Western Sahara News

2012-05-27 Arts and human rights charity, Sandblast has been knocked offline in an internet attack. The charity, founded by West Hampstead resident, Danielle Smith, works with the indigenous people from Western Sahara, the Saharawis, whose identity and culture is threatened by the impact of prolonged refugee life and Morocco's occupation. Sandblast's mission is to empower the Saharawis to tell their own story through the arts. The attack has come two weeks before the launch of its ambitious music empowerment project, Studio-Live, which aims to engage UK-based musicians, producers, technicians, and music industry specialists in building a Saharawi music industry from scratch in the refugee camps in the Algerian desert. bbcnews, 27/05/2012

Introduction Occupation and colonization are terms that evoke an era of empires and great powers. Once so common, they were eventually replaced by other terms that entered into the global lexicon after the World Wars, such as self-determination and human rights. Yet for two peoples, occupation and settler colonialism – in Wolfe‟s sense of displacing or replacing locals – are not remnants of a time foregone; they remain the reality of everyday life. 1) The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara draws considerably less attention than the Israeli occupation of  Palestinian territories. However, as this paper will show, these two cases of colonialism over two Arab peoples have much in common. 2) Although a quarter of a century passed between their inceptions, the occupied peoples bear similar scars left by European colonial mishaps: as the British and Spanish stumbled out of their respective territories, the moment was seized by the Zionists and the Moroccans. To m...

MADRID – The leader of the Polisario government of Western Sahara said on Thursday that the group is ready “to sacrifice the lives of its combatants” to liberate three European aid workers kidnapped seven months ago from a refugee camp in Algeria. The Polisario’s intelligence indicates that Spaniards Ainhoa Fernandez de Rincon and Enric Gonyalons and Italian Rosella Urru “are alive,” Prime Minister Abdelkader Taleb Omar said at a seminar in Madrid. He also said he was confident that negotiations to secure the captives’ release would soon bear fruit. If not, however, the Polisario has “the determination and the will to use all efforts to liberate them safe and sound,” he said. Taleb Omar said the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic – the Polisario’s name for the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara – is working actively with the governments of neighboring countries to resolve the situation. Fernandez de Rincon, Gonyalons and Urru were kidnapped Oct. 23 from a fa...

by Peter Kenworthy “Security forces used excessive force against protesters. Critics of the monarchy and state institutions continued to face prosecution and imprisonment, as did Sahrawi advocates of self-determination for Western Sahara. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees persisted,” Amnesty International writes about Morocco and Western Sahara in their 2012 annual report on human rights throughout the world that was released today [24 May]. Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. Morocco has consistently ignored an array of UN resolutions that have amongst other things demanded the right of the indigenous population, the Saharawis, to a referendum on the status of Western Sahara, and has instead continued to plunder the resources of Western Sahara in blatant disregard of international law. According to the report, the Moroccan government harasses and imprisons those who peacefully advocate any change in the status quo. “Saharawis advocating sel...

Durant le quinquennat de Nicolas Sarkozy, la France a perdu en Afrique et au Moyen-Orient e prestige dont elle jouissait. C’est pourquoi tout ceux qui aiment ce pays s’interrogent : le changement promis par François Hollande s’appliquera-til à la politique étrangère ? Dans un éditorial que nous reproduisons, le quotidien syrien Al Watan affirme que oui. Le leader socialiste juge aussi durement les Etats de la région que son prédécesseur mais, fidèle à ses principes, il devrait rompre l’alliance obscène du «pays des droits de l’homme» avec les dictatures religieuses du Golfe. Le premier tour de l’élection présidentielle française est terminé et le second vient de commencer. Les Français doivent choisir leur président pour les cinq prochaines années. Ils ne le font pas à partir de nos préoccupations, mais des leurs. Ils n’ont pas accordé une grande importance aux questions internationales, bien que leur Président sortant ait joué leur avenir à l’étranger. Alors que les crises intérieure...

In response to the “Arab Spring” movement for democracy in North Africa and Middle East, the Kingdom of Morocco announced a new Constitution that would include reforms allowing for greater democracy in Morocco and substantial human rights guarantees. In spite of those reforms, those under Moroccan jurisdiction cannot fully enjoy their freedom of expression, association, and assembly. They would be criminalized and punished if they are deemed challenging the Constitutional authority of the King, the religion, or the nation’s territorial integrity. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate Aminatou Haidar, RFK Partners for Human Rights Advocacy Director Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, Professor Susan Akram from Boston University Asylum & Human Rights Program, and Erik Hagan from the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara will travel to Geneva next week as part of an international coalition of human rights organizations to attend the United Nations Universal Periodic Review ...

Western Sahara has been rated “not free”, and has been given the lowest score of 7 in freedom, civil liberties and political rights in a report released yesterday [May 18] by Freedom House, an American human rights monitoring NGO. Western Sahara has been colonized by Morocco since 1975. According to Freedom House’s 2012 Report, Morocco and Moroccan settlers profit from its colonization of Western Sahara while leaving the indigenous population, the Saharawis, impoverished. “Although the territory possesses extensive natural resources, including phosphate, iron ore deposits, hydrocarbon reserves, and fisheries, the local population remains largely impoverished.” Political freedom for the indigenous population, the Saharawis, in calling for the end to such discrimination or independence from Morocco is virtually non-existent, however. “Morocco controls local elections and works to ensure that independence-minded leaders are excluded from both the local political process and the Moroccan...

New York –The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday gave strong backing to his Western Sahara envoy Christopher Ross after the Moroccan government said it had "no confidence" in the diplomat. "The secretary general has complete confidence in Christopher Ross," said the UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky in reaction to the Moroccan government statement which accused the envoy of being "biased and unbalanced". Morocco's attack on Ross follows months of growing tensions between the Rabat government and the United Nations over Western Sahara, the territory it started to annex in 1975 as Spanish colonists withdrew. A UN report on Western Sahara released last month said that Morocco's tactics had "undermined" UN attempts to report on events in the territory. UN-brokered talks between Morocco and Polisario Front rebels are deadlocked. Morocco's Foreign Minister Saad Dine Otmani met UN leader Ban last week and said after that he raise...

On 18 April 2012, the El Ayoun Court of Appeal sentenced six human rights defenders to three years in prison. Mr Atiqu Barrai, Mr Kamal Al Tarayh,Mr Abd Al Aziz Barrai, Mr Al Mahjoub Awlad Al Cheih, Mr Mohamed Manolo, who were arrested in October and November 2011, and Mr Hasna Al Wali, who was arrested in January 2012. They are all members of the Western Sahara Organisation Against Torture and are renowned for their advocacy for self-determination for the people of the Moroccan-administered Western Sahara. The sentences were handed down by the Court of Appeal which convicted them, amongst other things, of "forming a criminal gang", "complicity in murder", "violence against public employees" and "damaging public property". All these charges were brought against them in relation to violent events in the city of Dakhla in September 2011, which resulted in the death and injury of a number of people and the damage of property. All six human right...