Petition against the EU’s exploitation of occupied Western Saharan waters

I’d like to suggest that people sign the following petition against the illegal exploitation of occupied Western Saharan waters by EU fishing vessels. This has been made possible by the EU’s granting of “Advanced Status” to Morocco, despite the latter’s continuing occupation of much of Western Sahara and the continuing efforts of the Moroccan government to subvert the UN mandated referendum on self determination for Western Sahara. The petition is open to organisations and individuals. Thanks.

http://www.fishelsewhere.eu/

Visit Western Sahara

Apologies for the long silence – things have been very busy. I’ll try and write a post on recent Western Sahara developments and gossip soon.

In the meantime, I want to advertise the fact that the Western Sahara Project is looking for volunteers for a season on fieldwork in October 2009. We are looking for volunteers to help with archaeological excavations and also with archaeological and environmental reconnaissance work. No experience is necessary – volunteers will work with experienced archaeologists and environmental scientists and all necessary training will be given. Excavations will last for 4 weeks, and reconnaissance survey for 3 weeks. You can volunteer for either excavations or reconnaissance. This season will be funded entirely by the contributions of volunteers. Costs will be comparable to those of a high-end adventure holiday or volunteering on a conservation project.

For more information, take a look at the Project website (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~e118/WS/WSahara.htm) and drop me a line if you’re interested.

Green Sahara

I’ve written to a few politicians about the Western Sahara issue in my time. Most don’t reply. The replies that I have received (from Charles Clarke and Andrew Duff) consist predominantly of platitudes assuring me that this issue is being taken very seriously by big important people that know a lot more than I do about how this complicated world works, and that the Right Decisions are being taken on my behalf.

Recently I wrote to the Green Party to ask if they’d consider signing the Western Sahara Resource Watch petition to keep occupied Western Sahara out of the EU-Morocco “Advanced Status” cooperation (in order to prevent European companies and the Moroccan state from benefiting from the latter’s illegal occupation at the expense of the marginalised and often-abused indigenous Sahrawi). Both my local branch of the UK Green Party and the Green Party at the national level have undertaken to sign the petition. I received this from the office of Caroline Lucas, leader of the UK Greens and Green MEP for the South East of England:

Dear Nick,

Thank you for your email about the EU and Western Sahara. Caroline has asked me to respond on her behalf and I am sorry for the delay in doing so. She receives a vast amount of correspondence, so it is not always possible to reply to people as promptly as would like. We also give priority to constituents.

Caroline and the Greens in the European Parliament have been active in opposing Morocco being granted advanced status by the EU. She has lobbied the British government about this and submitted a number of written questions to the European Commission, looking specifically at fishing rights for the Western Saharan people. You can read these via her website at http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/2008/10/01/correspondence-about-western-sahara/ and at http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/2008/11/12/written-questions-western-sahara/

Caroline’s colleague, Jean Lambert the London Green MEP, has also visited Western Sahara to raise awareness of the conditions there. They both support the petition you have sent through so have put it to the Party’s Executive Committee and hope to sign up shortly.

Thank you for alerting us to the campaign by Western Sahara Resource Watch and your commitment to human rights in Western Sahara. Please be assured that if Caroline is re-elected to the European Parliament on June 4th, opposing advanced status for Morocco and pressing the EU to do far more to challenge the illegal occupation will remain a priority for her.

I have to say it was a sheer delight to receive a serious and positive response to such a request – almost enough to restore my faith in domestic politics. So, if you’re in the UK, fed up with venal, expenses-dripping MPs who respond to every demand for change with a platitude crafted by spinners at party HQ, and if you’re interested in voting for a party that has a principled foreign policy stand and which is working for, rather than against, the people of Western Sahara, why not vote Green? Their other policies aren’t bad either.

Human Rights in Western Sahara & the Refugee Camps: Report

Human Rights Watch has released a 216 page report on human rights in Western Sahara (focusing on the Moroccan-occupied areas) and in the Polisario-run Sahrawi refugee camps around the Algerian town of Tindouf. You can download it from this page:

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/19/human-rights-western-sahara-and-tindouf-refugee-camps-0

Even without having read it, I’m confident it will make more reliable reading than the claims of partisans from either side of the conflict, which can be found on a variety of web-based discussion forums, as some of us know only too well. If I have time to read and digest it I may comment on it, but no promises. And it is probably best to let the report speak for itself, unless there is anything specific in it to take issue with or discuss at greater length.