Conference on Western Sahara

South Africa to host the Conference on Multilateralism and International Law with Western Sahara as a Case Study, 4th to 5th of December 2008. One of the sessions will be on the role of natural resources in Western Sahara.



http://www.dfa.gov.za/docs/2008/wsaha1201.html

Pretoria – South Africa will host the Conference on Multilateralism and International Law with Western Sahara as a Case Study on Thursday – Friday 4-5 December 2008 at the Sanlam Auditorium at the conference centre of the University of Pretoria.

Participants at the conference will include amongst others the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sue van der Merwe; Mr M’hamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Prof Abdelhamid El Ouali, Professor of Law at the University of Casablanca, Morocco as well as other imminent scholars and United Nations experts.

Members of the media who wish to cover the event are requested to submit the following information no later than Wednesday 3 December 2008 at 16:00.

* Name and Surname
* South African ID/ Passport number
* Name of organisation
* Contact number

The information should be sent to ngculut@foreign.gov.za or masangod@foreign.gov.za

Members of the media will also be required to produce their South African ID/ Passports and press cards at the venue.

A media statement and detailed programme will be issued shortly.

For further information please contact Thembela Ngculu on 082 387 5611 and David Masango on 084 502 2830

Issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001
1 December 2008

WSRW demands PCS to terminate its unethical trade

WSRW section Louisiana in October sent a letter to the US-Canadian fertiliser producer, PCS, demanding that they terminate its imports from Western Sahara. Two months later, WSRW still awaits a reply.

The below letter was sent from WSRW section Louisiana to the fertiliser producer PCS on October 1st 2008, shortly after the company received a shipment of phosphate rock from Western Sahara. Now, two months and one more shipment later, WSRW has still not received an answer.


Mr. William J. Doyle
President and Chief Executive Officer
PotashCorp (PCS)
c/o Corporate Secretary
Suite 500, 122 - 1st Avenue South
Saskatoon, SK Canada
S7K 7G3

October 1st, 2008


Regarding PCS phosphate shipment from occupied Western Sahara

Dear Mr. Doyle, President and CEO of PotashCorp,

We are writing to you today about PotashCorp’s shipments of phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara to Louisiana. We are aware that PCS has imported phosphates from Western Sahara for processing in Geismar, LA for decades. As recently as September 12th, 2008, PCS received the vessel ‘Voge West’, fully loaded with phosphate from Western Sahara.

We would like to inform you that trade with and transportation of mineral resources from occupied Western Sahara is politically controversial, highly unethical and potentially against international law.

Most of Western Sahara is occupied by Morocco since 1975. However, to this day, no state or international organization recognizes Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. The United States and Canada, among others, have been very clear that they do not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The United Nations have repeatedly said that this illegal occupation must end and that the Sahrawi population has to be allowed to freely exercise their right to self-determination through a free, fair and transparent referendum.

The occupation of Western Sahara has resulted in enormous suffering and deprivation for the Sahrawi people, the rightful owners of the land and the natural resources of Western Sahara.
Approximately 165,000 Sahrawis are languishing in refugee camps in the inhospitable Algerian desert since 1975. The Sahrawi population remaining in areas under Moroccan occupation is subjected to grave human rights violations, such as torture, forced disappearances and arbitrary detention.


Robert Zoellick, then the United States Trade Representative, stated in 2004 in reference to the Free Trade Agreement between the USA and Morocco that “The United States … do not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara” and added that “the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) covers trade and investment in the territory of Morocco as recognized internationally, and does not include Western Sahara.”

The reason for this unequivocal US position is that Morocco has not right to extract and sell Western Sahara’s resources, as long as the political status of the territory has not been resolved.

By importing phosphates from Western Sahara, PCS thus supports the continuation of the illegal occupation and contributes to undermining the UN peace process. Money from phosphate extraction and trade goes directly to the Moroccan state-owned company located in Western Sahara. This kind of support makes Morocco less inclined to contribute to finding a solution to the occupation, and makes delaying tactics and attempting to profit from the existing situation more attractive. The phosphate trade in Western Sahara therefore increases the risk of further armed conflict, destabilization and suffering in the region.

Morocco’s control and exploitation of Western Sahara also hurts the Sahrawis’ labor rights and their economic development. According to a report by the French organization France Libertés - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, the Sahrawis have been systematically marginalized from the phosphate industry in Western Sahara. In 1968, before Morocco took control over the phosphate mines, all 1600 workers in the industry were Sahrawis. Today, 1800 of 2000 workers are Moroccan settlers who have illegally been moved into the territory.

Businesses around the world have realized their ethical obligations and have stopped importing natural resources from occupied Western Sahara. For example, Yara, the world's biggest fertilizer company, terminated the imports to Norway in 2005, for ethical reasons

In addition to ethical concerns, the companies involved in this trade should be aware that the trade is most probably in violation of international law.

The International Court of Justice in its 1975 Western Sahara Advisory Opinion established that Morocco has no legal claim to Western Sahara. That same opinion affirmed that the Sahrawi population has a right to self-determination, which includes, inter alia, the right of permanent sovereignty over its natural resources. Permanent sovereignty over natural resources is a customary principle of international law. Numerous resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly and a legal opinion by the former UN Under-Secretary General of Legal Affairs, Mr. Hans Corell on 29 January 2002 affirm this position. Because the Sahrawis have not been able to exercise their right to self-determination, and because they have not been properly consulted, trade with Morocco of natural resources emanating from Western Sahara is a violation of the Sahrawis’ right to permanent sovereignty over their resources.

It appears that your company has not consulted either with Sahrawis or their internationally recognized representatives, the Polisario Front.

We hereby appeal to PCS to do the same as Yara, R-Bulk, Jinhui and other companies: We urge you to demonstrate your attachment to international legality, human rights and basic standards of corporate social responsibility by reconsidering your involvement in shipping phosphate of Western Sahara origin.

We urge PotashCorp to issue a statement that your company intends to no longer import phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.

We will be more than happy to provide you with any additional information that you may require to study this matter more closely.

Any reply could be sent to the Louisiana section of Western Sahara Resource Watch,
Ms Christina Kiel, at christina.kiel@gmail.com.


Sincerely,



Christina Kiel
Western Sahara Resource Watch, Section Louisiana
www.wsrw.org

Western Sahara Research Watch is an international non-governmental coalition of organizations and individuals working for the protection of natural resources in WS.


Cc:
Mr. Thomas J. Regan, Jr.
President
PCS Phosphate and PCS Nitrogen

Mr. Hanson Leonard
General Manager
PCS Geismar
PO Box 307
Geismar, Louisiana 70734

Mr. Udo Wiese,
Managing Director
H. Vogemann GmbH
Hallerstrasse 40
20146 Hamburg

Mr. Martin Egvang
Director
Armada Group

Frozen fish heading east

Two so-called reefers, or refrigerated ships, have recently visited El Aaiun harbour in occupied Western Sahara, for transport of frozen fish to Russia and China.

The two vessels, Sunny Maria and Young Duck, transports frozen fish from occupied Western Sahara to markets in Russia and China.

Sunny Maria (IMO number 7734545)
The Belize flagged vessel is operated by Shipdeal Corp, and registered owner is Baltor & Co. S.A.
Stopped over in El Aaiun between 17th and 21st of November this year. The vessel is known for carrying out fish transports, and from what WSRW knows, the vessel is now heading towards China.

Young Duck (IMO number 7916296)
Stopped over in El Aaiun from the 14th to the 24th of November. Young Duck is owned and operated by the Korean firm Youngduck Shipping Co. Ltd, and seems to be heading towards Russia.


A third vessel, not a reefer, the cargo ship Rhino (IMO 7616860), on 30th of October this year passed through the Kiel canal, on its way from El Aaiun to Kaliningrad. It is still unclear, however, what kind of cargo the vessel picked up in occupied Western Sahara on its way to Kaliningrad. The vessel used to be sailing for the Norwegian shipping company Boa, but is not any longer. In what possibly can be a related shipment, Rhino was on 7th of September 2008 spotted in Rijeka, Croatia, a phosphate importing harbour.

Statements from New Zealand government over Western Sahara trade

Shortly before the Government of New Zealand changed, the former Minister of Trade, Hon Phil Goff, wrote two letters regarding the natural resource exploitation. Read them here.

In one letter from Mr. Goff to Patricia Kane, 7 July 2008, the Minister states that he had discussed the benefit for the Sahrawi people of such trade, together with the Moroccan government.

"I was told by Morocco that the local community is benefiting through the provision of money, jobs, infrastructure and services. Clearly, however, such benefits are not applied to support for the excercise of the right to self-determination, including independence: Morocco continues to claim sovereignty over the Western Sahara.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Morocco's approach, the responsibility is Morocco's. New Zealand companies breach no laws in importing phosphate extracted from Western Sahara, or marketing fish caught off its coast".

Read the entire letter here: page 1, page 2.

In another letter, from Hon Phil Goff to the New Zealand Western Sahara Association, the Minister repeats the arguments that Morocco's activities in Western Sahara are Morocco's responsibilities, and not of New Zealand.

"Extraction of the phosphates by Morocco does, however, give rise to considerations of the international legal principles involved in the administration of non-self-governing territories. These are issues for Morocco to consider".

Read the entire letter from Goff to the New Zealand Western Sahara Association, 8 September 2008 here, which is a response from a letter sent by the New Zealand Western Sahara Association on 27th of January this year.

The new government in New Zealand, headed by the center-right National Party, took office end of November 2008. No statements on New Zealand's important role in the natural resource exploitation of Western Sahara have so far been issued by the new government.

Two more vessels arriving New Zealand this week

Two vessels are arriving New Zealand with phosphates from occupied Western Sahara this week.

2 vessels are now entering New Zealand waters with phosphate rock from occupied Western Sahara, a trade which is violation of international law.

White Diamond (IMO number 9330666)
Arrives port of Tauranga on tbhe 2nd of December, departing on 5th, towards Timaru, where she will arrive on the 6th, before continuing towards her final destination, Bluff, on the 7th. White Diamond is managed by the Israeli 'Ofer Ships Holdings', in Haifa.

Triton Stork (IMO number 9328675)
Will arrive port of Lyttleton on 3rd of December, continuing towards Napier on the 4th.

The Panama flagged Triton Stork is arriving Lyttleton for the second time this year with phosphates from Western Sahara. She arrived on 31st of January 2008 to the same harbour, with the same cargo. She did also a shipment of such phosphates to Fremantle, Perth, Australia, arriving approximately 21st of August 2005. The vessel is supposedly owned by Triton Nav BV (Netherlands).

Swiss giant vessel with unethical cargo

The Swiss flagged and managed vessel Celerina in November carried out a highly unethical phosphates transport from occupied Western Sahara to Louisiana, USA.



The bulk vessel Celerina arrived New Orleans mid-November, with a cargo of phosphates from occupied Western Sahara.

The vessel is one of the biggest which has carried out such unethical trade in a long time. 225 meters long, and with gross deadweight of 73.035 tonnes, the big vessel can possibly have carried around 70.000 tonnes of phosphate rock.

With a current phosphate rock price around 414 dollars a tonne, such a cargo would be worth 29 million USD. This sum has been given to the Moroccan state for phosphates illegally exploited on the occupied land.

Morocco took control over the phosphate mines after occupying Western Sahara in 1975, few days after their claim to the land was rejected by the International Court of Justice. The majority of the Sahrawi people fled their homeland and settled in refugee camps in Algeria. There, they are still living, suffering from lack of humanitarian aid.

The sum which the Swiss giant vessel has transported to Lousiana equals that which was given to the Sahrawi refugees through multinational donors through the entire 2007.

The Moroccan phosphate industry in Western Sahara is today the most important source of income in the land, and remains a main reason for the continued illegal occupation.

The customer of the phosphates was the Louisiana based fertiliser producer PCS.

The vessel, with IMO 9176759, is managed by the company Suisse Atlantique, in Renens, Switzerland.

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".

Arrestation de 3 citoyens sahraouis et enlèvement de deux autres à la ville de Dakhla occupée

Dakhla (territoires sahraouis occupés), Les citoyens Ali Aghraichi et Mohamed ould Sidi Mohamed Baba ont été enlevés par les forces de répression marocaines, alors que trois autres étudiants ont été arrêtés au cours d’un sit-in pacifique, appelant à l’autodétermination du peuple du Sahara occidental.

Il s’agit de Mohamed Mbeirik Bakar, Lehbib Ebnou Elmeki et Elmoukhtar Ivekou Boucheiba arrêtés et torturés sauvagement pour plus de 6 heures dans les locaux de la police marocaine avant d’être libérés dans une situation déplorable, a précisé une source judiciaire sur place.

Les trois étudiants ont été ont été accusé de "formation d’un groupe criminel" et interrogés de la part le tortionnaire marocain, Hreiz El Arbi, notamment sur leurs relations avec les activistes sahraouis des droits humains, a ajouté la même source.

Le sit-in organisé par les diplômés sahraouis contraints au chômage en raison de la politique marocaine de marginalisation à l’encontre des Sahraouis, qui ont scandé des slogans appelant au retrait de l’occupant marocain du Sahara occidental et au droit à l’autodétermination du peuple sahraoui.

Appeal

Saharawi students all over the Universities in Morocco as well as at the schools in Western Sahara have been staging peaceful Demonstrations since the 1st of December 2008, in solidarity with the Saharawi students in Ibn Zohr University of Agadir and protesting against the brutal killing of the two Saharawi students Baba Khayya
(22y. 3rd y Economy) and Laktif Elhousin (21y.1st y Sociology) and the third student Belkadi Mbarek (1st y Law) who is still in a comma in a very delicate health situation at the hospital of Hassan the 2nd in Agadir, Morocco.

Ibn Zohr University of Agadir:

Saharawi students are on a hunger strike for 48h, they closed the gate of the faculty of Letters and Human Sciences and the faculty of Law and Economics, boycott the exams.
Demonstrations are occurring every day in front of the faculties and at the University Campus.

Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech:

Saharawi students since the 1st/Dec/08 are demonstrating at the faculties, boycotting the exams and going on marches between the faculties towards the University Campus.
On the 2nd of December, the Moroccan brutal forces nearly broke into the Campus.

Hassan the 2nd University of Casa Blanca:

Saharawi students are going through a series of demonstrations in solidarity.

Med V University of Rabat:

Saharawi students are making demonstrations.

Western Sahara: (El Aaiun)

Lemsalla High school:

Saharawi students boycott the studies and exams in addition to the Demonstrations.

Hassan the 2nd High school:

Saharawi students have been demonstrating.
On the 3rd of December at 01:00 the brutal Moroccan forces stormed the High school causing many victims, some students were sent to the hospital and some were detained.
We are still waiting for more information.




We, the Saharawi students are prevented from our rights such as right of Expression, Education, Transport, Master studies…

Every year we encounter serious troubles of registration at the Universities, problems of transfer…etc In addition to the brutal attacks by the Moroccan authorities in respond to our peaceful demonstrations calling for our right to Self-Determination.

Attached:
A photo presentation of the situation of Saharawi students in two years time
(2007. 2008) as an example.



We appeal to you the conscience of the world to support us in our peaceful struggle to Self-Determination and Justice.

We want you to be aware about our situation now, we are continuing our struggle to achieve Justice and that the responsible of the killing of the Saharawi students be prosecuted in International courts.

We demand an International Protection, considering the brutal attacks by the Moroccan authorities and the serious consequences on students.

We demand a serious pressure on Morocco to stop those flagrant violations of Human Rights in Western Sahara and Universities.
And that respect our rights as Saharawis, to Self-Determination
and our right as students to express our opinions.

We need a presence of foreign journalists Human Rights activists and international observers to follow our case and to support us in our struggle.





Saharawi students
Ibn Zohr University of Agadir
03rd/12/2008

Dos estudiantes saharauis mueren atropellados por un camión en Agadir cuando participaban en una sentada

Servicio de Comunicación Saahraui en Canarias

(SCSC)


Dos estudiantes saharauis mueren atropellados por un camión en Agadir cuando participaban en una sentada



Otros dos permanecen graves mientras tres compañeros continúan detenidos por las fuerzas de seguridad marroquíes



Santa Cruz de Tenerife.- Dos estudiantes saharauis, El Houssein Kteif, de Tan Tan (Marruecos) y Baba Khaya, de El Aaiún (Sahara Occidental), fallecieron ayer, lunes en la Estación de Autobuses de la ciudad marroquí de Agadir cuando participaban en una sentada para demandar medios de transporte suficientes para poder celebrar la Fiesta del Cordero junto a sus familias, según ha podido saber el Servicio de Comunicación Saharaui en Canarias (SCSC) de fuentes de la Asociación Saharaui de Graves Violaciones de Derechos Humanos Cometidas por el Estado Marroquí (ASVDH) confirmadas después por el Ministerio de los Territorios Ocupados y la Emigración del Gobierno saharaui.



Además, al menos dos compañeros de los fallecidos, Belkadi Marek y Bouh

Alkharrachi, permanecen graves, uno en estado de coma, por las heridas recibidas en el mismo suceso y tres, Al Hadif Breiha, Al Asla Ahmed Salem y Moustapha Ben

Taleb, se encuantran detenidos después de ser arrestados en la intervención policial marroquí levada a cabo para disolver la sentada, que los testigos califican de "brutal".



Los fallecidos cursaban estudios de Secundaria en la Universidad Ibn Zohr de Agadir, Marruecos. Los jóvenes saharauis y en especial los estudiantes saharauis en las Universidades marroquíes se incorporaron desde el primer momento y de forma activa a la lucha pacífica iniciada por los saharauis en mayo de 2005, denominada Intifada de la Liberación , que se expresa a través de acciones pacíficas de protesta.



Desde 2005, las fuerzas de seguridad marroquí han desplegado contra estos estudiantes numerosas acciones de "represión y brutalidad" contra estos estudiantes con un saldo de heridos y muertos que crece lenta pero inexorablemente, aseguran los activistas de Derechos Humanos en la zona.



El Houssein Kteif y Baba Khaya, muertos ayer, no hacen sino incrementar "la macabra lista de los muertos por demandar pacíficamente sus derechos", indican los activistas al SCSC. Y recuerdan que fue Hamdi Lembarki, asesinado mientras era torturado por las fuerzas marroquíes el 30 de octubre de 2005, el primero en abrir la lista. Likhlifi Abba Cheikh también falleció, "asesinado por un militar marroquí no lejos de su casa", en diciembre de 2005.



Dada Ali Ould Hamma Ould Nafaa, también estudiante saharaui, fallecía en julio de 2007 en un hospital de Agadir por motivos similares y el último caso de un estudiante saharaui muerto "a manos de las fuerzas represivas marroquíes" fue Sidha Ould Abdelaziz Ould Lehbib, fallecido en una ambulancia que le trasladaba a un hospital psiquiátrico de Agadir en septiembre de 2007 después de sufrir "torturas salvajes" a manos de la policía marroquí, recuerdan las fuentes. (SCSC)



Saludos




-------------------------------------------
ACCIONES URGENTES, PÁSALO
-------------------------------------
Aporta tu firma por la libertad del Sahara
Es urgente que la ciudadanía ayude a devolver la libertad a el pueblo saharaui. Por eso pedimos al Gobierno de España que reconozca el status diplomático de la República Saharaui. Se pone en marcha una plataforma de recogida de firmas para conseguir que esto sea posible entre todos.
Firmado:
Los miembros de la plataforma TODOS CON EL SAHARA
El objetivo de esta plataforma es lograr el máximo número de firmas de apoyo al manifiesto. El fin es hacer entrega de ellas al Presidente de Gobierno para que España lidere la búsqueda de una solución pacífica y justa a un conflicto que nos afecta directamente.
http://www.todosconelsahara.com/

Aporta tu firma también a la
Campaña Internacional para la Liberación de todos los presos Políticos Saharauis
LOS PRESOS POLITICOS SAHARAUIS NECESITAN QUE UNAS TU VOZ Y TU DENUNCIA PARA SU LIBERACIÓN. DALES TU APOYO FIRMANDO EN LA SIGUIENTE PÁGINA:
http://www.libertadpresospoliticossaharauis.com/

*NO OLVIDES DEJAR TU FIRMA

The killing of Two Saharawi students, One other Student is in a comma, Some were detained and beaten up

Date : 1rst December 2008
Time : Evening, between 08 and 08:30
Place : Agadir city. The bus station “Al masira”

Event : The killing of Two Saharawi students,
One other Student is in a comma,
Some were detained and beaten up by the police


On the 1rst of December 2008, at 08:00 in the evening,

Saharawi students were having a sit-in at the bus station of “Al masira” demanding their right of transport; they want to go to their cities in Western Sahara for the “Aid” feast.

The responsible people of the bus station did not show any help to solve the problem and offer a buss for the students.
Moreover, the police were surrounding the bus station.
At the same time, one bus driver was given the permission
by the police (according to the students testimonies’) he was given the order to go ahead towards the students whom were sitting as a protest.

The bus crushed three students, two were killed and one is in a comma at “Hassan the 2nd” hospital.
5 other students were victims as well, injured in different parts of the body.

The killed students are:

Baba Khayya and Laktif Elhousin

The student who is in a coma is named Belkadi Mbarek.

The other students’ victims:

Elkherchi Mbarek : Broken hand
Abdessalam Chtouki : Bruising at the hand and arm
Nafai Zaza : Bruising at the hand and back
Nadia : bruising at the back

The bus driver escaped immediately after committing the crime.

The police break into the bus station immediately after the crime; they beat up the students and detained 11 ones.
The students were released after a while and two of them
(Elaasli Ahmad Salem and Elhadef Mbarek) were released lately at 01h am.

The students’ victims were taken by taxis to the hospital.

The killed students and the other one who is in a comma was taken by an ambulance after half an hour to the “Hassan the 2nd” hospital.


The Moroccan authorities considered at the first time the event as an accident.
Today the under king at the tribunal of Agadir considered the event as mechanical defect and promised to follow the appropriate actions.


On the 2nd December, 2008, Saharawi students have started Demonstrations

Since the morning it was a demonstration and a march in front of the faculty of Arts and Human sciences and in the afternoon they have a Demonstration in front of the faculty of Law and Economics “Ibn Zohr” University, Agadir.

Members of Moroccan National Students Union (UNEM) expressed their solidarity to the Saharawi students and their consolation to the Martyrs students’ families.


We, the Saharawi students are continuing our peaceful struggle for Independence and Justice.

We together with the Martyrs students’ families are demanding the international community, Human Rights Organizations, international courts
to follow this serious case.


Saharawi students
In Ibn Zohr University
Agadir, Morocco

Le Polisario appelle l'UE à diligenter une enquête pour faire la lumière sur l'assassinat des deux étudiants sahraouis à Agadir

Bruxelles, Le Front Polisario a appelé l’Union européenne (UE) à diligenter une enquête pour faire la lumière sur l'assassinat des deux jeunes étudiants sahraouis "délibérément percutés par un autobus qui se dirigeait vers eux à vive allure afin de forcer le passage", au cours d’un sit-in pacifique, réclamant d’être transportés vers leur lieu de résidence au Sahara Occidental, à l'occasion des fêtes de l’Aid Al Adha.

Dans une lettre adressée à l’Union européenne, le membre du Secrétariat national du Front Polisario, ministre délégué chargé de l’Europe, Mohamed Sidati a estimé qu’il est du devoir de l'UE "d’intervenir de toute urgence pour que soit mis un terme à ces agissements odieux, qui heurtent de front les valeurs fondatrices de l’Union."

Il est aussi du devoir de l’UE de tout faire pour permettre la visite de la délégation ad hoc du Parlement européen dans les territoires occupés. Il est encore de la responsabilité de l'Union de contribuer à l'ouverture du territoire du Sahara Occidental à la presse, aux O.N.G. et aux observateurs indépendants, a ajouté le texte.

L'UE se doit enfin d'exiger la libération de tous les prisonniers d'opinion sahraouis, dont la seule faute est d'avoir revendiqué pacifiquement des droits somme toute légitimes, tel le droit à l'autodétermination de leur peuple, a-t-il martelé.

Le Gouvernement sahraoui décrète un deuil national de 24 heures suite au décès de deux étudiants sahraouis à Agadir

Bir Lehlu (territoires libérés), Le Gouvernement sahraoui a décrété un deuil national de 24 heures à partir du mercredi a la suite du décès tragique de Houssein Abdessadik Alkteyif et Khaya Baba Abdelaziz, survenu la soirée de lundi, après qu'ils furent choqués par un bus marocain, à la suite de leur participation dans un sit-in pacifique devant une station à Agadir (Maroc), a annoncé un communiqué de la Présidence publié mardi.

Les drapeaux seront mis en berne, toutes les festivités seront ajournées et la prière de "Al Ghayeb" (l'absent) sera faite au niveau des camps de réfugiés et dans les territoires libérés, a précisé le communiqué, qui a fait part des "vives condoléances du Gouvernement et du peuple sahraoui à la famille des défunts".

Le Gouvernement de la RASD a appelé également à observer une minute de silence à la mémoire des deux étudiants sahraouis.

Le communiqué précise par ailleurs que les martyrs Houssein Abdessadik Alkteyif (20 ans) étudiant en première année en sociologie à la faculté de littérature et sciences humaine à l’université d’Agadir et Khaya Baba Abdelaziz étudiant en 2ème année en économie à la faculté de droits à la même université ont été "assassinés" par les forces de répression marocaines après qu'ils furent choqués par un bus marocain devant une station de transport.

D’autres étudiants ont été grièvement blessés dont certains ont été transportés en coma à l’hôpital d’Agadir, au cours de l’intervention sauvage des forces de répression marocaines pour disperser les manifestants qui réclamaient pacifiquement leur droit au transport devant la station d’Agadir (Maroc) .

Il s’agit de : Belkadi Mbarek, Bouh Elkharrachi, Abdessalam Chtouki, Nafii Zaza, l’étudiante sahraouie, Nadia Ben Zouhra, alors que les étudiants sahraouis, Belhadef Breih, Alasla Ahmed Salem et Moustapha Ben Taleb ont été arrêtés par ces mêmes forces.

Exprimant sa réprobation de "ce crime odieux" commis contre des personnes innocentes, le Gouvernement sahraoui tient l'Etat marocain pour "responsable de ce forfait" et des "conséquences qui peuvent en découler, qui forcément ne militent pas pour la paix et la stabilité dans la région".

Le Gouvernement sahraoui a en outre attiré l'attention de la communauté internationale et des âmes éprises de justice sur "le péril de la situation explosive dans les villes occupées du Sahara Occidental, au sud du Maroc et dans les universités marocaines" (...) "engendré par la politique de répression marocaine contre les civils sahraouis sans défense".

Il a appelé l'ONU à "assurer une protection complète des Sahraouis et à leur assurer leur droit légitime à la libre expression, le déplacement, la manifestation et à lever l'état de siège sécuritaire et médiatique imposée au territoire sahraoui pour permettre aux observateurs et presse étrangers d'y accéder librement.

Le communiqué interpelle en outre l’opinion publique marocaine, notamment les partis politiques, la société civile, les intellectuels et en particuliers les étudiants marocains à dénoncer et condamner ce crime odieux perpétré par les services de sécurité marocains qui a coûté la vie à deux étudiants sahraouis.

Two Saharawi students murdered four injured and three arrested in Agadir

Two Saharawi students were murdered, four injured and three others arrested by the Moroccan authorities after a peaceful sit-in Saharawi students organised at a bus station in the Moroccan city of Agadir, human rights organisations in Western Sahara reported. The Saharawi young students, Baba Abdelaziz Khaya, (22) and Lheussein Abdsadek Lakteif, (20) were killed by a Moroccan bus that drove right on them and a group of other Saharawi students during the intervention of the Moroccan authorities who violently attacked the demonstrators to break the sit-in. The Bus, matriculated B-A 6687 drove fast towards the demonstrators to kill the two students, injured three others, namely Abouh Alkharachi who is seriously wounded and is now in coma in a hospital in the city, in addition to Ismaaili Bachri, El Qadi Mbarek and Abdslam Chtouki. On the other hand, three Saharawi students were arrested during the Moroccan police intervention against the demonstrators. The students are: Breiha El Hadef, El Asla Ahmed Salem and Mustapha Ben Taleb. The Saharawi students were protesting against the bus company, which did not respect its engagements with them to provide sufficient seats for the students who have to travel to their hometowns for the iid El adha. This is not the first time that the Moroccan authorities commit murder against Saharawi demonstrators and innocent citizens during their interventions. 7 Saharawis at least were killed before, since 2005. Three old Saharawis, namely Laamar Sidi Brahim, Taleb Oul Ali Menna and Mohamed Lehsen Sidi Brahim were killed when a Moroccan military truck drove on them in the occupied city of Dakhla. In 2005 too, the Saharawi young martyrs, Lembarki Hamdi and Likhlifi Abba Cheikh were murdered by Moroccan police, the first killed in October 30 under torture in the middle of the street in the occupied city of El Aaiun, the second killed in December 3 by a Moroccan police agents in the city of Tan Tan. In 2007, Dada Ali Ould Hamma Ould Nafaa, died in a clinic in Agadir of a cronic decease after he was denied the right to medical care for a long time. In September 2007 the young Saharawi, Sidha Ould Abdelaziz Ould Lehbib, died in a car that was transporting him to a psychiatric centre in Agadir, because of the "savage torture" the Moroccan authorities inflicted him, it should be recalled.

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Portugal is in favour of the Saharawi people’s self-determination

The Secretary General of the Portuguese Communist Party, Jeronimo De Sousa, reaffirmed the support of his party to the Saharawi people’s struggle for self-determination and independence, he declared before the 18th Congress of his organisation held in Lisbon the 29 and 30 November. Mr. de Sousa, in his report presented to the Congress, hailed the just struggle of the Saharawi people. While the Congress, expressed, in its general political resolution, "its active solidarity with the Saharawi people’s struggle for self-determination and independence". A Saharawi delegation composed of the member of POLISARIO Front’s National Secretariat, Minister Councillor delegated to Europe, Mohamed Sidati and the POLISARIO Front-s Representative in Portugal, Edda Hmeim, took part to the congress. The Saharawi officials met with the SG of the party and had many encounters with the representative of the international delegations participating to the congress.

Saharawi Minister of Culture affirms that Morocco "can not absorb the Saharawi culture"

The Saharawi Minister of Culture, Mrs. Khadidja Hamdi, affirmed Sunday that "Morocco can not alienate the Saharawi culture, instead it undeliberately exposed the it." In a press conference animated at the seat of the Saharawi TV, the Saharawi Minister Mrs. Hamdi underlined that "the Moroccan regime failed to alienate the identity and Saharawi heritage". "We believe in culture as a way that can lead to the liberation and we are attached to the ties between the generations", she said, stressing that "we work for a consensus in favour of culture of liberation and human emancipation." The Saharawi minister recalled the Moroccan "hysteria" that took the Moroccan regime, and which was embodied by the organisation of many festivals in the occupied territories. She estimated that the regime of occupation "will bitterly harvest in the near future the result of what it is trying to impose the occupied territories." Talking about the 16th Festival of Culture of Culture and Popular Arts, which will take place in the wilaya of Aousserd from the 4th to the 6th December 2008, under the theme "Culture serving the Liberation and Development", the Saharawi Minister indicated that this event is "a real opportunity for the youth who will be able to have an idea on the Saharawis before occupation." The Saharawi official indicated that 2.630 Saharawi participants will be animating and acting in the cultural activities that will be organised in more than 110 traditional tents, built specially for the festival to present the deferent aspects of the life of the Saharawi people in the past. Another 1250 Saharawis will be participating to folkloric parades representing the Saharawi rituals, customs and social events. There will also be representative of the Saharawi government and institutions in addition to more than 200 foreign researcher, artists, writers from many countries, and hundreds foreign visitors coming from Spain. The Festival will also be an opportunity to open the works of the "1st International Seminar of Culture in Western Sahara", which is, according to Mrs. Hamdi a stage of research that will enable artists and foreign researchers to exchange their experiences and to get introduced to the Saharawi culture through the works of workshops on many cultural subjects such as literature, poetry, cinema, theatre, archaeological patrimony and plastic arts."

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Western Sahara’s struggle for self-determination

In October, a three-member delegation of Australian unionists visited the Western Saharawi refugee camps in the Hamada desert, South West Algeria. Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. Green Left Weekly’s Margarita Windisch spoke with Sid’Ahmed Tayeb, the minister of public health for the exiled Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, in 27 February refugee camp. Margarita Windisch: The Saharawi refugee camps have now existed for close to 33 years in extremely inhumane surroundings. What has led to the Saharawis becoming refugees and what are the challenges facing the Saharawi people? Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: Firstly, I would like to thank you very much for your visit. It shows us that we are not alone. This is important support that international community can give us. All along, the Saharawi community has been conscious of its historic responsibility and the sacrifice it has made and still has to make in its fight for national sovereignty. Our sacrifices have been necessary to preserve the history of our people and liberate our territories from Moroccan occupation. Western Sahara was invaded in 1975, by a monarch who needed to stabilise his throne and expand his territory. Living as refugees is a disgrace and is marked by scarcity in all senses of the word. The biggest impact of displacement is on health. During the first years after the Moroccan invasion, we not only lost many lives during the resistance war but we also had to come to terms with moving away from our natural habitat. We were overwrought with a lack of perspective on how to survive in this new environment, a very hard geographic space without natural life — no vegetation or animals. We have had no experience in how to live in such inhumane conditions. We had many deaths in the camps from 1975 to 1983 that were related to the difficulty of adapting psychologically and physiologically to a radically different and highly stressful terrain. To resolve this critical problem we needed to employ all the material resources available to us. In the face of massive adversity, the main moral, political and sociological task of Saharawi society was to draw strength from the little available to restructure itself and mature against all odds. And I can confidently say that we managed this task with excellence. When we started to organise the Saharawi state in the camps, we were conscious that health is one of the main vulnerabilities. That’s why especially the first years of restructuring in the camps, one fifth of Saharawis were employed in the health field, focusing on prevention. Health prevention today is still one of our main political tools. We started with the promotion of health issues in all its aspects initially, because the only thing we had available at that time was human resources. Our society, which was predominantly Bedouin and nomadic, had to undergo a brutal change once we arrived at the camps. People had to settle and face unhealthy dietary change. Saharawi diet was based on milk, meat, malt, rice and some wheat breads. In the camps, which concentrated big social groups in restrictive areas, the refugees suddenly had to survive from emergency food aid, which comprised mainly legumes, adding to the already adverse and stressful circumstances However, due to our strategy of health prevention, we managed to make some important improvements rather quickly. Humans never know their capabilities until they reach a point where problems have to be confronted; as much on an individual as a societal level. Saharawi Bedouins’ life is very tough, but they still like this kind of life. A Saharawi is not very interested in comfort, such as sofas or television. These are not big attractions. The Bedouin adores nature and appreciates coexistence with his animals, like the camels. We are close to our animals, because they are our means of subsistence. Our society needed a total reorganisation. We had to create administrations in order to manage every district and municipality of the camps according to their specific necessities. We decided to prioritise schooling and community health clinics over individual family needs. Sometimes we had three to four families share one tent so there was a tent for each school and clinic available. Margarita Windisch: Saharawis have had to live for over 30 years on emergency food aid. How are you dealing with the consequences? Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: The characteristic of any refugee camps is health vulnerability, and nutrition is an important part of that. We have achieved some very good results. In more than 20 years we have had no type of disease epidemic, even though we have had to live in drastic climatic circumstances where we face massive temperature changes from a high of 58°C in summer to -6°C in winter. On top of this, our diet is hyper glutei — made up of 95% of carbohydrates — because it is the cheapest and easiest accessible form of aid available for the camps. This diet is highly deficient for our immune system. It also creates a different human organism to normal. Women and men are born into this state of scarcity — which is impacting especially on the mother but also the child. We not only develop general health programs, but also diagnostic programs that look at the health risks and causes. We create workshops with all the Saharawi health professionals, and our specialist friends and sympathisers, to arrive at a good scientific diagnosis. At the moment we are working with Norwegian health professionals on a four-day nutrition seminar. We identified this as a priority because in February we did a nutritional study that looked at levels of anaemia and malnutrition, especially in the most vulnerable sectors; women of childbearing age and children under 15. We found alarmingly high levels of anaemia and malnutrition. These findings compelled all of us involved in health to get together and develop a realistic diagnosis and find realistic solutions. Our problems will persist as long as we are refugees. However, the only way to minimise the impact is for us to unite our strengths, make the situation as dignified as possible and apply all our knowledge. Margarita Windisch: What benefits does the high level of Saharawi control and organisation in the camps bring? Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: Saharawi people live a precarious existence; we are in a place of being or not being. We have only got two choices — a sovereign Saharawi state or total dispersion of Saharawis across the world, without a homeland, memories and no responsibility for the future. We are conscious of this responsibility for our society in its totality; we have to organise ourselves in order to survive. We have to develop the level of organisation in order to meet the challenges coming our way every minute. We have now lived for quite a few years with neither peace nor war, since the 1991 ceasefire with Morocco. When we were engaged in war, the perspectives were clear, even though we didn’t know how many lives our resistance struggle would cost us. We were engaged in armed combat in very unequal conditions with a militarily superior Morocco. It was not only Saharawi society that paid a big price for the caprices of the Moroccan king. Moroccan soldiers were also victims of his Machiavellian mind; they, their families and Moroccan society in fact have paid dearly for the king’s expansionist ambitions. Margarita Windisch: We noticed an encouraging high participation of women at the recent General Workers’ Union of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Western Saharan trade union organisation) congress, but also more generally women are very visible in public life in the camps. Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: Our society is a very naturalist society. We share our responsibilities in a collective manner, which includes extended families along ancestral lines. Because of our ways of life, women occupy a critical rank. In a nomadic society, the woman is everything. The man of the family is itinerate; he is either looking for pastures or is at the markets hundreds of kilometres away and may be absent for weeks. Once we arrived at our refuge in South West Algeria, women organised the state and constructed the institutions, from the smallest to the biggest. Women have also been combatants during the years of war. In incredibly harsh conditions, women were both the backbone of the camps and the revolution. In Saharawi society, women are not discriminated against because of their specific physiological make up. Margarita Windisch: Cuba has educated many Saharawi children. Why is this the case? Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: Cuba, such a small country with minimal material resources, has extended humanitarian help to many countries. Most importantly, Cubans have helped with education and health. The Saharawi people are one of those peoples that are eternally grateful to the Cuban people. Only Cuba, on the other side of the word, opened the doors for us and took our kids to educate them into doctors, engineers, lawyers and technicians of all types. Cuba has also helped with medical support. In 1976, we only had four qualified nurses — a consequence of more than 100 years of Spanish colonial rule. So imagine, in times of war and an extreme refugee situation, we had to make do with only four nurses to try and deal with our health problems! Now, the leaders, functionaries and youth you see working in the camps are all a result of the support and education provided by Cuba. Cuba, with the little they have, still shares with others, independently of their obligations in their geographical region, culture, religion or skin colour. We, Saharawis are conscious that it was Cuba that has helped us to walk on our own two feet since the Moroccan invasion. Margarita Windisch: Western Sahara is Africa’s last colony and the conflict is still unresolved. How can we best give our solidarity to Saharawi people? Sid’Ahmed Tayeb: There is only one solution to our existence as refugees: our return to our sovereign homeland. There is no other solution. I can only mention the need to unite all our societies along the lines of peace and true justice. It is this unity, not aggression that we need so all of us can enjoy happiness instead of destitution and humiliation. From: International News, Green Left Weekly issue #777 3 December 2008.

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The University of Pretoria hosts a conference on Western Sahara as a case of study on multilateralism and International Law

The Government of South Africa will organise, the 4th and 5th December in the University of Pretoria, a conference on Western Sahara as a case of study on multilateralism and International Law. The conference will be marked by the participation of jurists, researchers, parliamentarians, diplomats, journalists as well as representatives of the South African civil society and students. The South African Ministers: Sue Van Der Merwe and Aziz Pahad will give interventions during the conference, and some eminent political personalities from the ANC, the Communist Party, COSATU and the ANC Youth League will also attend the event, it was indicated. According to the organisers, there will be many speakers on the floor, especially Mr. Hans Corell, ex-under Secretary of the UN for Legal Affairs, Mr. Francisco Bastagli, ex-Special Envoy of the SG to Western Sahara, Mr. Frank Ruddy, ex-under Special Representative and President of the Commission of Identification, Senator Pierre Galand from Belgium, in addition to the President of the Platform of Jurists for Timor Leste, and many eminent jurists from Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Italy, USA, UK, Norway, Japan, Australia and others.. FRom the Saharawi side, the conference will be attended by Mr. Mhamed Khadad, Member of POLISARIO Front’s National Secretariat Coordinator with the MINURSO, and Dr. Sidi Omar. The conference will also be marked by the presence of the Saharawi human rights activist and Laureate of the Robert Kennedy Award of Human Rights 2008, Ms. Aminatou Haidar.

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Les forces d’occupation marocaine répriment une manifestation des travailleurs et retraités de la société Phosbucraa

El Aaiun (territoires occupés), Les forces d’occupation marocaines ont procédé jeudi à disperser par la force un sit-in organisé par les travailleurs et retraités de la société Phosbucraa, pour réclamer leurs droits dont la société s’était engagée auparavant à résoudre, a indiqueé une source proche du ministère sahraoui des territoires occupés et de la diaspora.

La police s’était intervenue brutalement contre les manifestants, blessant au mois dix citoyens sahraouis âgés majoritairement entre 65 et 80 ans, selon un manifestant cité par la même source.

Par ailleurs, un étudiant sahraoui, Hassan Maarass a été arrêté mercredi dernier à la faculté de droits d’Agadir (Maroc) par des agents de la police marocaine déguisés en civil et l’ont conduit vers une destination inconnue avant de le transférer au centre de la police d’Agadir.

La famille de Maarass se trouve devant les locaux de la police d’Agadir afin de savoir le sort de leur fils et les raison de son arrestation et de la torture dont il a été l’objet en dehors des locaux de la police, a conclu la même source.

New Danish Committee of support to the Saharawi people created in Copenhagen

A new Danish Committee of support to the Saharawi people was created last Thursday in Copenhagen and is calling on the European Union not to grant a so-called Advanced Status to Morocco, unless the occupied Western Sahara is specifically excluded from the agreement. In a press release issued Friday, of which UPES received a copy, the Danish Support Committee for Western Sahara (DSCWS), also called on the “UN Secretary General Mr. Ban ki-moon to resume the negotiation process between the Moroccan government and POLISARIO Front with the aim to enable the people of Western Sahara to exercise freely their right to Self-determination”. On the other hand, the text indicates that the new Committee aims to “raise awareness and promote the Solidarity with the Saharawi people”, as well as to “campaign for a free and fair referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people”. The Committee further expressed concerns about the serious human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, and declared its willingness to campaign “against the illegal exploitation of Western Sahara’s natural resources, and Promote intercultural exchange between The Saharawi and the Danish people”. “Morocco commits widespread human rights violations against Saharawi people in the occupied territories who strive for self-determination in Western Sahara. More than 500 Saharawi have disappeared since Morocco invaded the territory in 1975”, the text adds. The Danish Support Committee for Western Sahara, finally, “underlines that Morocco continues to be an illegally occupying power in Western Sahara, in violation of over 100 UN Resolutions which call for the Western Sahara’s people’s right to self-determination. Western Sahara is an occupied and annexed territory. Furthermore, the International Court of Justice has rejected Morocco’s claims over Western Sahara, and the UN considers the Western Sahara case as a decolonisation issue”. The new Committee is constituted few days after a propaganda claims spread by Rabat media according to which the representation of Western Sahara in Copenhagen has been ordered to close down by the Danish government. "Rubbish," say Danish sources, adding the false information comes as an answer to Danish media reports over a sex scandal at the Moroccan Embassy. Asking several sources in Denmark why Moroccan government-controlled media would publish such a story at this moment, all independently told AFROL News that there had to be a connection with "the very amusing story" in Denmark’s conservative daily ‘Jyllands-Posten’ about a sex scandal at the Moroccan Embassy in Copenhagen. Consul Raddad el Okbani at the Embassy is accused of sexual harassment and corruption by the Danish-Moroccan population, out of which around 200 took to the streets on 15 November to demand his resignation. Protesters told ‘Jyllands-Posten’ how the Consul repeatedly had demanded bribes and sexual services to get his signature on official documents. He was also reported to have taken photographs of visitors to the Embassy, threatening with reprisals in Morocco if his personal demands were not met. The Consul has been removed from the Moroccan Embassy in Copenhagen, probably having been sent home to Rabat. But the demonstrators are not satisfied, still demanding legal actions to be taken against him. Ms Pedersen, notably amused by the seldom scandal in the diplomatic landscape, holds that there may be a connection. The false Polisario office closure story was published "to take away the attention" from the Embassy scandal, she holds. Polisario representative Malainin agrees Moroccan officials had spread the false story "to cover and attract the public opinion from the scandalous shame in Morocco’s Embassy in Denmark." But, Mr Malainin adds, the scam was also a reaction to Polisario’s relative successes in Denmark and other Nordic countries, where some political parties now even are in favour of recognising Western Sahara as a sovereign state, in line with the AU. "The Moroccan system is worrying about the raising awareness and solidarity of the just cause of the Saharawi people ... in all Scandinavia," he holds. "This increasing awareness and solidarity reached to a point that Moroccan system propaganda machine can not influence it," Mr Malainin adds.