Western Sahara News

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi So far I have identified two ex-Guantánamo detainees of Moroccan origin fighting in Syria under the banner of Harakat Sham al-Islam: namely, Abu Hamza al-Maghrebi (Mohammed al-‘Alami) and Abu Ahmad al-Muhajir (Ibrahim bin Shakaran). The latter is the leader of Harakat Sham al-Islam: a Moroccan-led mujahideen group operating primarily in Latakia and Aleppo governorates. The group recently played a role in the capture of al-Kindi hospital from regime forces alongside Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic Front. Figure 1: Ibrahim bin Shakaran engages in outreach to children in Latakia village of Kafr Najah. Now I have identified another Moroccan ex-Guantanamo detainee: Mohammed Mizouz, going under the alias of Abu al-Izz al-Muhajir. He appeared only many hours ago in a video where he makes a speech on the necessity for the unity of the mujahideen, appearing alongside fighters from both Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham and Jabhat al-Nusra in Latakia. ...

Among the member States of the African Union, we find the Republic Arab Saharawi Democratic. By contrast, Morocco is not a State party and did not ratify the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights as well as the Protocol establishing the Court. In January 2012 the African Union adopted Executive Council Decision EX.CL/Dec. 689 (XX) asking the African Human Rights Commission to carry out a mission to the occupied territory of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, with a view to investigating human rights violations. The Commission required permission to the Moroccan authorities for safe passage to the Occupied Territory but they did not answer to the Commission’s requests. As a consequence, the Commission was able to visit only the refugee camps near Tindouf in the South of Algeria from 24 to 28 September 2012. The results were published in the following report: ACHPR report on fact-finding mission to the SADR . The African Union and the RASD The Republic Arab Sahar...

Many Israelis have long felt that the European Union is biased against them. Two legal scholars – a former Israeli ambassador and an American Jewish international law professor — think they’ve found the perfect case to prove the claim: A new fishing deal, signed between the Europeans and Morocco, which applies beyond Morocco’s internationally recognized borders, taking in the territory of Western Sahara, even though Morocco invaded that area in 1975 and has occupied ever since. The two scholars are now challenging EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to explain why the agreement, in not excluding Morocco’s occupied territory, doesn’t prove that the EU is holding Israel to a double standard. The EU insists that any agreement it signs with Israel explicitly exclude the settlements in the “occupied” West Bank, the scholars noted in a letter sent last month to Ashton’s Brussels office . So why don’t the same constraints apply in the case of Morocco? This blatant inconsistency ...

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...

The Obama’s administration’s policy on Western Sahara constitutes nothing less than a rejection of fundamental principles of international law by Stephen Zunes 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. Two days before the summit, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement calling on the U.S. president to tell the king that “U.S. support for the reform process in Morocco depends on moving beyond rhetoric and making tangible change.” Specifically, the human rights group called for “stronger legal protections for rights and an end to impunity for police who use violence and commit other abuses.” Instead, according to a White House statement , Obama applauded the Moroccan monarch for “deepening democracy” and “promoting economic progress and human development.” The most critical issue fa...

As part of its mission to restore Dominica’s credibility with the membership of the African Union and its allies in the region, the United Workers Party (UWP) called on World Leaders to stand firmly with the people of Western Sahara and ensure prompt resolution of their long standing struggle for the right to freedom and self determination.  Says UWP Political Leader, Lennox Linton, “In affirming our solidarity with the people of Western Sahara at this time, we urge World Leaders to convince Moroccan officials to free dozens of Western Sahara prisoners and secure a breakthrough in talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front to settle the Western Sahara issue. Global human rights icon Nelson Mandela was passionate about such a settlement and it would be a fitting tribute to his memory”. Morocco’s invasion of the territory in 1975 did not find favor with the international community. A deadly conflict ensued with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, now widely regarded as ...

The Conflict in Western Sahara  Copenhagen conference January 18, 2014 Time and place: Saturday 18 January 2014, 11.00-17.00 “Professionshøjskolen Metropol”, Sigurdsgade 26, 2200 Copenhagen N. Register at: https://fnforbundet.nemtilmeld.dk/3/ Programme (subject to changes): 11.00-11.10 Welcome by Mr Jørgen Estrup, President of the Danish UN Association (confirmed) 11.10-11.30 Introduction to the Western Saharan conflict, including remarks on the official position of Denmark, by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Holger K. Nielsen (to be confirmed) 11.30-11.50 Questions and general debate 11.50-12.20 Break (soft drinks, coffee, tea and sandwich will be available for sale) 12.20-12.40 Experiences from the Western Sahara conflict, by Major General Kurt Mosgaard, former force commander the UN mission in Western Sahara (confirmed) 12.40-13.00 Official position of Morocco on the conflict (confirmed) 13.00-13.20 Official position of POLISARIO on the conflict by a repr...

The celiac disease, permanent gluten intolerance, has been considered for years a typical western problem. But recently it was observed in developing countries too, that up to now where considered immune to such disease. This phenomenon seems determined by a progressive westernization of their diet, often deriving from the food aid received from international organizations. In this perspective, a quintessential case-study is the one about the Sahrawi population, the majority of it living in refugee camps in Algeria, where the incidence of the celiac disease is ten times higher than in Europe. Gluten intolerance is an enteropathy caused by a combination of genetic (especially referring to alleles DQ12 and DQ8) and environmental factors. Up to some decades ago, it was thought to be a typical problem of western populations, especially Europeans, but recent studies highlighted a notable presence of such intolerance also in Northern Africa, India and the Middle East. Importan...

On 10th December, the International Day of Human Rights and the first anniversary of its being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the European Union (EU) renewed its fishing treaty with Morocco. The EU negotiated the treaty with Morocco, turning a blind eye to the serious and systematic human rights violations perpetrated by Morocco in Western Sahara. The fishing treaty allows entry into waters that belong to the territory of Western Sahara, which has been under Moroccan military occupation since 1975. It is a serious blow for the Saharawi people who, according to international law, have the right to be consulted in relation to economic activity in their territory. The owners of the fishing reserves in question either live under Moroccan occupation or in refugee camps at Tindouf, Algeria. More than 100 United Nations resolutions call for the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people and no state in the world recognises Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Sahar...

U.S. President Barack Obama met with Morocco's King Mohammed VI in Washington Nov. 22 for their first face-to-face meeting. The result was a bitter disappointment for supporters of human rights and international law. Two days before the summit, Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on the U.S. president to tell the king that "U.S. support for the reform process in Morocco depends on moving beyond rhetoric and making tangible change." Specifically, the human rights group called for "stronger legal protections for rights and an end to impunity for police who use violence and commit other abuses." Instead, according to a White House statement, Obama applauded the Moroccan monarch for "deepening democracy, promoting economic progress and human development." The most critical issue facing the northwestern Africa region involves Western Sahara, a sparsely populated country on the Atlantic coast that has been under Moroccan occupation s...

Prompted by her recent visit to her homeland, Agaila Abba presents a highly personal portrait of the historical origins of the Western Sahara question and the ongoing Sahrawi refugee problem. With exclusive photography by Joe Huddleston. There’s a specific morning that stands out to me: I was seven years old, and I asked two simple questions that changed my life. While the elders and younger family members surrounded my grandfather in his simple tent, they started to talk of a past event that took place in a country called Western Sahara. It piqued my curiosity; I asked my grandfather where this ‘Western Sahara’ was and what has happened there. My grandfather said “Western Sahara is our country, now occupied by Morocco. It is the country your father died for, and you, my dear, like all of us, are Saharawi.” My grandfather’s words not only captivated me, they gave me an identity, an identity that, as a child, I didn’t understand. However, growing older, it became a discovery...

The former anti-apartheid movement in Denmark, Africa Contact, held a memorial for Nelson Mandela in Copenhagen on Monday. About a thousand people took part in what was also a celebration of Mandela’s life and struggle for freedom and justice. A struggle Mandela himself has admitted has by no means been won – not in his native South Africa, and not for the millions of people throughout Africa and the world who still struggle to survive for democracy. Saharawi Minister Delegate for Europe, Mohamed Sidati, was invited to speak at the memorial as someone who had met Mandela on several occasions, but more importantly as a representative of a people whose battle for decolonisation has still not been won. “Mandela is a symbol man for Africa, for the whole world and for all and sundry,” Sidati told the crowd. “In February 1990, I was the first Saharawi who met with Mandela. I shall never forget how he received me. I spoke to him on the Western Sahara and its people. He liked to...

ZAGREB – The European Students’ Union (ESU) expresses its solidarity to the Western Sahara Students’ Union (UESARIO) and draws attention to the human rights violations taking place in that area. At the 65th Board Meeting of ESU, held in Zagreb, Croatia, the representatives of 47 national unions of students adopted a resolution where they reaffirmed their common vision of higher education as a human right that everyone should have access to. All students should have the freedom to choose their field of study and pursue higher education. Unfortunately, there are many shortcomings in this regard in Western Sahara, a territory occupied by Morocco since 1975 and divided by a wall of 2.800 kilometres. It is believed that this wall is guarded by 160.000 soldiers and that around eight million landmines surround it. Many of the people have been forced to leave the country to refugee camps in Algeria, where they have resided for numerous years. The ones who have stayed in the occu...

Sahrawi youths, having been denied a homeland by Morocco for years, are getting increasingly frustrated in their refugee camps in the Algerian Sahara. “As a member of the Sahrawi Students Union, I know that we have some young people who get frustrated,” explains Jalihena Mohamed, the 25-year-old representative of the Polisario Front’s youth organization. He is referring to the younger generation of Western Saharan refugees, many of whom grew up in the refugee camps in Algeria: “They have waited a long time for a solution that hasn’t come yet.” Tens of thousands of Sahrawi people from Western Sahara have lived in exile in refugee camps in the Tindouf province in western Algeria for almost four decades. The Moroccan government controls most of Western Sahara. A three-meter high wall, built in the 1980s to hinder Sahrawi soldiers, separates Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara from the areas to the east and south (the ‘Liberated Territories’) that are controlled by the politico-mil...