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...