After having called Western Sahara a part of Morocco for years, the organisers of Paris-Dakar rally finally succeeded in drawing a correct map. See the route for 2008.
The annual Paris-Dakar rally has for several years crossed Western Sahara. The first part goes through the area north of the city of Smara, under Moroccan occupation. The second part goes through the Polisario-controlled parts of Western Sahara for a few kilometers before the competitors enter Mauritania.
But for several years the organisers of the event have failed to name Western Sahara an independent country, to the anger of Polisario.
But now the map designer has finally got the picture right.
Download the route for 2008 here.
The rally takes place in January 2008.
Two more Norwegians, who travelled to occupied Western Sahara to learn about Morocco’s controversial energy projects in the territory, were detained by Moroccan police this afternoon and deported.
Today, 25 Moroccan police officers showed up to expel two Norwegians from occupied Western Sahara. The two had traveled to learn what the Sahrawis think about Morocco's controversial renewable energy projects on occupied land.
Sahrawi civil society welcomes a new report from the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearance, and urges exhumations and identification of victims in the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara.
This week, Morocco is for the first time placed under review in the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances.