Limited (IPL) in Australia. (See, notably, page 30.)

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