Western Sahara Resource Watch

16 firms prequalified to construct wind farms in Western Sahara

The Moroccan government's plans to develop wind farms in occupied Western Sahara have drawn the interest of 16 international companies.

Published 03 July 2013

New controversial oil block on its way?

Morocco claims to be in negotiation with an oil company for a new block offshore Western Sahara.

Published 01 June 2013

Morocco against human rights in UN - silent vis-à-vis the EU

While Morocco is lobbying hard against a proposal to have the UN monitor human rights in Western Sahara, the EU Commissioner for Fisheries states that she is still awaiting Rabat's response to the proposal for including human rights safeguards for the Western Sahara territory in a new EU-Morocco fisheries protocol.

Published 23 April 2013

Western Sahara slows down EU-Morocco fish talks

Money and Western Sahara - the two obstacles that hamper the EU-Morocco negotiations for a new fisheries agreement.

Published 27 February 2013

Spanish construction group to develop occupied city

The Spanish construction group Secopsa has obtained a contract of 6.8 million € from the Moroccan government to redevelop an area of El Aaiun, the occupied capital of Western Sahara.

Published 21 January 2013

Moroccan Minister: international agreements confirm Sahara is Moroccan

“International agreements which do not exclude ‘the Moroccan Sahara’ from their application, prove that the area is Moroccan”, Moroccan Minister of Communication Mustapha El Khalfi said in an interview.

Published 21 January 2013

FMC: "Neither we nor our subsidiaries import from Western Sahara"

The US company FMC has stated that they have ended all Western Sahara imports, and that this also applies to its subsidiaries.

Published 11 January 2013

EU and Morocco to continue fish talks mid-January

The European Commission and the Moroccan government will continue their talks on a new fisheries agreement on 15 and 16 January in Rabat. Meanwhile the Spanish government insists on sealing the deal as soon as possible.

Published 02 January 2013

New illegal EU-Morocco fish talks being pushed through

Without first having obtained consent from the Saharawi people in Western Sahara, the EU will next week try to conclude the talks on EU-Morocco fish deal offshore the occupied territory, under same terms as the one that was rejected by the European Parliament in 2011.

Published 29 October 2012

Spanish fish processor left Western Sahara

The Spanish canning company Jealsa listened to calls from pro-Saharawi groups and recently moved its production from occupied Western Sahara to Spain.

Published 05 October 2012

The tomato barons of the occupied Western Sahara

Who benefits from the booming agricultural industry in occupied Western Sahara? Surely not the Saharawis.

Published 19 June 2012

Still facing sanctions for protesting plunder

While Canary imports of stolen Saharawi sand continue with impunity, a group of Spanish and Saharawi activists – including a member of WSRW - is still facing penal sanction, precisely for denouncing the illegal trade.

Published 05 June 2012

Transcription of Statements during Morocco's second UPR session

Western Sahara Resource Watch has noted with satisfaction that 11 out of the 47 countries that participated in the working group session of Morocco's second universal periodic review, took the opportunity to ask questions about or put forward recommendations on Western Sahara. A massive step forward from 2008, when not one country raised the issue of Africa's last colony. Find out who said what, below.

Published 23 May 2012

The Mail: Miriam Clegg on OCP payroll

Nick Clegg, UK Deputy Prime Minister, faces embarrassment after it was disclosed that his wife represents a firm that has been accused of trampling on the human rights of ‘Africa’s last colony’. A ‘substantial’ part of lawyer Miriam Clegg’s work, for which she is paid up to £500,000 a year, is understood to come from Moroccan mining giant OCP. The company is at the centre of international controversy over the treatment of the Sahrawi nomadic tribesmen of the Sahara.

Published 15 April 2012

Morocco opens wind farms tender on occupied land

The Moroccan state electricity company has launched a tender for the construction of 5 wind farms. Two of those farms will be located in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 27 January 2012

European Commission seeks new fish deal with Morocco

On 5 January, the European Commission issued a request to the EU Member States, seeking their support to conduct negotiations with Morocco in order to achieve a new, long-term fisheries protocol. The fishing zones covered by the envisioned accord also include Western Saharan waters.

Published 17 January 2012

FMC Corp disappointed over Norway blacklisting

FMC Corporation states that they have stopped importing phosphates from Western Sahara to Spain and that they should never have been kicked out of the Norwegian government's pension fund for lack of ethics.

Published 23 December 2011

Here are the vessels that violated international law

The list of vessels active under the now repealed EU-Morocco fisheries agreement has just been released. Download the list here.

Published 16 December 2011

'Disgraceful agreement', Swedish legal expert labels EU fisheries

Further EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara "will make the EU and its member states further liable for a violation of international law", stated former principal legal advisor of the Swedish government, in a seminar in the European Parliament on 7 December 2011.

Published 08 December 2011

Bastagli: Europe turns its back on the Arab Spring's forgotten nation

Former UN Special Representative to Western Sahara, Francesco Bastagli, laments the European Parliament's lack of will to ask for a legal opinion on the EU fisheries agreement with Morocco.

Published 06 November 2011