Category Archives: Western Sahara

An Interview with Eloy Domínguez Serén, Director of the Documentary “Hamada”

Eloy Domínguez Serén is the director of the documentary film “Hamada”, about the daily life of three young Sahrawis in the refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. With vitality, humor and unexpected scenarios, the film paints an unusual portrait of a group of young friends living in a camp in the middle of the stony Saharan desert. “Hamada” premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) on November 15, 2018 and has since screened at film festivals in Gijón, Spain, where it was awarded Best Spanish Film and Best Spanish Director, and Porto, Portugal, where it received an award for Best Emerging Director. I spoke with the director the week before the premiere of “Hamada” at the IDFA.

Read further in Muftah Magazine.

Excerpt in Spanish (Cineclub Calle Mayor).

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After Removing Listings in Israeli Settlements, Airbnb Considers Dropping Western Sahara Too

Two days after the rental site Airbnb announced it would stop listing properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, an Airbnb official told The Times of Israel on November 21 that it would consider dropping listings in Western Sahara as well. “In the statement we issued on Monday, we noted that we have developed a framework for evaluating how we should treat listings in occupied territories around the world. Western Sahara is one example of a place where we will use this framework,” the official said.

Read further in Muftah Magazine.

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Sahara occidental. “De nos jours, la lutte sahraouie prend de nouvelles formes”

Pour relancer des pourparlers bloqués depuis 2012, l’envoyé onusien pour le Sahara occidental a convié les différentes parties impliquées – le Polisario, le Maroc, l’Algérie et la Mauritanie – à une réunion à Genève les 5 et 6 décembre. Une militante sahraouie revient sur le chemin parcouru et explique les aspirations de son peuple.

Dans Courrier international.

 

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An Interview with Fatma el-Mehdi: Western Sahara Peace and Women’s Rights Activist

Fatma el-Mehdi is a Western Saharan activist who has been a refugee in Algeria for more than forty years. She is the secretary general of the National Union of Sahrawi Women. She was recognized as a Woman PeaceMaker in 2016 by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice in San Diego, California. Lisa Söderlindh and I spoke with Fatma el-Mehdi in the Smara refugee camp near Tindouf in March.

Read interview in Muftah Magazine.

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A possible thaw in Western Sahara’s ‘frozen conflict’

As the UN renews its mission in Western Sahara, Frank Elbers reports on the continued tension between local governments, natural resource companies and the Sahrawi people.

Full article in OpenCanada.

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Surprising UN Vote Gives Sahrawis Renewed Hope for Self-Determination

The UN Security Council has renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which is responsible for peacekeeping in Western Sahara, but – in a surprise move – only for six months. The decision is an attempt to break the twenty-seven-year impasse around the disputed territory.

Read further in Muftah Magazine.

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The Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement for an Independent Western Sahara Is Gaining Momentum

On February 27, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a fisheries agreement between Morocco and the European Union is not applicable to Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since the former colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975. The ruling followed a decision by a court in South Africa earlier that month, holding that 50,000 tonnes of phosphate mined in Western Sahara was illegally sold by the Moroccan government. Both court cases were initiated by civil society organizations that are part of a growing international solidarity movement for the Sahrawi cause. Is this boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for an independent Western Sahara, often called Africa’s last colony, finally gaining traction?

Read full article in Muftah Magazine.

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Afrika’s laatste kolonie

Smara vluchtelingenkamp, zuid-west Algerije – “Alle bevrijdingsbewegingen hebben gewonnen”, zegt Fatma Mehdi. “Wij zullen winnen.” Mehdi, voorzitster van de Nationale Sahrawi Vrouwenvakbond, reageert op een uitspraak van het Europese Hof van Justitie dat onlangs verklaarde dat het door Marokko bezette Westelijke Sahara niet onder het handelsverdrag tussen de EU en Marokko valt. Dat stuk land is welbeschouwd Afrika’s laatste kolonie. Nadat kolonisator Spanje zich in 1975 terugtrok, volgde een gewapende strijd tussen buurland Marokko en de inheemse Sahrawis geleid door het Polisario Front. Onder leiding vande VN kwam er in 1991 een wapenstilstand. Het grootste gedeelte van de Westelijke Sahara staat onder controle van Marokko –de “zuidelijke provincies”– en is door een 2.700 kilometer-lange muur en mijnenvelden gescheiden van de rest van Westelijke Sahara.

Ik ben in Smara, een van de vijf in de vluchtelingenkampen in de woestijn van zuid-west Algerije waar zo’n 130,000 Sahrawis sinds 1976 hun toevlucht hebben gevonden. Veel huishoudens in de vluchtelingenkampen zijn afhankelijk van contacten met Spaanse families om te kunnen overleven, want er is weinig steun van de VN en ander humanitaire organisaties. De Europese uitspraak kwam op 27 februari j.l., ook de dag waarop 42 jaar geleden de Sahrawische Arabische Democratische Republiek werd uitgeroepen door Polisario.

“Dit is een grote overwinning voor de Sahrawis”, vertelt Beccy Allen. Allen werkt als leerkracht Engels in het Boujdour vluchtelingenkamp en is betrokken bij de Western Sahara Campaign UK, de ngo die het verdrag tussen Marokko en de EU aan het Europese Hof voorlegde. Western Sahara Campaign UK is onderdeel van een internationale solidariteitsbeweging die zich vooral op richt op boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), een –geweldloze– strategie die ook steeds vaker in de Palestijnse gebieden wordt toegepast en uiteindelijk tot de ondergang van het apartheidsregime in Zuid-Afrika leidde. Mehdi: “Wij willen geweldloosheid, niet terug naar de oorlog.”

Zusterorganisatie Western Sahara Resource Watch in Brussel probeert al jaren investeerders te overtuigen geen aandelen te kopen van bedrijven die fosfaat van het Marokkaanse staatsbedrijf OCP kopen. Negentig procent van de wereldwijde fosfaatreserve, onmisbaar in de productie van kunstmest, ligt in de mijnen rond Boukraa, Westelijke Sahara. Op verzoek van Polisario –de regering in ballingschap geleid door Brahim Galli –werd onlangs een schip met fosfaat bestemd voor Nieuw-Zeeland aan de ketting gelegd in Port Elizabeth (Zuid-Afrika), waar de lading in de komende maanden per opbod wordt verkocht en de opbrengst naar de Sahrawis gaat. Olie, vis, fosfaat en toerisme zijn grote inkomstenbronnen voor Marokko, en niet geheel toevallig zijn die te vinden in de Westelijke Sahara en de kustgebieden daarvan.

De laaste directe onderhandelingen tussen Polisario en Marokko vonden in 2012 plaats. Marokko heeft al jaren een voorstel voor zelfbestuur voor de Sahrawis onder Marokkaanse vlag op de plank liggen, Polisario neemt alleen een referendum voor onafhankelijkheid serieus, zoals dat is afgesproken bij de wapenstilstand in 1991 en nog altijd door de VN-vredesmissie MINURSO moet worden georganiseerd.

Met de uitspraak van het Europese Hof en de groeiende BDS-beweging lijkt er voorzichtig druk te ontstaan om het 42-jarig conflict op te lossen. Ook vanuit de VN is er extra aandacht: zo benoemde VN-secretaris generaal António Guterres afgelopen december Horst Köhler als zijn Personal Envoy for Western Sahara. Köhler heeft inmiddels met de meeste betrokken partijen gesproken: Polisario, Algerije, Zuid-Afrika, Frankrijk, de Afrikaanse Unie; vanuit Rabat komen signalen dat er binnenkort ook een gesprek komt tussen Köhler en de Marokkaanse minister van buitenlandse zaken Nasser Bourita. “Het laat zien dat de VN nog altijd belang hechten aan ons probleem”, zegt Mehdi.

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Does Morocco rejoining the African Union seal the fate of Africa’s last colony?

BEIRUT — After an absence of 33 years Morocco rejoined the African Union (AU), weakening the prospect of Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony, ever becoming independent. Both the Moroccan government and representatives of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) welcomed the decision. Yet the promised, UN-mandated referendum on the independence of Western Sahara is now more unlikely to happen than ever.

“Morocco wants to work from the independence to get Western Sahara expelled from the AU and once and for all lay to rest the whole issue of Western Sahara and its claims to independence,” Liesl Louw-Vaudran, an analyst at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa who has been following the AU for 20 years, told Newsweek. “I don’t think there’s anyone who thinks that total independence for Western Sahara is still on the cards.”

Simon Allison, who covers Africa for the Daily Maverick, believes that Morocco’s all-out diplomatic offensive to improve relations with the African continent may give African leaders — think particularly of Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa — new leverage to move forward on the referendum on self-determination. Yet he concludes: “That’s the optimistic take. It’s perhaps more plausible, however, that thanks to Morocco’s deep purse and political muscle, Western Sahara has just lost a whole lot of its African allies – making its dreams of independence less likely than ever before.”

SADR president and Polisario leader Brahim Ghali said in an interview that Morocco’s rejoining the African Union does not change the situation fundamentally. “We always look for the peaceful way” to resolve the conflict, Ghali told AFP at a Sahrawi refugee camp in Tindouf, southwestern Algeria. “But all options remain open,” he said, alluding to the possibility of a return to armed struggle.

The situation in Western Sahara can be compared with the Occupied Palestinian Territories. All the talk over the years of pan-Arab and pan-African solidarity with the Palestinians and Sahrawis has translated into very little action. Israel and Morocco, with their powerful economies, powerful armies, and powerful Western allies — hold all the cards.

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Photo essay: Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria

40-YEAR SAHRAWI STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

SMARA – The Sahrawis were displaced during the Western Sahara War (1975-76) by Moroccan forces and have been living in refugees camps near Tindouf, Algeria ever since. With most of the estimated 90,000 to 135,000 Sahrawis still living in the camps, their situation is one of the most protracted refugee crisis in the world.

The limited opportunities for self-reliance in the harsh desert environment have forced the Sahrawis to rely on international humanitarian assistance for their survival. However, the Sahrawi camps differ from most refugee camps in the level of self-organisation. Most affairs in camps are run by the refugees themselves, with relatively little outside interference. The five camps are governed by the Polisario Front, the government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). SADR’s government in exile and administration are located in the Rabouni refugee camp.

A photo essay.

Boy helping out his parents who own a garage in the Smara refugee camp
Boy helping out his parents who own a garage in the Smara refugee camp
Torrential rains destroyed mud-brick homes, shops, hospitals, schools, and roads last October
Torrential rains destroyed mud-brick homes, shops, hospitals, schools and roads last October
Young Sahrawis learn to box
Young Sahrawis learn to box. The banner reads “Boxing school. Resist and win”.
Man crossing main road of the Smara refugee camp
Man crossing main road of the Smara refugee camp
Elementary school pupils heading home
Elementary school pupils heading home
"Long live the RASD [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]"
“Long live the RASD [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]”
Outskirts of the Smara refugee camp
Outskirts of Smara refugee camp where goats are contained in makeshift fenced boxes
"Long live the RASD [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]"
Monthly distribution of flour by the World Food Program
"Long live the RASD [Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]"
Banner for divestment campaign in Western Sahara, which Morocco has opened up to foreign companies to mine for phosphate and harvest fish.
Tea time in a Sahrawi household
Tea time in a Sahrawi household
Sahrawis celebrating 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on February 26
Sahrawis celebrating 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on February 26
Stationary military parade by the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army on 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, February 26
Stationary military parade by the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army on 40th anniversary of the proclamation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, February 26
President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front
President of the Republic, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Mohamed Abdelaziz (left) speaks with the Minister of National Defence, Abdellah Lehbib.
Armored brigade of Sahrawi People's Liberation Army
Armored brigade of Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army
Soldiers of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army
Soldiers of the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army, men of all ages, who are mainly recruited from the inhabitants of the refugee camps
Entrance to the dilapidated Museum of National Resistance
Entrance to the dilapidated Museum of National Resistance, which tells the story of the struggle for independence of the Sahrawis, in the Rabouni refugee camp, seat of the Polisario Front government in exile.
Cemetery near the Smara refugee camp
Cemetery near the Smara refugee camp, where Sahrawis have buried their dead in the past 40 years
Sandstorm in the Smara refugee camp
Sandstorm in the Smara refugee camp

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