• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • TP について/About
  • Topics/トピクス
    • Gender/ジェンダー
    • Globalisation/グローバリゼーション
    • Japan and Asia/日本とアジア
    • Japanese/日本語
    • Media/メディア
    • News/ニュース
    • Social Justice/社会正義
    • War and Empire/戦争&支配権力
    • Environment/環境
    • Other Stories/他の記事
  • Links/リンク
  • Contact

TokyoProgressive

Linking Progressives East and West Since 1997

東西のプログレッシブをつなぐ − 1997年設立  |  Linking Progressives East and West Since 1997

'A Blatant Violation': Sahrawis Dismiss Pompeo's Announcement of US Consulate in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara

December 25, 2020 by Leave a Comment

 

From CommonDreams

Published on
Friday, December 25, 2020
by
Common Dreams

'A Blatant Violation': Sahrawis Dismiss Pompeo's Announcement of US Consulate in Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara

The move comes two weeks after the U.S. became the first country to recognize Morocco’s claim of sovereignty in the illegally occupied territory.

by
Brett Wilkins, staff writer
0 Comments
A protest against Morocco's illegal occupation of Western Sahara on December 20, 2020 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo: Javi Julio/SOPA Images/Light Rocket via Getty Images)

Protesters march as they display a banner reading “Colonialist Morocco out of the Sahara” during the demonstration in San Sebastian, Spain on December 20, 2020. (Photo: Javi Julio/SOPA Images/Light Rocket via Getty Images)

Sahrawi independence advocates defiantly dismissed an announcement Thursday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the United States would open a “virtual” diplomatic mission in Western Sahara as a first step toward establishing a permanent consulate in the Moroccan-occupied territory. 

“We the Saharawis are fighting [for] our complete sovereignty over our Western Sahara; we don’t need your permission to do that.”
—Minetu Larabas Sueidat,
National Union of Sahrawi Women

Pompeo said in a statement that the U.S. was “inaugurating a virtual presence post for Western Sahara, with a focus on promoting economic and social development, to be followed soon by a fully functioning consulate.” 

The State Department said that the virtual post—which will allow U.S. officials to conduct consular and other business remotely—will be managed by the American Embassy in Rabat, the Moroccan capital. 

The development came nearly two weeks after President Donald Trump announced an agreement in which the U.S. recognized as legitimate Morocco’s illegal occupation in exchange for the North African kingdom’s establishing full diplomatic ties with Israel. This made the U.S. the first country to recognize Morocco’s claim of sovereignty in Western Sahara. 

While Morocco’s monarch, King Mohammed VI, hailed U.S. recognition of his country’s claim to Western Sahara as an “historic turning point,” advocates for Sahrawi independence roundly condemned the move. 

The Polisario Front—the United Nations-recognized, Algerian-backed Sahrawi national liberation movement—blasted the U.S. declaration as “a blatant violation of the United Nations charter and the resolutions of international legitimacy.”

Additionally, Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention (pdf) states that an “occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,” a proscription violated by both Israel in the occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories and by Morocco in Western Sahara.

There was widespread indignation following Pompeo’s announcement, as Sahrawis and international human rights defenders condemned the move. 

When you go low we go up. Your empty slogans on human rights can never impact our future. We the Saharawis are fighting 4 our complete sovereignty over our #WesternSahara, we don’t need your permission to do that

— Minetu Larabas Sueidat (@minetu_larabas) December 24, 2020

Here’s to hoping that Biden walks back this ill-considered disregard for international legality, and affirms US support for the human rights of all people in both #WesternSahara and #Morocco . https://t.co/i0cYFBF7Un

— Eric Goldstein (@goldsteinricky) December 24, 2020

Western Sahara belongs to Morocco like Palestinian land belongs to Israel — IT DOESN’T!!!
Join CODEPINK in rejecting occupation and colonialism from the U.S. to Palestine to Western Sahara. Add your name now! https://t.co/NgRkcCb59U

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher

Global Pandemic. Climate Emergency. Inequality. Poverty. Famine. Injustice. Please support our nonprofit journalism and help us start 2021 at full strength.

Please select a donation method:



— Ariel Gold אריאל #FriesLatkes (@ArielElyseGold) December 15, 2020

Known as “Africa’s last colony,” Western Sahara was invaded by Moroccan and Mauritanian troops in 1975 as Spanish colonial troops withdrew from their former territory. In order to solidify Moroccan control over the phosphate- and fishery-rich land, former king Hassan II ordered a “Green March” of hundreds of thousands of Moroccan civilians into Western Sahara to colonize the vast desert territory.

Meanwhile, Moroccan forces committed horrific atrocities (pdf) while driving nearly half the Sahrawi population into neighboring Algeria.

Moroccan occupation forces built a 1,700-mile mostly sand wall to keep Algerian-backed Sahrawi militants out of Western Sahara, while denying Sahrawis inside their occupied homeland the U.N.-backed referendum they’ve been promised—and awaiting—for decades.

The Polisario Front has resisted the occupation for 45 years and today controls up to a quarter of Western Sahara as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which scores of United Nations member states have recognized since it was proclaimed in 1976. However, more than half of these countries have since either withdrawn or suspended their recognition.

Moroccan settlers today comprise over two-thirds of the territory’s population of approximately 600,000. 

A fragile U.N.-backed 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario rebels lasted until last month, when SADR President Brahim Ghali declared it over after he said that Moroccan troops opened fire on peaceful protesters.

Inside occupied Western Sahara, Moroccan forces brutally repress all forms of resistance, severely restricting free expression, movement, association, and press.

According to a 2015 Amnesty International report (pdf), as well as documentation by local and international human rights groups, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, forced disappearances, and torture are some of the tactics employed by the occupation forces to control the territory and its people. 

Polisario forces are also accused of serious human rights violations, and some Sawrahis oppose their rule. 

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

This is the world we live in. This is the world we cover.

Because of people like you, another world is possible. There are many battles to be won, but we will battle them together—all of us. Common Dreams is not your normal news site. We don’t survive on clicks. We don’t want advertising dollars. We want the world to be a better place. But we can’t do it alone. It doesn’t work that way. We need you. If you can help today—because every gift of every size matters—please do. Without Your Support We Simply Don’t Exist.

Please select a donation method:



Related Articles

'It Never Had to Be Like This': 300,000 Dead in US From Covid-19 Under Donald J. Trump

'The Will of the American People': Official Electoral College Vote Finalizes That Biden Won and Trump Lost

'Disgusting Legacy and Stain on Democracy': As Barr Resigns, Democrats and Rights Groups Say Good Riddance

The Biden Administration Can Reverse Much of Trump’s Bad Labor Policy Without Congress

More in:
World, War & Peace, Rights, U.S.
,
Western Sahara, Mike Pompeo, Morocco, War Crimes, Donald Trump, Israel, Algeria, Mauritania, Humam Rights

Top Comments

(Click to see more comments or to join the conversation)

Filed Under: Common Dreams, Social Justice/社会正義

Join the Discussion

Comment on this article or respond to others' comments.

You can post below or send to the mailing list at discuss@list.tokyoprogressive.org.

a) Please sign you name at the bottom of your comment, so that we know who wrote it.

b) To prevent spam, comments need to be manually approved.

c) Comments which are insulting, racist, homophobic or submitted in bad faith will not be published.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Search the site

Archives

Main Categories (old and most recent)

Alternative News Contributors/投稿者 creative Democracy Now Environment/環境 Featured Gender/ジェンダー Globalisation/グローバリゼーション Jacobin Japan/日本 Japan and Asia/日本とアジア Japanese/日本語 Japan Focus Japan News Korea/韓国 latest latest-j links Media/メディア Mp3 National Security Archive neoliberalism new News/ニュース Other Stories/他の記事 Social Justice/社会正義 Topics Uncategorized Video War and Empire/戦争&支配権力

Search deeper

Abe Afghanistan alternative news Bush class issues and homelessness Environmental research fukushima gaza health care Henoko human rights Iraq Iraq, Afganistan and the War on Terror Iraq and Afghanistan, opposing the wars Israel Japan Japan news English Korea labor issues Latin America Middle East military North Korea nuclear nuclear waste Obama Okinawa Okinawa Palestine peace protest protest and resistance racism/human rights radiation state crimes Syria Takae Tepco Trump U.S. War world news English ニュース/社会問題 人権 平和、憲法9条

Design and Hosting for Progressives

Donate/寄付

Please support our work. This includes costs involved in producing this news site as well as our free hosting service for activists, teachers and students. Donations/寄付 can be sent to us via PayPal or Donately. You can also click on the buttons below to make a one-time donation.




Work with us

TokyoProgressive
supports and participates in projects of like-minded people and groups directly (technical, editing, design) and not-so directly (financial or moral support). Likewise, we also welcome contributions by readers that are consistent with promoting social justice. If you have a project you would like help with, or if you would like to submit an article, link, or report on a protest activity, please contact us here.

Footer

All opinions are those of the original authors and may not reflect the views of TokyoProgressive. This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for by copyright law in several countries. The material on this site is distributed without profit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyleft 1997-present: tokyoprogressive dot org

TokyoProgressive supports and participates in projects of like-minded people and groups directly (technical, editing, design) and not-so directly (financial or moral support). Likewise, we also welcome contributions by readers that are consistent with promoting social justice. If you have a project you would like help with, or if you would like to submit an article, link, or report on a protest activity, please contact us here.

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in