UPDATE, 8 Oct 2024: Further images from the Saharawi refugee camp called Smara, taken 8 October 2024, were added to the bottom of this article. 

Western Sahara Resource Watch has received pictures from the Saharawi refugee camps of people celebrating.

The spontaneous celebration took place after the EU Court today ruled that the EU-Moroccan trade and fisheries agreements can no longer be applied in occupied Western Sahara. The court specifically mentions that those Saharawis that do not live in the territory of Western Sahara never had the chance to express its consent in relation to the agreements. Half the people of Western Sahara live as refugees after Morocco illegally invaded the territory. 

The pictures are taken by the Saharawi civil society group ‘Saharawis Against the Plunder’ (SAP) in the Tifariti neighbourhood of the Smara refugee camps, and from the Auserd camp. They can be freely used. SAP issued a press release calling for the EU member states to follow the ruling and halt “all the illegal trade and fisheries” practices in the territory. 

“The Court's rulings represent a great victory for the Sahrawi people, unprecedented in the history of decolonization, and strengthen their struggle for freedom and independence", the Western Sahara liberation movement Polisario, who won in the court, told in a press release. 

"Marking the triumph of international legality over the fait accompli, the rulings deal a fatal blow to the Moroccan occupier, depriving it of economic and political leverage to maintain its illegal presence in the territory and pursue its illegal policy of colonizing the territory by plundering Sahrawi natural resources", it stated. 

The above picture can be downloaded here, Smara.

Download video below (21 Mb). Smara.

Download video above. Smara. 

Download video above

Download video above. 

Download video above. Smara, 8 Oct. 

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