Hoping for a UN spring

November 8, 2012 marked the second anniversary of the brutal dismantling of Gdaim Izik camp. More than 40,000 Saharawis internally displaced themselves out of the city of Elaaiun, in the Moroccan Occupied Territory of Western Sahara, to protest against Morocco’s military occupation of their land and systematic plundering of their natural resources. It was a peaceful form of protesting against marginalization and discrimination, violence and assassinations. The tent city camp, later called ‘Independence Camp’, was democratically organized, and symbolically meant a lot for the Saharawis themselves: for the first time in their lives, since Morocco’s 1975 invasion, they were able to voice their rightful demands without fear. It was the first uprising against terror and marginalization. This protest camp inspired other nations from the New Occupy movement through Madrid’s civil protests to the Arab world’s spring. Many Arab populations in Arab countries rose against dictatorship, authoritarian regimes, and against impoverishment and confiscation of liberties.

The brutal dismantling of the camp took place on November 8, 2010, early in the morning. Raids, arbitrary arrests, murder were the common features of the horrible day. Twenty three Saharawi civilians, among whom were human rights activists and camp organizers, were incarcerated and later transferred to Zaki prison in Sale city in Morocco. Other hundreds of Saharawis including women and elders were incarcerated in Elaaiun’s local Carcel negra prison. Reports of torture and ill treatment were documented by international lawyers and the local and international human rights organizations. The UN peacekeeping forces were present there before, during and after the Gdaim Izik camp attack. But they did nothing as they stayed there acting like paid tourists. This UN mission to Western Sahara (MINURSO) is the only UN mission that does not have the component of the human rights in its mandate. This is all thanks to the veto of Morocco’s legal guardian and powerful protector, France.

Christopher Ross, the UN special envoy, came for the first time in Elaaiun early November 2012 to conduct a visit to the territory and to interact with the local Saharawis. He has been leading five years of negotiations between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government without success in an attempt to find a mutually accepted political solution that would meet the Saharawis expectations in ensuring their right of self determination.

While Mr. Ross was meeting with Saharawi leaders or activists from the civil society in Elaaiun, the police was performing its regular duty on Saharawis: a brutal, horrible crackdown on peaceful protesters including women, the elderly and children.

Peaceful protests, in Elaaiun and other cities of Western Sahara, were organized calling for the right of self determination for the Saharawis. A massive brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters led to the wounding of hundreds of Saharawis in most cities.

The violent intervention by the Moroccan occupation forces was trying to silence the Sahrawi citizens from peaceful protesting and from demanding their right to freedom and independence. This whole ordeal and violence against the Saharawis was exposed worldwide and denounced. Minatou Haidar, a Nobel Prize candidate and an RFK Foundation Award winner, was attacked, her car vandalized and her home raided, along with the attack on other activists who were severely injured and harassed on the scene.

Ironically, Morocco is still hard at work enhancing its brain-washing propaganda. The Moroccan regime tries to set the fait-accompli on Saharawis, on the ordinary Moroccan population, and on the international community. The monarchy in Morocco is doing its best to make Saharawis appear as the monster and the victimizer. This propaganda serves well the agenda of the monarch in Morocco as it is another way of creating general consensus whereby Moroccans would forget their own internal problems and only focus on the Western Sahara issue backing up the absolute monarchy towards the legitimization of the occupation.

On 5 November, across the Western Saharan cities of Elaaiun , Guelmim Smara, Boujdour and Dakhla, the Saharawis demonstrated peacefully to commemorate the dismantling of the Gdaim Izik peace camp but the Moroccan police just attacked them aggressively as Saharawi civilians have always been an easy prey for them to practice their sadistic ways of violence. Once again, among the victims were there many women, elders, children who were injured and ill-treated.

European delegations came to visit the occupied territory and were soon evicted from Elaaiun, while some of them were expelled even before they reached the city of Elaaiun. Four young Norwegian politicians wanted to hear the Saharawis on the issue of fishing, while the other fifteen Spanish wanted to be present on site for the second anniversary of the Gdaim Izik brutal dismantling.

The Norwegian group members comprised Kristine Halling (former Central Executive Member, AUF,) Henriksen, Pål represents who Spjelkavik (international leader AUF Sør-Trøndelag), Gunnar Kaus (member of the International Committee, the Youth Centre) , and Vegard Tjørhom (Oslo County Board Member, Youth Center). The group arrived on November 5 in Elaaiun coming from Marrakech with the purpose of conducting a four-day visit. They were trying to meet and talk to Saharawis in Elaaiun. Interacting with the Saharawi population was seen as an attempt to investigate the current situation. When the group, they noticed that the police officers at the checkpoint looked very angry and aggressive. After the initial introductory paperwork formalities, they ordered them in an angry voice to keep to Nagjir hotel and not to leave their rooms. The group was also ordered not to meet with any ‘Saharawi friends’. Thus, the group was confined to their rooms with no contact with the outside world afterwards.

The following day, the Moroccan authorities brought a taxi and ordered the group to get in with their luggage and to leave the Western Sahara towards Agadir which is located south Morocco. According to the group, there were 15 policemen waiting for them at the lobby along with the Pasha of Elaaiun and an English interpreter. The Moroccan authorities told the group members that they would be deported to Agadir and that they could go to any place in Morocco but not Western Sahara. They were basically banned from visiting or staying in Western Sahara. Police escorts of uniformed and plain-cloth police agents were following them to make sure they would leave the territory.

Meanwhile, Morocco is still plundering the natural resources of Western Sahara. The international community still keeps a closed eye on this terrible violation. International law is very clear on this issue as Hans Corell once stated when he was the legal advisor to the UN. Even the New York Bar association recently issued a wonderful legal report in this regard. All agreements and treaties with Morocco should not include the territory of Western Sahara, and all goods and resources such as fisheries and phosphate from Western Sahara should not be part of any agreement. This can not be done at the expense of the Saharawis and their own natural resources from which they do not benefit. Morocco earned more than $ 200 million from stolen Saharawi phosphate in a period of six months. This is with other millions of dollars from revenues from Western Sahara’s natural resources of fisheries, desert sand, salt, fruit and vegetables which go straight to the pockets of the king and his inner circle, his generals and some foreign accomplices worldwide.

Supporting and establishing the right of self-determination can be a first step towards recognizing the many other forgotten rights of the Western Saharan people who have long been forgotten by other civil societies and governments. As they have been abandoned by the international community for many decades, it high time that the UN and all people from around the world reacted and straightened the path towards freedom for Saharawis.

* Salah Mohamed, an underground Sahrawi activist in the Moroccan occupied territory of Western Sahara.

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