Western Sahara: The country the world forgot

While NATO does what it wants in Libya, paying Afghan, Pakistani, Tunisian and Egyptian boys to send them to their deaths, the European Union gives the nod to Morocco to do what it wants in Western Sahara against the Saharawi population - and profits from the proceeds, stealing the fishing resources that do not belong to the invader, but rather the indigenous population.

For this reason today the Saharawi staged a mass protest in the sea off Tenerife, Canary Isles.

The Organization of this protest states: "At this time, 17:00 October 5, 2011, a group composed of 18-Sahrawi activists started a protest action in the waters of the fishing dock at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The activists displayed a banner that exceeds 15 feet in the water in front of the boat that departed from the port of El Aaiun (occupied territories of Western Sahara)...

The action aims to:

Report and make visible the plunder that the Moroccan authorities with the connivance of the UN, the EU, the Spanish and Canarian make of the natural resources of Western Sahara;
Report in this case the theft and ensuing sale of sand from Laayoune which is being unloaded and stored in facilities of the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife;
Report also the shameful irresponsibility ILLEGAL, UNETHICAL AND IMMORAL traffickers in stolen natural resources in Western Sahara by Morocco violating international law, without benefit of the Saharan people."

From which the European Union takes benefit. And what is the EU's reaction against the following accusations?

Morocco: illegal annexation of Western Sahara, repression of the Saharawi people, allegations of abduction, torture, disappearance of over 500 human rights activists. Morocco continues to refuse to hold a referendum on the country's status and commits human rights outrages by the day, while the rest of the world turns a blind eye.

The Moroccan Army invaded Western Sahara in 1975 when the Spanish left their North African colony and after the annexation (the Green March), the Moroccan government started repopulating it with Moroccans, trying to create an imbalance by which the Saharawi people would be in the minority in their own country. In 1991 the United Nations Organization brokered a peace treaty between the Moroccans and the Polisario Front, under which Morocco pledged to organise a referendum on self-determination.

Morocco has refused to live up to its promise and has repeatedly blocked and stalled, while it tightens its grip on the country it invaded - against every fibre of international law - and over 165.000 Saharawi refugees are forced to brave the inhospitable Algerian desert where they live in exile.

If the leaders of the international community are too scared or unwilling to stand up for what is right and to take a stand against what is wrong then it is up to the citizens of the international community to do something and here, the international media has a responsibility to live up to.

By publicising the human rights abuses committed by Morocco and by taking up the cause of the Saharawi people, this question can become part of a political agenda. It is totally unacceptable that the rights of an entire people are violated in this way and it is up to the international community to do something about it. Every day that passes without action is an insult to the notion that mankind stands for decency or that we have common values which we must all aspire to.

We may start by questioning those we elected to represent us, what is their position on Western Sahara, what exactly they plan to do about it and what is the timetabled agenda for their actions.

http://www.upes.org

www.sahara-panorama.blogspot.com

http://asvdh.net/english/?p=542

http://amnesty.org

www.talktogether.wordpress.com

http://freesahara.ning.com

www.en.efrik.com

http://moroccoviolatinghumanrightsinwesternsahara.blogspot.com

Timofei Belov

PRAVDA.Ru