UPDATE - The hunger strike was ended on Saturday 18 June 2011.
Since 12 April, six Saharawi citizens in Guelmim in Southern Morocco have been on hunger strike to condemn the EU’s fisheries in occupied Western Sahara and the involvement of US phosphate importer PCS and Irish oil company San Leon in the plunder of the territory.
The most heavily involved foreign firm in occupied Western Sahara, US-Canadian fertiliser company PotashCorp, has published a statement on its trade and on how it interprets the Western Sahara conflict. Read their erroneous text, and WSRW’s comments.
The Lithuanian firm Lifosa refused to answer the question whether they intend to terminate phosphate imports from Western Sahara, and was today kicked out of the UN Global Compact initiative on Corporate Social Responsibility.
There is no unequivocal proof that Western Sahara, let alone its people, has benefitted from the EU-Morocco fisheries partnership agreement (FPA), according to the Irish government.
Member of Western Sahara Resource Watch, Elena Pollán, was this week-end forced to leave Western Sahara after harassment from Moroccan police. Pollán was carrying out interviews with Saharawi about the illegal EU fisheries in the territory.
Last week, shipments of phosphates arrived in the ports of Hobart and Geelong in Australia. The vessel above, Livadia, was seen arriving Tasmania 27 May 2011.
Images from El Aaiun, 23 May 2011.
The Moroccan authorities don't accept criticism of their ongoing plunder of Saharawi natural resources light-heartedly. El-Aaiún-resident Ali Saadouni was earlier this month brutally beaten by the Moroccan police for speaking out on the Saharawi’s poor living conditions in a resource-rich homeland.
The import of phosphate rock to New Zealand from occupied Western Sahara carries on. New shipment coming in next week.
Aicha Dahane travels to Australia to denounce Incitec Pivot\'s import of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.
Last year, WSRW asked Thai firm Precious Shipping to terminate its repeated shipments of phosphate rock from Western Sahara. While still not responding to the request, the firm did another shipment last month.
UK-Irish oil minors will start seismic surveys in occupied Western Sahara in June 2011.
There is no way for the EU member states to know whether the EU fisheries in Western Sahara is according to the wishes of the people of the territory, as international law prescribes.
A report from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York urges the UN to investigate Morocco's plunder of natural resources in Western Sahara.
During the past week, Saharawi victims of severe human rights violations have taken to the streets of El-Aaiún, demanding more respect for their socio-economic rights. Protesters carried slogans calling attention to the ongoing plunder of Saharawi natural resources, perpetrated by Morocco and complicit foreign interests.
