Polisario proposes a plunder fund
Polisario has urged the UN to create a fund that will allow the Saharawi people to benefit from Morocco's plunder of Western Sahara's natural resources.
Published 14 June 2013


Faced with dwindling humanitarian aid, Polisario has launched the idea of setting up a fund for the proceeds of the exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources. The Saharawi Minister of Cooperation, Brahim Mokhtar, commented on the proposal yesterday, at a conference in Madrid.

According to Mokhtar, Morocco has made "4,5 billion dollars" in 2012, on the back of the resources of the occupied territory. "Both the United Nations and Polisario know what is sold, so we have proposed that the UN force Morocco to put a fixed percentage of the revenues into a fund, which will have a direct impact on the Saharawi people".

Brahim Mokhtar states that a specific mechanism should be designed for this purpose, to make sure that the shared percentage "reaches the refugee camps in Tindouf and the population of the occupied areas, living under the systematic oppression of their human rights and which requires our help".

The Saharawi Minister stresses that this initiative will only serve to alleviate some of the consequences of a situation created by Morocco, a situation that is "extremely serious, but requires an urgent political solution with the intervention of the international community".

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