News

The EU Commission and Morocco have had a third round of talks to agree on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. Such an agreement aims at integrating Morocco’s economy into the EU single market – and, if failing to exclude it, also the illegitimate economy of occupied Western Sahara.

Published 28 January 2014
Image

One of China's giant state-owned fishing firms, Shanghai Fisheries General Corp, is looking to become a major presence in "Moroccan waters".

Published 27 January 2014
Image

Yet another mineral appears to be illegally exploited by Morocco in occupied Western Sahara: quartz.

Published 27 January 2014
Image
The Dutch government has asked the European Commission to provide clarifications on its imports of tomatoes from Western Sahara, says the Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister.
Published 15 January 2014
Image
A Russian trawler that has been fishing offshore occupied Western Sahara much of last year, has now been seized by the Senegalese authorities for illegal fishing.
Published 09 January 2014
Image
French oil multinational Total, with the biggest licence offshore occupied Western Sahara, says it will only disclose in mid-January whether it has renewed or not its licence in the territory.
Published 20 December 2013
Image

The Moroccan government has opened up for another oil block further offshore the territory it holds under occupation.

Published 19 December 2013
Image

The choice of the EU to enter into a deal with Morocco for the plundering of the natural resources of occupied Western Sahara cause heavy reactions from the people of the territory.

Published 12 December 2013

Footage of this protest yesterday in El Aaiun was taken two hours after the European Parliament consented to the EU-Morocco fisheries protocol, which allows for EU fishing in occupied Western Sahara. The people of Western Sahara have not been asked for their approval.

Published 11 December 2013
Image
Today, the European Parliament decided to back up the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, opening for fishing in the waters of Western Sahara, a territory of which large parts have been occupied by Morocco since 1975. "A sad day for international peace and human rights" states WSRW. The deal was inked on the 1 year anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize - and on the International Day of Human Rights.
Published 10 December 2013
Image
"I want to see a free society in Western Sahara – where we are able to decide for ourselves how we will share our natural resources with the world, and where the economic benefits will come to my people, not to the settlers who come with the support of the King and the Moroccan army to take our territory and property", leading Western Sahara human rights activist Aminatou Haidar stressed in a letter to the European Parliamentarians today.
Published 09 December 2013
Image
Saharawis protesting against the EU's provocative plans to pay Morocco for fishing rights in occupied Western Sahara were attacked by Moroccan police yesterday. President-in-exile asked in a letter today UN secretary general for intervention vis-à-vis Morocco's "repeated assaults against the peaceful and defenseless Sahrawi citizens" and to prevent illegal EU fisheries deal.
Published 08 December 2013

Saharawi social media are boiling over of videos and images of the demonstration yesterday against the EU plans to partner with Morocco to exploit the fish resources of the occupied territory. We have gathered some of it.

Published 08 December 2013
Image

Several Saharawis were injured by Moroccan police in a demonstration against the EU's plans to fish in occupied Western Sahara, Saturday evening. European Parliament will on Tuesday vote on an illegal fisheries agreement with Morocco, covering the occupied territory. The local people of Western Sahara are frustrated, not having given its consent as the UN and international law require.

Published 07 December 2013
Image

EU plans to pay Morocco to fish offshore occupied Western Sahara. Saharawis are mobilising everywhere to prevent the scandal: in the refugee camps, in occupied territories and on social media.

Published 07 December 2013
Image

The aspects of international law that was of concern to the European Parliament back in 2011 have not been answered to in the new proposed fisheries agreement, state 21 jurists.

Published 05 December 2013
Image

A large coalition of European and Western Sahara groups asks the European Parliament not to pay Morocco to fish in the waters it occupies. 16.189 individuals have joined the letter, including thousands of refugees from Western Sahara.

Published 05 December 2013
Image

In a critical letter dated 1 December 2013, the president of the Pan-African Parliament calls on the European Parliament's president, Mr. Martin Schulz, to vote against fisheries agreement with Morocco offshore the coast of the AU member state, Western Sahara.

Published 04 December 2013
Image
Though a divided EU Council backed the deal last month, several EU Member States issued statements of concern on the inclusion of Western Sahara. Read the statements of Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Ireland, UK and the Netherlands here.
Published 03 December 2013
Image
Greenpeace International today launched a report documenting the increasing private Moroccan fleet in Western Sahara. The combination of that fleet with a new European fisheries agreement with Morocco is not sustainable, according to Greenpeace, calling for the European Parliament to reject renewed EU fisheries in the occupied waters.
Published 02 December 2013