News
Seminar about EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara in European Parliament, 5 October 2010.
Published 08 October 2010
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A peaceful manifestation by unemployed Saharawi graduates came to an abrupt end by a violent intervention from the Moroccan police yesterday. Banners stating “Sahara’s natural resources are sufficient to employ us” triggered a swift response by the authorities right in front of the Royal Palace.
Published 08 October 2010
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When Fugro Norway was to promote itself on the Business days at the University of Oslo on 28 September, they were welcomed with cake. In 2009, Fugro was refused to attend the same event due to their engagement in occupied Western Sahara. Since then, the firm has withdrawn from the occupied territory.
Published 03 October 2010
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“I ask the EU to please take into account the rights of my people. We, the Saharawi, are saddened over the way this fisheries agreement with Morocco affects our struggle”, stated the Saharawi refugee Senia Abderahman to the European Commission.

Published 29 September 2010
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The French owned bulk vessel 'Tenor' has in September completed a big shipment to New Zealand of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara. French organisation urges company to halt further transports from the territory.

Published 26 September 2010
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Morocco invites Qatari businessmen to kill a vulnerable bird species in occupied Western Sahara.
Published 26 September 2010
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"If the EU is to raise its credibility with the African Union, reviewing its stance toward Africa’s last colonial conflict would be a good place to start", reads WSRW's letter published in European Voice today.

Published 23 September 2010
A Norwegian importer has to pay giant fee for avoiding excise upon declaring goods from Western Sahara as Moroccan. The preferential treatment under the Moroccan-EFTA agreement cannot be granted to goods from Western Sahara, Norwegian government says. The EFTA free trade agreement with Morocco does not cover Western Sahara.
Published 17 September 2010
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For more than a month, Aminatou Haidar, the internationally awarded Saharawi human rights activist and President of Saharawi Human Right organisation CODESA, has waited for a reply from the EU’s ambassador to Morocco, Mr. Eneko Landaburu. The EU ambassador is failing to respond to a simple question regarding the legality of the EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 15 September 2010
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In a letter to the European Parliament’s president, three high-profile Saharawi political prisoners call upon the EU to stop fishing in Western Saharan waters. “The only outcome of the fisheries agreement that our people have noticed, is that our voices are suppressed even more”, the letter reads.
Published 14 September 2010
9 August 2010, spokesperson of the Saharawi human rights organisation CODESA, Aminatu Haidar, requested answer to a simple question from the Ambassador of the EU to Rabat. They are still waiting.
Published 14 September 2010
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See photos of the vessel 'Christine O' arriving at port Risdon, Hobart, Tasmania, yesterday afternoon. The vessel contained phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara, purchased by Impact Fertilisers.

Published 11 September 2010
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This afternoon, a bulk vessel is set to arrive port of Risdon, Hobart, Tasmania, with phosphate rock plundered from occupied Western Sahara. 8 Swiss parliamentarians protest the continued imports.

Published 09 September 2010

PotashCorp is the most important customer of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara. The rock is exported from Western Sahara by the occupying power, Morocco, in violation of international law. In this interview on Canadian Broadcast Corporation, lawyer Jeffrey Smith explains why it is wrong.

Published 05 September 2010

The vessel MV Brasschaat, managed by Belgian firm Sobelmar Antwerp, arrived yesterday at Port of Klaipeda, Lituania, with conflict minerals despite requests of asking the vessel return to El Aaiun with its cargo.

Published 29 August 2010

"You should not look for legal or economic arguments to maintain what you do. It is simply wrong", stated a concerned Tasmanian teacher in a letter to the importing firm this week. This new video shows the shipment of phosphates that arrived Impact Fertilisers in Tasmania, July 2010, from occupied Western Sahara.

Published 29 August 2010
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The Florida fertilizer company Mosaic Co explains that it does not longer carry out imports from occupied Western Sahara. The firm has no delivery contracts, nor any plans of purchasing. PCS is today the only remaining North American importer of phosphates from the occupied territory.

Published 26 August 2010
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As this photo was taken, the bulk vessel Doric Victory headed directly to occupied Western Sahara to load phosphate rock.

Published 22 August 2010
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"We urge BHP to issue a statement that upon acquiring PotashCorp, all phosphate-imports from occupied Western Sahara will be terminated", stated Western Sahara Resource Watch in a letter to BHP Billiton Sunday night.

Published 22 August 2010
In a letter from the French-Moroccan tomatoe producer Azura, to the Danish Supermarket chain Coop, the tomato firm denies exporting from Dakhla in Western Sahara. Letter sent 27 March 2009.
Published 10 August 2010
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As long as the Moroccan government keeps denying that the resources play a central role in the conflict, and suggests that the area is empty of natural resources, it should not object to place the proceeds of those resources under UN administration, writes Western Sahara Resource Watch.
Published 05 August 2010
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The Trade Union of Saharawi Workers in El Aaiún, occupied Western Sahara, started a general strike this morning, denouncing the “policy of segregation applied by Morocco” and the “plundering of Saharawi natural resources”.

Published 02 August 2010
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Louisiana fishermen, victims of the BP Gulf spill, could be moving their place of work to an occupied country, supporting an illegal and brutal regime. This might be the reality if Washington lobbyists get what they want. Press release, Western Sahara Resource Watch, 30 July 2010.

Published 30 July 2010
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(Banner reads: “Our Sahara’s resources can provide us jobs” )

During the first two weeks of July, highly educated Saharawi took to the streets in Rabat, denouncing the Moroccan plunder of Western Sahara’s natural resources and the fact that they are discriminated in the job market simply for being Saharawi.
Published 22 July 2010
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See photographs of the vessel Star Canopus discharging phosphates from occupied Western Sahara in the port of Hobart, Tasmania, July 2010. Oddly, the ship was originally listed with a cargo of Zinc Concentrates. But that didn\'t appear to be the case.
Published 18 July 2010

See this great footage of the first ever flashmob musical against the plundering of Western Sahara, in Mercadona-supermarkets across Spain. Mercadona sells canned fish originating from occupied Western Sahara, under their store brand ‘Hacendado’.

Published 13 July 2010
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On Saturday 10 July Star Canopus docked in Geelong with an illegal cargo of phosphate from Western Sahara on board. This is the first shipment in over a year since Incitec Pivot closed their fertiliser plant down in June 2009, due to a slump in demand for superphosphate.
Published 12 July 2010
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A microscopic organism, 3 billion years old, could be the latest support for Morocco’s occupation. Another life-giving natural resource is just located inside the occupied territory of Western Sahara.

Published 10 July 2010
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32 parliamentarians from Finland, Sweden and Denmark today requested the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of their countries to prevent renewed EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara. Press release, WSRW, 7 July 2010.

Published 07 July 2010
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Earlier this year, Western Sahara Resource Watch revealed that 2 Uruguayan firms appeared to have imported phosphates from occupied Western Sahara during 2009. WSRW has now contacted the 2 firms requesting a halt to the imports. Read the letters here.
Published 05 July 2010

The organisation of exiled Sahrawis on the Canary Islands, together with WSRW, last week denounced the opening of a ferry line between the archipelago and the occupied territory. A demonstration took place outside of the offices of the shipping company, Armas.

Published 05 July 2010

Chair of the European Parliament's Fisheries Committee, Carmen Fraga, says that there will be problems renewing the agreement with Morocco. EFE, 30 June 2010.

Published 01 July 2010
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The European Commission misuses a UN document to legitimise its fisheries in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 01 July 2010
Two more companies were excluded from KLP’s investment portfolio with effect from December. At the same time, two companies are being reintroduced into the portfolio, one of them being Halliburton, the oil service company.
Published 26 June 2010

Norwegian insurance company divests from Australian fertilizer importer over imports from Western Sahara.

Published 26 June 2010
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“Western Sahara Resource Watch is convinced that the hardships of the Saharawi refugees will continue as long as Morocco continues to illegally profit from the occupation of its neighbouring country”, states Western Sahara Resource Watch on World Refugee Day. The organisation calls on the international community to break the cash-flow from the occupied territories to the Moroccan treasury.

Published 20 June 2010
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In April, WSRW revealed that the Turkish vessel \'MV Bakü\", had carried out a shipment to Baranquilla, Colombia. Now, the vessel has done it again.

Published 20 June 2010
The Louisiana based fertilizer firm PCS, is starting to enter the spotlight of ethical investors in Europe. The firm is the leading importer of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara, in violation of international law. Despite the concerns, they have now received yet more shipments.
Published 20 June 2010
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Two vessels have this week-end been offloading phosphates in New Zealand originating from occupied Western Sahara. Today, one of the ships is offloading the valuable product at the harbour of Northport.

Published 20 June 2010
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Norwegian investor KLP has blacklisted another two new fertiliser companies that buy phosphate from occupied Western Sahara. Furthermore, two additional corporations were dropped from its portfolio because they are linked with nuclear weapons production. Norwatch, 1 June 2010.

Published 08 June 2010
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Russia has now signed a fisheries agreement with Morocco, permitting the Russian fleet to fish offshore occupied Western Sahara. The Saharawi people has not given its consent, and the agreement is thus in violation of international law.

Published 08 June 2010
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Last year, European Parliament’s Legal Services stated that EU fisheries in Western Sahara would be illegal if the Saharawi people were not consulted. This week, Morocco refused the Parliament to travel to occupied Western Sahara to find out if they are.

Published 04 June 2010
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A French-Moroccan firm, Soprofel, employs 2.500 people in Western Sahara, according to a Moroccan newspaper.

Published 03 June 2010

EU tax payers pay money to Moroccan government, so that Spanish fishermen can steal the fish belonging to these refugees. See video. 

 

Published 01 June 2010

On European Maritime Day, Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) demands that the depletion of European fish stocks not be used to justify illegal fisheries practices elsewhere.

Published 20 May 2010
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"Since Morocco does not exercise internationally recognised sovereignty over Western Sahara, Western Sahara is not seen as a part of Morocco’s territory in relation to this agreement. The Free Trade Agreement is thus not applicable to goods from Western Sahara", stated Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jonas Gahr Store, 11 May 2010.

Published 12 May 2010
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The Moroccan-EFTA free trade agreement does not cover Western Sahara, according to Norwegian and Swiss authorities. This will have multi-million euro consequences for a firm that systematically mislabeled Western Sahara imports as Moroccan, and illustrates how the European Commission is on collision course with rest of the international community.

Published 12 May 2010
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Dutch seismic services firm Fugro NV, and its Norwegian subsidiary Fugro-Geoteam, state they do not want to undertake any more assignments in Western Sahara under the current political situation in the country.

Published 06 May 2010
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"It turns out that the tomatoes are from Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara, so we are not going to sell them anymore. These things are not supposed to happen", stated media officer Ingmar Kroon at the Swedish grocery chain Axfood.

Published 03 May 2010
Paul-Christian Rieber, president of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), has for years traded with a country that Norwegian authorities have asked the business community to avoid. That may have been the main reason he resigned yesterday. Aftenposten, 24 April 2010.
Published 27 April 2010

The big European energy project Desertec has announced it will not invest in occupied Western Sahara for "reputational reasons".

Published 25 April 2010
The company of the most important person in Norwegian business life today, the President of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, is under investigation by Norwegian authorities. The reason is a failure to pay import tens of millions of euros on duties upon importing fish oil from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 23 April 2010
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Today, a vessel owned by the Canadian CSL Group arrives New Zealand with phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 19 April 2010
Report of the UN General Assembly\'s Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) voted on 28 October 2009 the report Economic and other activities which affect the interests of the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories.
Published 17 April 2010

Every Thursday, the old Saharawi phosphate miners demand their rights from the Moroccan controlled phosphate company, OCP. They were under contracts with the Spanish, but lost their rights when Morocco illegally invaded the territory and took control of the mine.

Published 15 April 2010

Norwegian fish oil importer GC Rieber today announced that they have stopped all imports of fish oil from Morocco and occupied Western Sahara. After their biggest customer did not longer want to buy the controversial oil, the importer has chosen to stop further purchases from the region. Norwatch, 14 April 2010.

Published 14 April 2010
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WSRW asked in a letter president Medvedev to explain what Russia has done to prevent violating international law by fishing in occupied Western Sahara.
Published 12 April 2010
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"It is inconceivable that MINURSO should remain the only contemporary UN peace mission lacking a mandate to monitor human rights", WSRW stated in a letter to the Security Council yesterday. WSRW asked for the UN to monitor both the human rights violations and the illegal plundering of natural resourecs in the territory.

Published 11 April 2010
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So far this year, the Colombian port of Baranquilla has received 2 shipments of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 11 April 2010
A Norwegian government owned company stops purchases from Morocco and Western Sahara, over ethical concern. The value of the purchases has amounted to around 10 million euros annually.
Published 10 April 2010
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UN has said that looking for oil in Western Sahara is illegal. But the Irish firm San Leon Energy moves steadily forwards. Drilling underway next year.

Published 07 April 2010
In its letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all members of the Security Council, Western Sahara Resource Watch called for a human rights monitoring capacity to be included in the MINURSO mandate, as well as the establishment of a mechanism to place the proceeds from the exploitation of Western Sahara\'s natural resources under international administration until the status of the territory has been resolved. Read the letter here.
Published 01 April 2010

Life, the largest health store chain in Scandinavia, has decided to stop new orders of Omega 3-supplements for its brand Biomega, Swedish and Norwegian media report.

Published 19 March 2010
Last week, Swedish national TV revealed that a Norwegian Omega 3 fat acid producer sources its fish oil from ocupied Western Sahara. The tablets reaches customers on the Swedish market. Now, the German mother firm, Cognis, has ordered a stop to the continued use of material from Western Sahara and Morocco.
Read also: The German Corporation Cognis Cuts All Purchases from Morocco
Published 16 March 2010
Swedish national TV revealed this week how fish oil from occupied Western Sahara is secretly sold on the Scandinavian market. Western Sahara Resource Watch and former German MEP Margot Kessler today sent a letter to the German firm Cognis, asking that they instruct their Norwegian subsidiary to halt the unethical imports.
Published 12 March 2010

In advance of next week’s first ever EU-Morocco summit, Polisario urges the EU Commission to halt illegal fisheries offshore occupied Western Sahara.

Published 07 March 2010

Uruguay imported 2, or perhaps 3, shipments from occupied Western Sahara last year. The shipments were labelled as "Moroccan", and had a total value of 4,4 million dollars.

Published 04 March 2010
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The Saharawi workers at the phosphate mine in occupied Western Sahara demand the Moroccan exports of phosphate to halt.
Published 02 March 2010
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The Polish Ministry of Economy says that there is no need to “differentiate between the territory of Morocco and that of Western Sahara”. However, such a position is inconsistent with international law and resolutions of the UN General Assembly adopted over the last 40 years, said representative of Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW).

Published 02 March 2010
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4th March 2010. With talks of the plundering of natural resources.
Published 26 February 2010
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Brussels, 23 February 2010 - In a previously confidential legal opinion, the European Parliament’s Legal Service has declared fishing by European vessels in Western Sahara’s waters to be in violation of international law. Press release.

Published 26 February 2010
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Australian researcher Dana Cordell defended today a PhD thesis called “The Story of Phosphorus - Sustainability implications of global phosphorus scarcity for food security” at the Linköping University, Sweden. The thesis underlines dilemmas of exploration of the deposits in Western Sahara.
Published 25 February 2010
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The EU is paying Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara. Protest by signing this petition.
Published 25 February 2010

WSRW can today present the 11 page statement from the European Parliament’s Legal Service. The statement – concluding that EU fisheries in occupied Western Sahara under its current shape is in violation of international law - has been kept from the public for 7 months.

Published 23 February 2010
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A report from the Moroccan state and mining company ONHYM from September 2009 reveals that Morocco is exploring the uranium potential in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 23 February 2010
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On 2 February 2010, representatives of the European Union and Morocco met in Rabat to analyze the problems of the EU-Moroccan Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA). The meeting never raised the opinions of the Sahrawi people, despite the fact that most of the fisheries take place offshore their land.
Published 19 February 2010
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11 December 2009, a shipment of phosphate rock arrived Montevideo, Uruguay. This is the first known shipment to the South American country.
Published 19 February 2010

Since July 2009, a legal opinion written by the European Parliament’s legal service has been held outside of public knowledge. The extraordinary text concludes that the EU fisheries in Western Sahara under its current shape must stop.

Published 28 January 2010
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Australian phosphate importer Incitec Pivot said at its recent Annual General Meeting that the UN is responsible for the Western Sahara issue, not the company. Simultaneously, they defended their imports which are taking place in violation of the UN\'s legal opinion and over 100 UN resolutions.
Published 27 December 2009
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The Australian fertilizer producer Incitec Pivot imports phosphate from occupied Western Sahara in violation of international law. Australian Council of Trade Unions, and Australia Western Sahara Association protested at the company's annual general meeting.

Published 27 December 2009
The fertilizer producer Monomeros in Colombia has received yet another shipment of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.
Published 10 December 2009
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"It is a violation of international law for the natural resources of Western Sahara to be exploited in this way. But the EU continues to buy permits from Morocco for EU fishing vessels which allows them to fish in Western Saharan waters. The people of Western Sahara have never given their permission for this to happen", stated MEP Jill Evans in a press release.

Published 16 November 2009

Western Sahara human rights activist Aminatou Haidar hopes for increased attention to the EU plundering of occupied Western Sahara.

Published 06 November 2009

Today an international campaign was launched to make the EU withdraw its vessels from the waters offshore the occupied territory of Western Sahara. Press release, 6 November 2009.

Published 06 November 2009

WSRW and Defense Forum Foundation repeats question to the USTDA as to what is being done to prevent US funds from being used by the Moroccan government in Western Sahara.

Published 04 November 2009

Arriving first week of November.

Published 30 October 2009
While the EU has stopped fisheries partnership in Guinea due to violence in the country, the EU continues to pay Morocco to fish in occupied Western Sahara.
Published 28 October 2009

An Australian fertilizer firm has announced a phasing out of phosphate imports from occupied Western Sahara. Norwatch recently wrote that the Norwegian Government’s pension fund was part owner in the company’s mother firm, Wesfarmers. Norwatch, 23 October 2009.

Published 23 October 2009
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As the unemployed 32 year old Abdellah El Boukzati demonstrated against the plundering of Western Sahara, Moroccan police intervened.

Published 23 October 2009

In this video, recorded 28 september 2009, the former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez, claims that there is currently no plunder of Western Sahara - since there is "no economic activity" taking place there. He also claims that the area used to be part of Morocco before the occupation in 1975.

Published 22 October 2009
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The two Irish oil companies that are looking for oil in occupied Western Sahara are about to merge. The firms are undermining international law.

Published 19 October 2009
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In a statement last week, the EU Commission again omitted a central point from the UN opinion on natural resources in Western Sahara : the Sahrawis’ wishes.

Published 14 October 2009
The Louisiana fertiliser company PCS has this week-end received a huge shipload of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara. A smaller shipment to Colombia took place last month.
Published 14 October 2009

At the UN Fourth Committee on Decolonization held in New York on 6-12 October, WSRW called for the United Nations to send a Mission of Observation to Western Sahara, to monitor the natural resource exploitation from the territory.

Published 14 October 2009
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The fertiliser producer Incitec Pivot states in Australian Farm Journal that they are fully dependent on phosphate from occupied Western Sahara.

Published 10 October 2009
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The Norwegian Government Pension Fund has invested billions of Norwegian kroners in companies that participate in the plunder of Western Sahara. An examination carried out by Norwatch shows that Pension Fund companies are behind two-thirds of all phosphate purchases in the occupied country. Norwatch, 06 October 2009.

Published 09 October 2009
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The Norwegian seismic services company PGS has entered in on the ownership side of the Irish oil company San Leon Energy. The funds placed by PGS will help enable increased oil exploration in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 22 September 2009
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From 1999 till today, Moroccan authorities have massively opened for oil exploration in occupied Western Sahara.

Published 18 August 2009