Text of Military Agreement #1

-

In my last post I urged people to contact MINURSO and UN Peacekeeping to ask why vital information on the terms of the ceasefire in Western Sahara has been removed from the MINURSO website, and request that this information be reinstated. Here is the text in question, from Military Agreement (MA) #1, copied from the MINURSO website in October 2008 (from this address, which is now defunct: http://www.minurso.unlb.org/monitoring.html):

“MA#1 divides the disputed territory of Western Sahara into five parts:
• One 5 km wide Buffer Strip (BS) to the South and East side of the Berm;
• Two 30 km wide Restricted Areas (RA) along the Berm. The Buffer Strip is included in the
Restricted Area on the POLISARIO side and the Berm is included in the Restricted Area on
the RMA side;
• Two Areas with Limited Restrictions (ALR), which are the two remaining vast, stretches of
land of Western Sahara on both sides respectively.”
I quoted this text in a Briefing Note I prepared on the partition of Western Sahara, also in October 2008.

For a graphical representation of MA#1 click here. For Map A4-010 showing the ceasefire on the ground, see below, or click here for a jpeg version.

I’ve posted all this before, and will keep reposting it until MINURSO reinstates the relevant ceasefire information on its website, and Morocco’s propagandists stop their attempts to mislead the world into believing that Morocco controls all of Western Sahara, and that the Polisario-controlled areas are in fact an empty “buffer strip” set up by the UN for Morocco’s protection (the buffer zone is just 5km wide on one side of the Berm, and there is parity between the Moroccan and Polisario controlled zones, on either side of the Berm, in MA#1). Morocco is misrepresenting the situation on the ground in order to persuade the world that its “Autonomy Plan” for Western Sahara is viable. It is not, as it does not address the issue of partition, or of the Sahrawi refugees in Algeria. The information presented here, downloaded from earlier versions of the MINURSO website, clearly contradicts Morocco’s representation of the situation. Rabat is desperate to obscure the situation on the ground, and it seems likely that this is why MINURSO removed the information relating to the terms of the ceasefire, as a result of pressure from Morocco and its allies France and the United States, which are pushing for a normalisation of Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara. If this is not the case, all parties should be happy to see this information reinstated – that would be sufficient rebuttal.

Division of Western Sahara under the terms of the 1991 ceasefire agreement. Map from MINURSO.
SAND & DUST, 8/11/2011

Popular posts from this blog

Answer given by Vice-President Mogherini on behalf of the Commission

-
Image
 Answer given by Vice-President  Mogherini on behalf of the Commission The EU is closely following the situation of human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara, including through its contacts with civil society organisations, human rights defenders, the National Council of Human Rights (CNDH) and its regional offices. The EU has specifically enquired about the situation of Mohamed Daoudi. The EU has been informed that members of the regional office of Tan Tan-Guelmin payed him a visit on 8 October 2016. According to our information, on the same day Mohamed Daoudi was taken to the hospital where his health situation is being monitored. In the context of its political dialogue with the Moroccan authorities, the EU consistently expresses its concerns about alleged cases of ill-treatment and impunity. Political dialogue goes in parallel with the important support provided by the EU through its financial cooperation to public institutions and civil society to reform ...
Read more

South Sudan should not receive the Blood Money from the Moroccan King

-
Image
January 22, 2017 (SSB ) —- In recent time the King of Morocco has been giving away a lot of money as seen in the following instances— on October 20, 2016, WIKILEAKS leaks that the Moroccan King Promises $12 Million Dollars to meet with Hillary Clinton. The above WIKILEAKS followed the report on Oct 18, 2016 of the visit by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to African countries, which was said to be the first of its kind since coronation in 1999. The visit followed a lengthy letter to African Union (AU) summit in Rwanda in which King Mohammed VI of Morocco declared his country’s intention to become a member of the union after the long time break with the body. After that letter, the Moroccan monarch planned and started touring some countries in Africa. These countries include: Nigeria, Zambia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and then now he is expected to visit South Sudan. The first country to be visited by the King of Morocco was Rwanda where he signed 19 agreement...
Read more

EL-MELHFA: A Symbol of Beauty and Resistance

-
Image
El-melhfa is a four-meter long by one-meter wide piece of fabric. It is not any ordinary piece of cloth; it is the symbol of the Saharawi heritage, beauty, and resistance. Many people may view it as a religious, specifically Muslim symbol. But El-melhfa, above all, is cultural and unique to the Saharawi people, used by every ethnic and religious groups within the Saharawi population. It comes in variety of colors, patterns and materials. It can be one color, three or ten. It may be simple or with artistic shapes and patterns or even with the flag of Western Sahara. El-melhfa has different names depending on the colors and the material it is made of. Sometimes, it gets its name from the age group of women. El-melhfa, when you think about, holds a very practical role in the life of people like the Saharawis. A country like Western Sahara is mostly desert with a weather that is dry, hot and characterized with sand-storms. And so, El-melhfa can serve as a means of protection fro...
Read more