Western Sahara News

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