Western Sahara News

The Western Sahara conflict is fast approaching its 40th anniversary with no end in sight. A web of geopolitical interests keeps the conflict in a permanent state of limbo. At the heart of this web is the U.N. Security Council, which has managed the conflict since the late 1980s. The council has been historically reticent to take dramatic action to resolve the dispute and remains so today. Though there has been “peace” in Western Sahara since 1991 when a cease-fire came into effect, all efforts to reconcile Morocco’s claim of sovereignty against the local population’s right to self-determination have failed. The status quo thus seems indefinitely sustainable. Unless the conflict takes a sudden turn for the worse, it is unlikely that the international community will make the tough choices necessary to achieve a lasting solution. Therein lies the paradox of the Western Sahara peace process: The peace process now exists to contain the conflict, but only a crisis will save Western Sahar...

Hassanna Louali dans sa cellule de prison Hassanna el Wali is a Saharawi political prisoner and human rights activist from Dakhla city, south Western Sahara. He was supposed to be set free on May 1st,2015. He got sick due to the miserable conditions of the prisions and the medical negligence he endured especially after the torture he survived during the interrogations. The hunger strike he started along with his group inside the Carcel Negra( Black Prison) in Elaaiun had a great impact on his health especially that the prison warden ¨Abdelilah Ezzanfouri¨ used all means to break their will and made them suffer a lot.  The situation inside the Dakhla prison was not any better that the Carcel Negra prison. His situation was getting worse especially he was not getting any medical treatment until his group inside the prison started a strike and a hunger strike to convince the prison administration to take him to the hospital. When they finally took him to the Hassan 2 Hospital...

September 27th, 2014  The Saharawi Political Prisoners, Group Dakhla Communique  In a pertinent and well-knit dirty and intrigue operation, the Moroccan Makhzanien authority has been to this day in the process of physically liquidating the Saharawi human rights activist and current political prisoner in occupied Dakhla Hasanna El Wali. The Moroccan prison authorities in Tawarta prison of Dakhla prevented him from his simple and basic humanitarian right for medical treatment during which he remained suffering in his cell in total indifference, without mercy or the least concern to his critical health status.  Our inmate stood in this status until we, his three years prison comrades, put pressure on the prison administration to be transported to the civil hospital of Dakhla. At his arrival to the hospital where he didn’t get any pre-medical check-up, he was immediately singled out in a special room surrounded by police agents, and as they knew he was diab...

By Javier Blas, Africa Editor High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.  When the drillship Atwood Achiever begins the search for oil off the coast of Western Sahara later this year, it will not only test geology, but also plunge into a 40-year-old conflict in what some call Africa’s last remaining colony. Western Sahara, an arid and sparsely populated strip of land larger than the UK, has been occupied by Morocco since 1975, when Spain abandoned its former colony. Since then its indigenous Sahrawi people have fought an often-violent campaign for independence while the UN has sought to broker a peace deal. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the ...

In a letter addressed to Kosmos Energy company, The Saharawi Center For Media and Communication, based in occupied El Aaiun Western Sahara, has expressed its vehement indignation and total refusal of the illegal upcoming Oil drilling that this company is about to conduct in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. In its letter, the Center has strongly denounced the company’s decision to start drilling in the cape Boujador, Boujdour block zone “it is illegal for international companies to operate in the land and coastal waters of Western Sahara without the consent of its people and without them being consulted and benefiting from these business operations” Contrary to the heresies of Kosmos Energy that fraudulently claimed that the discovery and exploitation of Oil will help resolving the conflict, the letter stressed that “Such illegal business is also a direct threat to the whole peace settlement as it puts at stake the right of self-determination by ignoring international...

By: civil society activist in  occupied Dakhla, Western Sahara  In an attempt to find whatever alibis to justify its planned drilling operations in occupied Western Sahara, Kosmos Energy, an American-based Oil Company, is conducting these days a series of meetings in the occupied cities guided and supervised by Morocco authority and orchestrated by its intelligence services.  A Kosmos Energy delegation organized several meetings in Dakhla city, south Western Sahara on September 23rd and 24th, 2014 with many Moroccan officials and representatives of pro-Moroccan civil society on the basis that they represent the Saharawi population there. At the same time, many peaceful protests and demonstrations focusing on socio-economic and political rights were banned and heinously oppressed. The American oil company had all these meetings with fake local civil society representatives that were in fact a Moroccan creation. They were made and tailored according to thei...

In June 2014. Western Sahara Resource Watch published a report detailing information about companies that purchase phosphate from Western Sahara.  The report alleges that phosphate provides the main source of income for Morocco, which illegally occupies Western Sahara.  Furthermore, it claims that the exploitation of phosphate does not benefit local Saharawis and is undertaken without their consultation.  The report also names companies that have ended their phosphate purchases from Western Sahara (BASF, Impact Fertilisers, Mosaic, Nidera Uruguaya, Yara International). We invited the companies mentioned in the report as purchasing phosphate to respond: Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan: we will indicate whether the company responds Lifosa : we will indicate whether the company responds Innophos did not respond Ravensdown : we will indicate whether the company responds Agrium:  we will indicate whether the company responds Ballance Agri-Nutrient...