Report : Conflict Tomatoes - The Moroccan agriculture industry in occupied Western Sahara and the controversial exports to the EU market

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The European Union is about to con-clude a trade agreement opening upfor large EU imports of agricultural products from Morocco.Morocco, however, is an occupa-tion power. And the deal can be used by plantation companies in occupiedWestern Sahara to export fruits andvegetables to EU supermarkets free of tariffs.This report documents the massiveboom of the Moroccan agriculture in-dustry in the territory it brutally andillegally occupies, and documents howthe EU trade with the occupied terri-tory is already taking place. 

The Moroccan agriculture industry in occupiedWestern Sahara and the controversial exports to the EU market 

Morocco is illegally occupying its neighbouring coun-try, Western Sahara. While the people of Western  Sahara are legitimately struggling for liberty, theterritory is treated by the UN as the last remainingcolonial issue in Africa. The Moroccan occupationis in violation of the Opinion from the InternationalCourt of Justice in The Hague, and in violation of more than 100 UN resolutionsthat call for the self-determi-nation for the people of West-ern Sahara.The Moroccan occupationof the former Spanish colonytook place in a highly violent manner. AsMoroccan air forces bombed local WesternSahara settlements with napalm bombs, a majority of the indigenous Saharawis were forced to leave their homes, and fled to the Algerian desert. 

"The General Assembly deeplu deplores the aggravaton of the stuation resulting front the continued occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco" . (UN General Assembly res. 34/37, as the moroccan forces entered the terrtory where the tomatto proction s now taking place)

There, they stilllive. The Saharawis remaining on the oc-cupied land are subjected to severe hu-man rights violations if they speak out fortheir legitimate demands for liberation. Atthe time this report was published, thesecretary-general of the Saharawi asso-ciation that works for the protection of natural resources in Western Sahara hasbeen in military jail for 15 months, stillwithout a trial.Morocco is today turning the agriculture industry into a driving force behind populat-ing the territory with settlers. In 2008, theagricultural sector around Dakhla employed around4.000 seasonal workers with 10-month contracts,and approximately 200 permanent employees. In2010, the total number of workers in Dakhla’s agri-business had reached 6.480. Most of the workersare of Moroccan origin. As we will see later: Theoutlook for the future growth is highly worrisome. 

Read more on SCRIBD, 14/2/2012

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