Arabic network condemns sentencing of journalist

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has denounced the recent increment of sentence of the Moroccan journalist and blogger Hassan Barhoun by the Appeals Court.

The court in the Moroccan city of Tetuan, increased the sentence on journalist last week Monday to ten months in prison instead of six, after he had accused the public prosecutor of collusion in a corruption case.

The Court of Appeal had Mr Barhoun’s sentence increased to ten months without allowing his lawyers to submit a plea during the trial's proceedings.

Mr Barhoun was arrested on 26 February and was sentenced on 6 March to six-months in jail. He was charged with circulating false news, after publishing a petition signed by more than 60 people, including activists, journalists and officials accusing the King's deputy in Tetuan, the Public Prosecutor of collision in a corruption case.

“Instead of being interrogated about the article, Mr Barhoun was arrested and sentenced to six months in prison. At the Court of Appeal, the sentenced was increased to ten months,” the Network statement said.

The Network said the harsh ruling against Mr Barhoun is part of a series of free expression violations against critics who expose state corruption and lack of transparency in the country’s administration.

It further said Moroccan judiciary denies journalists any protection, increasing the burden on the brave journalists and bloggers in a country that is rapidly retreating to years of darkness and silence.

Morocco has previously caused international outrage with its treatment of Internet users and bloggers. In 2008 Mr Fouad Mortada was sentenced to three years in prison for creating a false profile on Internet site 'Facebook' using identity of King's brother.

However, he received a royal pardon following protests from other Internet users around the world. Morocco's press code makes it an offence to show disrespect to the King.

UN calls for peaceful talks on the future of W/Sahara

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has called on peaceful negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front ahead of the talks on the future of the disputed Western Sahara. Four rounds of the UN-brokered talks in New York since 2007 have failed to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two rivals.

Mr Ban appealed to the negotiating partners to show political will to enter into substantive discussions and ensure the success of the negotiations.

“As it would appear from the consultations held thus far that little has changed since the last round of negotiations to facilitate a positive outcome for the fifth round, careful preparation is needed,” Mr Ban stated in the new report presented to the Security Council.

Morocco holds that its position in Western Sahara should be recognised, while the Polisario Front contends that the Territory's final status should be decided in a referendum that includes independence as an option.

In February the UN special envoy Christopher Ross who visited the region established that the parties remained far apart on ways to achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution.

Mr Ban also voiced concern about the humanitarian situation of the Western Saharan refugees, many of whom have been living in camps in the Tindouf area of neighbouring Algeria for years.

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been in place since September 1991 to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which contests the territory.

The UN secretary general also suggested the council extend the mandate of the UN mission in Western Sahara for another year until 30 April 2010.

Morocco has annexed the former Spanish colony since 1976, leaving around one third of mostly uninhabited Sahrawi lands, the interior part bordering Algeria and Mauritania on Polisario's hands.

UN send mission to assess Sahrawi refugees situation

The United Nations has launched a mission to assess the Western Sahara refugees situation in Algeria following reports of malnutrition and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis, the UN refugees agency has announced.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees spokesperson, Ron Redmond, a three day mission resuming today aims to see first-hand the situation in the sites and to assess the overall conditions of the refugees in the camps.

Mr Redmond said in the last survey conducted in 2008, 61 percent of the children and 66 percent of pregnant women in the camps were suffering from anaemia, a situation reported to be critical by the World Food Programme.

The mission which is comprising of the UNHCR, WFP and other international aid agencies is also expected decide on whether to include additional foodstuffs with high nutritional value in the food assistance, specifically targeted to children, pregnant and lactating mothers.

The UN said in the last five years the donor funding has been unreliable and in 2008, UNHCR only received 39 percent of its budget, and both the agency and WFP still need additional funding for 2009.

Sahrawi refugees started flocking in Algeria in the mid-seventies fleeing the rebellion between the Polisario Front and Moroccan government over the status of Western Sahara which has been dragging for decades since Morocco annexed Western Sahara in the 1970’s.

The mission is expected to visit two of four refugee camps and will meet with beneficiaries, refugee leaders and Algerian authorities.

The UNHCR said refugees have been living in four deserted camps in south-west Algeria since the mid-seventies, with aid declining every year.

Since 1991, the UN mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between the two parties and organising a long-stalled referendum on self-determination.

WFP and UNHCR have been working very closely together to highlight the plight of the refugees through joint donor visits and joint assessment missions.

Allow Sahrawis self determination – UN envoy

The United Nation's new envoy to the Western Sahara has maintained the Saharawi people's right to self-determination, a position that analysts fear could complicate negotiations with Morocco.

Morocco which has annexed Western Sahara territory since 1976 has been a cause for concern and a feud on its neighbours and the country's main militant group, Polissario which claims to be fighting for its independence from Morocco.

The envoy Christopher Ross who is in Tindouf about 2,000 kilometers southwest of Algiers said his mission in north Africa is to revive negotiations between Polisario Front and Morocco for a solution allowing the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.

Talks between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement have stalled for nearly a year since Morocco backtracked on the UN plan for a referendum to determine Western Sahara's future.

"I am in Tindouf to inquire about Polisario Front position and its view on the modalities to be implemented to progress in the UN-brokered negotiations, in a series of decisions, for a mutually acceptable solution which takes into account the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination," Mr Ross said.

The Sahrawi leadership has in the past expressed disappointment with the UN which in 1991 reached a ceasefire agreement between Polisartio and Morocco and was to organise a referendum over independence of the Sahrawi citizens.

However, the UN never managed to organise such a referendum due to Morocco's wrecking of the process, and during the last few years, with the UN mediators having strayed from the original ceasefire agreement.

Morocco wants to reopen talks with the condition that they focus only on its autonomy plan, not a referendum. The referendum plan included in the cease-fire deal that never took place because the two sides cannot agree on voting lists.

Morocco wants to include the 100,000 settlers it brought to Western Sahara, while the Polisario wants to count only the original residents and the 160,000 Saharawi refugees now living in camps near Algeria.

Repsol makes gas discoveries in Algeria's Sahara desert

Rapsol, a Spanish oil and gas company has announced three new discoveries in the Reggane, the Ahnet and the Berkine Basins in the Sahara desert in Algeria with a potential of 813 million cubic feet of net reserves.

According to the company’s statement published on its website, the initial testing of the fields showed a preliminary output of 35.3 million cubic feet per day, which the company said it is an indication of a high potential.

Repsol said the Reggane basin is a major driver for future growth and its holdings add up to total net reserves of 145 million barrels reserves.

The region in the western portion of Algeria is one of Repsol's areas of greatest potential growth, as outlined in the company's 2008-2012 strategic plan documents.

The consortium secured exploration rights during the 2002-03 Algerian bidding rounds. During 2005-07, three discoveries were made in Reggane.

The Algerian government in 2002 and 2003 awarded the Spanish company the rights to explore the fields along with its consortium partners, Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach, Germany's RWE DEA and Italy's Edison S.p.A.

Repsol operates the consortium with a 33.75 percent stake and RWE Dea has a 22.5 percent interest. Other partners are Sonatrach with 25 person and Edison SPA with 18.75percent.

EU grants advanced status to Morocco

The European Union has granted Morocco advanced status on deepening ties and cooperation in Rabat yesterday, Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri announced.

Morocco, which has insisted on the inclusion of the Maghreb dimension during the Advanced Status negotiations with the EU, said the Maghreban integration is critical for economic growth and human development.

However, Morocco which has annexed Western Sahara territory since 1976 saw Western Sahara appealing to the EU not to grant Advanced Status to Morocco unless occupied part of Western Sahara is excluded from cooperation agreement.

Minister Fassi Fihri said advanced status of Morocco is expected to be the suitable response to the regional challenges that take place in the Mediterranean shores.

According to national news agency, MAP, Morocco is convinced that the achievement of the Union for the Mediterranean Initiative (UPM) will help build in the Mediterranean a coherent and united geopolitical block, and launch an innovative regional dynamic.

Economist, and former Finance Minister, Fathallah Oualalou said the Advanced Status is a legitimate response to the reforms undertaken by the Kingdom at the political, economic, and social levels, saying the reforms have enabled Morocco to measure up to the international and European norms.

"The Advanced Status represents a starting point towards all the upcoming reforms as well as a new era of cooperation," Mr Oualalou said.

In November Western Sahara issued a petition letter to the EU, saying if the EU would grant Advanced Status to Morocco and its occupation in Western Sahara, it would be a clear indication of its support to Moroccan annexation of the territory.

Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara has been a cause for concern and a feud on its neighbours and the country's main militant group, Polissario which claims to be fighting for its independence from Morocco.

Polisario waged a low-level guerrilla war in Western Sahara from 1975 until 1991, when United Nations brokered a ceasefire. The territory remains divided and many Sahara refugees live in camps in Algeria.

Both Morocco and Polisario are increasingly frustrated about the status quo. Polisario has been promised a referendum over independence since 1991, but Moroccan regime had squashed all hopes of such a solution.

Morocco doubles military budget

According to reports by the Moroccan press, the 2009 defence budget will be the double of this year’s budget in real terms, rising to 16 percent of all state expenditures. This comes at the same time as Morocco becomes the major recipient of EU funds. These rare details about Morocco’s 2009 military budget increase were published recently by the Arabic language weekly Nichane, a sister publication of Morocco’s renown French-language Tel Quel magazine. According to Nichane, "a huge budget has been assessed to the Army through the finance budget of 2009, thus doubling the budget of the previous year." The weekly adds that "all this happened in the Parliament under silence," asking why this significant budget rise has not been debated publicly. The Rabat parliament had approved a budget for 2009 that supplies National Defence with a total of Dirham 34.526 billion (euro 3.11 billion). According to Nichane, this represents a record 16% of Morocco’s national budget, and in real terms, the defence budget approved by parliament is twice the budget of last year. "Four years before the defence budget did not exceed Dirham 12 billion," the weekly adds. According to Nichane, the doubled defence budget was "making it possible to enter deals to buy sophisticated weapons in order to create equilibrium in the region with Algeria." Neighbouring Algeria is seen as an arch-rival in Morocco, and blamed for the Moroccan failure to have its occupation of Western Sahara recognised internationally. The independent weekly expressed its dismay over the lack of openness about the huge increase in military spending, while expressing that it understood the need to spend more on defence as Algeria had a military upper hand. It noted that during the reign of late King Hassan II, defence budgets were approved in silence by parliament, without public debate, but that under his son and successor Mohamed VI, also defence budgets had been revealed and discussed in the press. Nichane deplored this setback, in particular at a time when the increase in military spending was doubling. The huge increase in Morocco’s military spending comes at a time when the Western Sahara conflict is deadlocked and the King insists he will only accept autonomy for the former Spanish colony, while the Saharawi liberation movement POLISARIO demands former peace agreements be respected, which include a referendum over independence. POLISARIO has threatened to break the 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire, which is overseen by a UN peacekeeping mission, MINURSO. The doubling of the Moroccan military budget also comes at the same time that the Kingdom’s economy is expected to expand rapidly because of a new treaty giving it an "advanced status" in the EU. The advanced status opens up EU markets for Moroccan products, but also will give the Kingdom cash transfers from Brussels in order to further its economic development. According to recent reports by the state-controlled news agency MAP, Morocco will now become the principal recipient of European funds earmarked for the countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Kingdom next year will get an annual financial assistance of more than euro 190 million. This financial assistance from the EU has allowed the Rabat government to expand budget spending in all sectors in 2009.

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McDonald’s, Wikipedia targeted by Morocco

In its efforts to win the propaganda war against Western Sahara’s exiled government, Moroccan authorities and groups it employs abroad are targeting international companies such as McDonald’s and Wikipedia. Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco since 1975, despite numerous UN Security Council resolutions calling for a referendum over independence, is regarded as an "integrated part" of Morocco’s territory by the Rabat government. No other state, however, has recognised this annexation and the freedom movement Polisario has formed an exiled government that is a full member of the African Union (AU). The Moroccan subsidiary of the US hamburger chain McDonald’s this week fell victim of Rabat’s wreath for going by international, not Moroccan, standards. Its internationally marketed "Happy Meal" includes children’s toys, out of which some include a small map. International maps, as the "Happy Meal" maps, always include a border between Morocco and Western Sahara. Moroccan maps do not. As Moroccan authorities were made aware of the children tools with maps according to the international standard being distributed at McDonald’s in Morocco, the US company was immediately addressed. The "wiping off" of Western Sahara from Moroccan territory was presented as a scandal by the powerful news agency ‘MAP’, which is controlled by the Royal House. Today, the Moroccan subsidiary of McDonald’s had to announce its retreat. "The toys included a small map on which the borders were incorrectly drawn. We profoundly regret making this mistake and we apologise to our loyal customers and our fellow citizens," said McDonald’s Morocco in a statement released today. According to ‘MAP’, McDonald’s Morocco would withdraw the "offending toys" from the Moroccan market. In Morocco, there usually is a full control on every public statement relative to the government’s claim on Western Sahara. Even independent media are obliged by law to report according to the government line on Western Sahara. Newspapers that have written only slightly out of line with these norms are immediately shut down. But also abroad, Moroccan authorities are trying to gain further ground by investing large sums in media advisors, lawyers, lobbyists and "independent" pressure groups. In particular in the United States, this propaganda drive has started to bear fruits. Here, pro-Saharawi groups are poorly organised, coordinated and funded, giving much room for groups on the Moroccan Foreign Ministry’s payroll. One of these groups, the US "Morocco Board", today started a new propaganda drive targeting the global encyclopaedia Wikipedia, written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. According to the Morocco Board, Wikipedia articles about the Kingdom "are sadly not always accurate as fanatic pro-Polisario activists abuse of the free global encyclopaedia to push anti-Morocco propaganda." The pressure group with royal funding thus is urging Moroccan all over the world to "participate actively to stop this." It asks Moroccans to enter Wikipedia articles about the Kingdom and the Western Sahara conflict and to edit them, giving instructions about how this is made and how they can avoid being banned by Wikipedia editing rules. In other developments, the Moroccan propaganda war in Denmark is continuing. State-controlled media had announced that the Polisario representation in Copenhagen had been expelled by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After afrol News revealed this was not a fact, even more Moroccan media reported about this. Even ‘TelQuel’, Morocco’s most outspoken independent media, this week fell into the government’s propaganda trap, quoting "well informed sources" that had confirmed that "Danish authorities have closed a non-recognised underground office" of Polisario in the capital. Polisario’s representative in Denmark, Abba Malainin, on phone from Copenhagen, earlier had denied this to afrol News. Yesterday, Danish Foreign Ministry official Klavs A Holm confirmed Mr Malainin’s statement: "This is just not right," he said. Mr Holm further emphasised that the Ministry was not engaging in which foreign organisations establish information offices in Denmark "as long as one speaks of legal activities." Polisario’s activities were not considered illegal. The Moroccan propaganda initiative regarding Polisario’s office in Denmark has been seen as an effort to cover up a sex scandal at the Moroccan Embassy in the Nordic country, which was largely reported in the Danish press. Moroccan media have so far avoided reporting on this sex scandal, rather concentrating on the fabricated news about Polisario being "thrown out".

South African COSATU protests Western Sahara inclusion in EU-Morocco deal

A global protest campaign, contesting occupied Western Sahara’s inclusion in a Morocco-European Union (EU) free trade deal is gaining momentum. South Africa’s dominant labour union COSATU told the EU, Monday, it was breaking international law by its planned inclusion of the territory, AFROL news reported. COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi today personally wrote to the Brussels union, "demanding" that Morocco’s "advanced status" within the EU "must exclude Western Sahara." The advanced status to be granted Morocco will increase free trade but also political and cultural cooperation. So far, the EU has indicated that the occupied territory of Western Sahara will be included in the deal, contrasting its agreement with Israel, where occupied Palestine is excluded, and contrasting the US-Moroccan free trade agreement, which excludes Western Sahara. In the current EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement, Western Saharan seas were included, despite strong protests, giving EU trawlers access to these waters in return for payment to the Rabat government. COSATU, representing about two million workers in South Africa, is the last among many prominent organisations now joining the global petition demanding that "occupied Western Sahara is specifically excluded from the agreement." COSATU leader Vavi says that if the EU were to include Western Sahara, "through its negotiations with Morocco as the occupying power, it would give an unfortunate sign of support to the unfounded Moroccan claims over the territory. It could also lead to the EU damaging the UN’s efforts to decolonise the territory." The South African labour leader holds that the EU could be breaking international law. "Under International Customary Law, the EU and its member states have a duty of non-recognition of the Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara, and to support the decolonisation of the territory," Mr Vavi says. COSATU is not the first trade union to join the petition. Also, two of Spain’s largest unions, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Unión Sindical Obrera (USO), in addition to unions in Norway and Sweden have joined the fight. Even political parties in Europe, mostly liberal and socialist parties in Scandinavia, have signed the petition. But for the organisers, the global network Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), the support from outside the EU is of particular encouragement. Ronny Hansen, representing the Norwegian partners behind WSRW, told afrol News that "the support from COSATU and other prominent organisations worldwide is a clear recognition that the petition is a matter of global solidarity, and just an internal EU affair." "We hope COSATU’s support for this petition will inspire organisations and governments in other parts of Africa to join our ranks and express clearer support for the rights of the Sahrawis," Mr Hansen says. "After all, Western Sahara is the only African Union member currently under foreign occupation," he concludes.

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