Reuters
27 February 2008
By Richard Solem

"We respect the Norwegian authorities recommending not to ship phosphates from Western Sahara", said Jinhui vice president Raymond Ching at a conference on the fourth quarter results.

It was the fund manager Hans Thrane-Nielsen in the [Norwegian insurance company] Storebrand Kapitalforvaltning who asked the question in the telephone conference. 

Support groups for the people in Western Sahara claims Jinhui on numerous occasions have transported phosphates from there to New Zealand and Australia, and have posted a video of the bulk vessel ‘Jin Cheng’ discharging the fertilizer ingredient (http://youtube.com/watch?v=M-1zk-s1Olo).

“In Asia we are not so aware of the problems in Western Sahara. It is not widely reported”, said Ching. 

According to Ching, the mentioned vessel is on a time charter. 

Jin Cheng was renamed from 'M/S Belpareil' when Jinhui received the 52.961 tons vessel from "Jubilee Line S.A." on 26th of March last year. 

Belships reported 2nd of March last year that the partly owned Elkem Chartering had sold its interests in 'M/S Belpareil', which until then had been on time charter to Elkem Chartering since she was built in 2003.

Annexation
According to the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UN Security Council has not recognised Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara, and Norway sees it as important to abstain from actions that can be seen as a legitimisation of the situation. 

"Regarding commercial engagement, Norway is among the countries who have gone furthest in underlining that the natural resources in the territory, and the sea, must not be exploited in a way that is not to the benefit of the population of the non-self-governing territory", a statement from the Norwegian Ministry says.

Yara stopped the trade of phosphates from Western Sahara in 2005. Shares in the US Kerr-McGee was previously withdrawn from the Norwegian Government's Pension Fund because it was involved in oil exploration offshore Western Sahara. 

Translated from Norwegian by the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara

See Norwegian original here.