Western Sahara News

The Saharawi Tea Ceremony “Salam Aliukum,” she said With a smile as she greeted her guests She got up to reach for her tea set Offering the warmest of hospitality As she sat to get the tea ready Her warmness filled the room  With her colorful Melfaha and hands dipped in henna She is the leader of them all The beauty of beauty She represents the strength of every Saharawi woman She is the mother of the nation who’s history  She has engraved in her heart As she got ready for the sacred tea ceremony She turned to her guests with the following question; “Do you know the meaning of each round of tea?” They responded, “No, but please enlighten us with your wisdom.” She took the first small glass and filled it with black tea leaves, and then responded with seriousness, “The first round is bitter like life. When that bitterness hits us we must search for courage and strength, so we can overcome each obstacle with g...

The history of Mohamed Fadel Leili sadly is the history of a whole nation condemned to live under a brutal occupation of their homeland. Mohamed Fadel Leili, is Saharawi lawyer: "I continue with my promise to defend Saharawi suffering torture " Nobody else can understand better his clients: the Saharawi political prisoners. This lawyer, who was kidnapped for 16 years develops its professional activity in an occupied state, Western Sahara.  Mohamed Fadel Leili graduated in law after suffering forced disappearance in secret prisons along with his entire family. After his release, he returned to his life at the same point where they stole it from him and completed his studies. Currently, he completed his PhD in International Law, specializing in border conflicts in Africa before the International Court of The Hague. Today he had a hard day at work but, despite this, his shirt has no a single wrinkle and he keep a wise smile. He has just returned ...

My name is Isabel Maria Gonçalves da Silva Tavares Lourenço, I have Portuguese nationality, and am a member of Fundación Sahara Occidental and Adala UK. I visited Western Sahara and Morocco with an accreditation of Fundación Sahara Occidental as international observer and with a mandate from Adala UK. The goal of the visit was to attend as an international observer the judicial appeals of the Saharawi political prisoners Mr. Abdelmotalib Sarir, Mr. Mohamed Barber and Mr. Alyien Moussaoui on the 28th of October 2014 in Laayoune’s court of appeal, and that of Mr. Abdallahi Boukioud on 3rd of November 2014 in Agadir. A second goal was to observe the situation in Laayoune as well as talking to several Saharawi NGOs and families of political prisoners. During the week of 28th October to 2nd November 2014 I stayed in Laayoune city and interviewed and contacted several Saharawi human rights associations, committees and activists as well associations for the defence of n...

My name is Raabub Mohamed Lamin Mehdi, I am Medical Specialist in Internal Medicine, I perform the function of deputy in Osakidetza (Servicio Vasco de Salud), Collegiate number: 011 304 807, of Spanish nationality , ID number 06287946E  Through this letter I want to express my concern with the health of the patient Sidi Abdejalil Laaroussi, prisoner number 78608, Saharawi political prisoner, detained in prison Salé1, Rabat in Morocco, that has conveyed to me his situation  Personal history:  Apparently healthy, sporty and non-smoking, married with 2 children, had no complaints prior to his arrest.  After his arrest he was tortured on several occasions, these torture includes violent blows throughout the body, legs and knees causing rupture of ligaments, inhalation of chemicals causing problems to his eyes, blows in the lumbar area, was for more than 4 days naked blindfolded and handcuffed, forced to sleep on his own excrement, suspended from a wood...

Publically the language is impeccable. Members of the Spanish Government and diplomats show, with rare exception, an exquisie neutrality when they speak about the conflict in Western Sahara which face since 39 years Morocco and Polisario Front, backed by Algeria. The Spanish president Mariano Rajoy was, for example, a model of impartiality when he received UN Secretary General in Madrid in April 2013. However, underhand, Spanish diplomacy supports Morocco and its autonomy proposal, formulated in 2007 for the territory that was colonized by Spain until 1975. The cables of US State Department, unveiled in 2010 by Wikileaks, and showed, for example, then Ambassador of Spain in Morocco, Luis Planas, offering help to the Moroccan authorities to elaborate their autonomy offer for Western Sahara. Now the Moroccan Wikileaks provides new data. Since early October, hundreds of confidential documents of the Moroccan diplomacy are being unveiled by Chris Coleman, a fake Twitter profile....

According to documents released by the Moroccan hacker Chris Coleman, the information flowed smoothly between some French and the editor of L'Observateur du Maroc, Ahmed Charai, which is turn reported to Mourad El Ghoul, Director of Cabinet Yassine Mansouri, head of the Moroccan DGED. They worked as L'Observateur du Maroc collaborators to cover other activities they carried out for the Moroccan intelligence service. -Among these activities, relaying the propaganda of Morocco to improve the image of King Mohammed VI. In this area, Vincent Hervouet was a real working spy of all publications appeared in France against the King of Morocco and his country. On 01/03/2012, he sent an "urgent" message and requesting a "receipt" in which he reported that "the book by Eric Laurent on Your King finds an echo in Paris and guy make outright campaign. He talks about physical threats through anonymous messages, incredible! ". When the book came out ...

A document leaked by the Moroccan whistle-blower twitter account demonstrates how Morocco uses the Western Saharan natural resources to embroil other countries into its own illegal occupation of Western Sahara. The case at hand; Russia. On 21 November, the @chris_coleman24 twitter account, which has been leaking official Moroccan documents for some time now, published a document called " La Fédération de Russie at la question du Sahara Marocain " ("The Russian Federation and the question of the Moroccan Sahara") - a 6-page document devoted entirely to Morocco's geopolitical aim to convince Russia to side with Morocco when it comes to Western Sahara. Under the header "how to optimise Russia's position", the strategy is outlined. It reads as follows (translation from French to English by WSRW): "§39. To reach this objective, Morocco has to: a. renew, enrich and diversify its strategic partnership with Russia, the goal being...