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.
President of Western Sahara says the EU is prolonging the conflict through its illegal fisheries in his country's waters.
"Morocco does not have the right to exploit the area’s resources as if they were its own", states Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, underlining that fisheries in Western Sahara "must be exercised in accordance with the wishes and interests of the population involved".
After two days of talks, the European Commission and Rabat have signed a one-year extension of the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement on Friday 25 February in Rabat. The original agreement, widely criticized for supporting Morocco’s claim over occupied Western Sahara, was set to expire on 27 February.
A Press Release by the Actionsgruppe Westsahara on their demonstration in front of the European Commission's representation in Berlin, Germany, on 18 February 2011.
Denmark could not stop EU’s fisheries agreement with Morocco, which is earning millions on the occupation of Western Sahara. Information (Denmark), 18 Feb 2011.
"In my opinion, we cannot vote for an agreement that is in violation of international law", Swedish minister of agriculture, Eskil Erlandsson, stated in parliament this afternoon regarding tomorrow\'s vote in the Council of Ministers. More states are expected to follow, in trying to stop the continued illegal and unethical EU fisheries agreement in occupied Western Sahara.
Irish Larbour Party parliamentarian, and presidential candidate, Michael Higgins states that the lack of information from the Commisison regarding the EU illegal fisheries is outrageous. "There has been no consultation with the Saharawi people. Prolongation of the current arrangement is a flagrant violation of international law and the founding principles of the European treaties", Higgins state.
Continuing EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara contributes to prolonging the conflict, states 7 parliamentarians in a letter to the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs. They refer to a resolution from the European Parliament urging Morocco to stop the plunder of the territory it occupied in 1975.
The president of the Western Sahara republic urges UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon for assistance to stop the EU in the plundering of Western Sahara. The EU is considering prolonging the fisheries in the occupied territories in violation of central UN principles and a key UN legal opinion.
The UN states that Saharawi must consent - but the EU doesn't seem to care. Saharawi in occupied Western Sahara protest the EU's violation of international law in their territory, as the European Commission works to continue the unethical fisheries offshore their coast.
Today the European Commission has sent a recommendation to the European Council for renewing the fisheries in Western Sahara for one year. The Commission does not even mention that the fisheries take place in Western Sahara.
Next Friday, the European Commission will formally ask the EU-governments for a mandate to negotiate a 12-month extension of the EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement (FPA) on current terms. Read: one more year of paying Morocco to fish in non-Moroccan waters.
On Monday, the European Parliament's committee for International Trade decided to delay the ratification-process of the EU-Moroccan agricultural agreement due to legal ambiguities.
According to Moroccan police, foreign visitors are not allowed to talk with Saharawi. Several foreign groups have been expelled from Western Sahara or Morocco the last weeks after meeting with local people. This student was kicked out few hours after meeting a network of Saharawi ladies whose sons have disappeared, on 29 January 2011.
The Spanish agrarian organisation COAG is convinced that the impending EU-Moroccan agricultural trade liberalisation agreement could be illegal for implicitly including Western Sahara. COAG has now condemned French company Azura’s presence in the occupied territories.
For the third consecutive day, Saharawi fishermen have been protesting in the harbour of Boujdour, demanding the right to fish in their own waters. Since Monday, Moroccan police officers have been preventing the Saharawi from accessing their boats.
This is how wide you smile when you contribute to the continued illegal occupation of a country.
"We have still time to influence so that the waters offshore Western Sahara are left outside of the agreement", writes columnist Helena Olsson in Finland's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, on the unethical EU fisheries.
Morocco keeps exploring and marketing its uranium potential in Western Sahara, despite the fact it is in violation of international law.
In December 2010, the long term agreement between the Mexican phosphate importer Innophos and the Moroccan phosphate company OCP expired. The trade has been going on for 18 years, and it is not known whether arrangements have been made to continue the cooperation. The firm has not yet responded to questions WSRW sent in October regarding the unethical purchases from the occupied territory.
The firm Ballance Agri-Nutrients is busy this Christmas plundering the phosphate resources of the Sahrawi people.
Members of the European Parliament in Brussels who defend the illegal fisheries agreement offshore Western Sahara, did not want to explain their position to Swedish national radio.
The bulk vessel Orient Dream, in far right corner, is currently waiting to offload its cargo of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara. Photo was taken in Tasmania, Australia, two days ago.
The Norwegian fish oil producer GC Rieber clarifies that their refinery Maromega in TanTan in South Morocco has stopped all purchases from Western Sahara.
"Which fish ends up at the Christmas table? Against a new fishery agreement between the EU and Morocco”. December 19th 2010, demonstrators gathered in front of the German foreign office and the French embassy in protest over the EU plundering of occupied Western Sahara.
The Spanish embassy in Oslo does not wish to respond to the question whether the word “wishes” is mentioned in the conclusion of the UN 2002 legal opinion. In order to get an answer of how Spain interprets the UN document, a national Norwegian student organisation was referred to the Saharawi delegation in Madrid.
The European Commission earlier this year asked the Moroccan government of a report on how the Saharawis benefit from the EU fisheries. “This position is simply not acceptable”, writes former UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell in an article.
“I believe that one has misinterpreted my legal opinion to the Security Council in a very astonishing way”, stated former UN legal counsel, Hans Corell, in Swedish Radio today. “It is important that Europe does not act in such a way that it puts obstacles in the way for the UN to find a solution to the conflict”, he stated regarding the EU fisheries in the territory.
The European Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, is evaluating the possibility of negotiating a new fishing agreement with Morocco which excludes the waters of Western Sahara. If approved, more than a hundred EU vessels would have to withdraw from the Moroccan fisheries. FIS, 17 December 2010.
The Chilean owned vessel Sibulk Prosperity few weeks ago arrived US with conflict minerals from occupied Western Sahara.
A Danish journalist was expelled from Morocco after having published a story with comments from the Danish Government and former MINURSO chief.
The Irish oil company San Leon explores illegally for oil in occupied Western Sahara. On 19 December 2010, Western Sahara Action Ireland demonstrated against San Leon's work.
UN General Assembly called on 10 December a halt of economic activity in colonies that are detrimental to the people\'s interest.
Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) has asked international banks to halt further funding of the US oil firm Kosmos Energy. The company is exploring for oil offshore occupied Western Sahara.
"Credible reports indicate that Lt Gen Benanni is using his position as the Commander of the Southern Sector to skim money from military contracts and influence business decisions. A widely believed rumor has it that he owns large parts of the fisheries in Western Sahara", a new Wiki-leaked US embassy cable states.
The Irish/British companies illegally exploring for oil in occupied Western Sahara had planned seismic studies for Fourth Quarter this year. They have still not started, but the plans to carry out the programme remains.
Here are the exact coordinates of the Zag Basin block, explored by San Leon Morocco Ltd, Longreach Oil and Gas Ventures Limited and "Island International Exploration Morocco”.
In the midst of a complete media blackout and during a wave of human rights violations, Moroccan government has set up a separate charter plane to Western Sahara to convince Spanish businessmen that doing business in the territory is safe and smart.
First cable from US embassy mentions 3 billion Euro deals for Sarkozy, as French Western Sahara policy leans towards Moroccan position. Among the agreements signed by Sarkozy, was the nuclear deal with Moroccan phosphate plunderer OCP.
Slovenian Member of European Parliament, Ivo Vajgl, asks for increased mandate for UN peace force in the occupied Western Sahara.
At least six Scandinavian investors have the last few years divested from international fertiliser firms importing from occupied Western Sahara.
On Thursday 25th November, Danish Radio broadcasted a documentary on EU’s illegal fisheries in occupied Western Sahara. Two days later, the journalist behind the programme was expelled from Morocco.
Read also: Here is the EU fish story that the Moroccan government didn't like
Thai shipping company Precious Shipping has carried out 3 shipments from Western Sahara to Colombia in just over a year. WSRW asked today the company to halt the transports until the conflict is solved.
Despite of the clear conclusions in the report presented by the Legal Service office of the European Parliament which point to the necessity to revise or cancel the fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco if it continues to ignore the wishes and interests of the Saharawi people, the EU ambassador to Morocco, Eneko Landáburu, declared on 27 of May in Rabat that “The EU defends the legality of the fisheries agreement with Morocco”.
In a resolution adopted today, the parliamentarians of Europe "Calls on the EU to demand that the Kingdom of Morocco abide by international law regarding the exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara".
Karin Scheele, regional minister in Lower Austria, asks the Austrian government to place human rights in Western Sahara before trade interests with Morocco. "The EU does not honour its own principles", Scheele stated.
Some 30 Sahrawis and Norwegians carried out a demonstration in front of the Spanish embassy in Oslo today to protest the Spanish government’s undermining of the Sahrawi people’s rights. Spain is currently pushing the EU to try to renew an illegal fisheries agreement covering the waters offshore the occupied territories.
The French shipping company Setaf Saget removed a vessel from their webpages, and stopped replying to mails, after a French organisation wrote them about a transport of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.
The international network BHP Billiton Watch dedicated a chapter to the Western Sahara issue when they this week launched its BHP Alternative Annual Report for 2010. The report was published before the BHP announced its withdrawal from the plans of buying Western Sahara phosphate plunderer.
"Had the benefits been flowing to the Saharawi people, would there have been a need for the peaceful and ultimately tragic protests by more than 20,000 Saharawi people in the area in and around El Aaiún, angered by the long-standing political repression and desperate socio-economic conditions prevalent in the Territory?", the Western Sahara liberation movement asked the EU fisheries commissioner Damanaki yesterday.
The British-Australian mining company BHP Billion has decided not to bid for the Canadian fertiliser firm PCS. Western Sahara Resource Watch previously urged BHP to terminate the imports from occupied Western Sahara if it was to gain control over the company. BHP stated today they have "no plans for activities" in the territory.
In complete violation of international law, Morocco is pillaging the minerals and phosphates in occupied Western Sahara. This week, their office in El Aaiun was raided by Saharawis. A phosphate worker was killed by Moroccan police.
Check out this WSRW video showing the vessel spotted by Brisbane Times.
Every now and then we discover all is not as right with the world as we thought it was. Even so, who would think a wake-up call could come in the shape of phosphatic rock?
In its statement to the United Nations’ Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee), Western Sahara Resource Watch called for the establishment of a mechanism to place the proceeds from the exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources under international administration until the conflict has been resolved, and for the inclusion of a human rights component into the MINURSO mandate.