Western Sahara
Morocco Knows Best
King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced today that he would not be attending any Arab summits on Israel’s offensive in Gaza because “they will not do much to help the Palestinian people.” A number of Arab states have been waffling over holding a summit in Qatar, demonstrating the deep rift amongst Arab states over how [...]
I embassy what you did there….
The words “Venezuela” and “embassy” sure have been a fruitful producer of news stories lately. Try to keep up… 1) As has already been mentioned on Kabobfest, Venezuela has severed diplomatic ties with Israel. After the break-up there were rumors of a “friends with benefits” type situation, but this has been unsubstantiated as of yet. [...]
Your Turn Mr. Ross…
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced he plans to appoint US diplomat Christopher Ross as his new special envoy to Western Sahara. The previous envoy Peter van Walsum was seen as favoring Morocco after making comments that Western Saharan independence was “unrealistic.” It seems that Ban Ki-moon and ambassador of the United States to [...]
Aminatou Haidar Wins Human Rights Award
Aminatou Haidar is the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Laureate. Ms. Haidar is being recognized for her courageous campaign for self-determination of Western Sahara from its occupation by Morocco and against forced disappearances and abuses of prisoners of conscience. Regularly referred to as the “Sahrawi Gandhi,” Ms. Haidar is one of Western Sahara’s [...]
US Elections and the Western Sahara Conflict
While many have speculated about the implications of a future Obama or McCain administration for some of the world’s sexier conflicts, Mohammed El-Ashab takes a stab at what a new president might mean for Western Sahara. Although I don’t follow all of his argument he makes some good points: 1) While the leadership of Spain, [...]
Western Sahara: update and timeline
Looks like the Polisario is engaging in a little more saber rattling if negotiations don’t get more substantive with Morocco. Interestingly enough, Senegal is trying to put some of the pressure on Rabat that France and the US are unwilling to do. Also, for those unfamiliar with the conflict Reuters recently published a good rough [...]
This looks promising!
Sometimes it is so scary how predictable things are. Guess what happens when a ceasefire drags on and there is not progress towards a sustainable peace? You guessed it! Doesn’t matter if it is N. Ireland, Sri Lanka or now Western Sahara, but without meaningful dialog, violence tends to return. It is not a done [...]
Western Sahara
As tourism has become ever more important to Morocco, they have gone out of their way to make themselves attractive to tourists. It feels like the country is hosting more conferences and festivals than the rest of the Arab world put together. They are firing on all cylinders in this regard: Oriental fantasy of Fez? [...]
W. Sahara
Following up on my recent post concerning Western Sahara I found a radio show featuring Jacob Mundy who gives both an excellent background of the conflict and the recent developments there. For one of Mundy’s several excellent articles detailing the politics and policy options for the US and the international community in the region click, [...]
The Farce of Sahrawi Autonomy
Mboneko Munyaga makes the case for Sahrawi independence in the Tanzania Standard. We have not written about Morocco’s 30-year occupation in nearly a year, but I still share Laith’s lamentation about “the ongoing occupation of Western Sahara and the lack of awarness (sic) on the problem.” The latest “peace offensive” by King Mohammed VI, which [...]
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