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The campaign group would first like to thank you for your continuing support for the Western Saharan cause and the ultimate aim of self-determination for the Saharawi. There are many opportunities to further aid the campaign group. No matter your experience or knowledge of the cause please contact us if you would like to become more involved in the campaign, all help no matter how small is greatly appreciated and a much needed sign of solidarity.
Please email coordinator@wsahara.org.uk if this interests you.
For your diary
October sees the renewal of the MINURSO mandate. In late September we will be circulating an action encouraging members and supporters to write to their MP.
28 October Solidarity with Saharawi Day conference in London. Details will be circulated in September.
The Forgotten Conflict Again Sees Bloodshed
For decades the Western Saharan struggle was in a sense at a stalemate. With both sides adhering to the ceasefire that was brokered by the UN 29 years ago on the promise of a referendum to be carried out by the MINURSO programme. However sadly in November of 2020, the conflict reignited after Morocco broke the ceasefire and entered the no man's land along the border.
In recent months the conflict has picked up pace and casualties are a daily occurrence. One such story is that told by Hamdi to the New Humanitarian organisation. He talks of the state murder of his friends and his close escape. “There were eight of them. They were just making their tea- they were not in direct confrontation.” All sadly were killed in this drone strike with Hamdi being extremely lucky to have survived. This shows the Moroccan state’s indifference in attacking civilians or military targets along the 2,500km wall they constructed. Sadly this conflict is dwarfed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With no mention of this conflict in any of the leading Western media outlets.
However with the conflict heating up, the future is uncertain for the Saharawi and a full scale conflict would cause mass casualties, with the Moroccans having far superior technology and firepower. The UN must honour the MINURSO programme and the international community must uphold the promise it made many decades ago to what is Africa’s last colony, and prevent future generations from being subject to the abuse their parents and grandparents have received.
New Humanitarian: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/02/01/Western-Sahara-Morocco-Polisario-Sahrawi-UN
Polisario Front Calls on UN to Protect Saharawis
Shaheed Al Hafed, 21 August 2023 (SPS) - The Permanent Bureau of the National Secretariat of the Polisario Front has expressed its condemnation of the Moroccan blockade imposed on the occupied territories of the Saharawi Republic, calling on the United Nations to fulfil its responsibility to protect the Saharawi people from the repression of Moroccan security forces.
The President of the Republic Participates in the BRICS Summit
The President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, participated in the BRICS summit, held in South Africa from 22nd to 24th August after he received an official invitation sent to the leaders of the African continent from the BRICS countries. (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa)
Moroccan and Algerian Ties Worsening
Algeria has long been the Saharawis’ greatest supporter; without their support it would be difficult to imagine the situation the Saharawis would find themselves in. This has put Algeria in direct confrontation with their Northwestern neighbours Morocco. The border, both air and land, has been closed between Morocco and Algeria for many years now, with diplomatic ties either severed or in show only. This was shown to the international community during the football tournament of the African Nations Championship this time hosted by Algeria. Morocco pulled out of the tournament just hours before it was due to begin.
The Western Sahara Republic Announces New Onshore Mineral Exploration Licence.
On 9th August the SADR Petroleum and Mines Authority (SADRPMA) announced that it has signed an agreement for mineral exploration with Australian company Nomad Exploration Pty Ltd. The permit relates to an area of 2,000 km² in Oum Abana, located in the part of Western Sahara east of the Berm - the 2,500 km-long defensive wall that Morocco has erected across the length of the territory. Oum Abana is in the area of Western Sahara that is under control of the Saharawi government, and not occupied by Morocco.
Nomad Exploration will carry out geophysical and geochemical surveying in the area.
The exploration agreements have been adopted under the Saharawi government's mining law of 2014. As established by the International Court of Justice and repeated in hundreds of UN resolutions, the people of Western Sahara, the Saharawis, have a right to self-determination: the right to decide the future status of Western Sahara that is in part occupied by Morocco, and to decide on the use of its resources. As such, any exploration or exploitation of the territory's riches requires the Saharawis' consent. The licencing initiative undertaken by the Saharawi government thus aligns with international law - as opposed to Morocco's taking of the resources in the part of the territory that it militarily occupies in contravention of international law.
Pages of Colonisation
The African Union celebrated its 60th birthday this year. The AU has been a pillar of African interests since its foundation in 1963 (as the Organisation of African Unity), it has stood up to Western influence and oppression, and made its voice loud, when necessary, in defending its less powerful members such as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara). Morocco left the African Union in 1984, when the AU accepted SADR as a member state; however Morocco did recently rejoin the AU, in 2017, after 33 years. What is clear is that the AU were not intimidated or pressured into expelling SADR from the AU in hopes of Morocco rejoining, and that the AU did hold its ground and never once questioned the Saharawis right to belong to the Union as a member state and not as an observer unlike the United Nations. During the 60th year celebration the Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, spoke clearly to reiterate his nation's unwavering support of Western Sahara. More specifically he claimed that it is their duty “not to forget our sisters and brothers in the last African colony, specifically in Western Sahara, who await our support and solidarity to exercise their inalienable and non-negotiable right to self-determination”. Only then, he claimed, could Africa “completely turn the final page of its abhorrent colonial history, heinous occupation and shameful exploitation of its resources”. The Saharawi never gained their independence, and their resources and their land have to this day continued to be exploited and stolen for an external nation's own economic and political gain. The Moroccan King Mohammed VI, should focus his efforts on rebuilding Africa in a peaceful way after the West's destruction of the continent. He should be building bridges and friendships with the Saharawi and the Algerians, and not oppressing and murdering a culture and community, who have remained strong and defiant against the force of a much stronger and more powerful oppressor.
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