The Sahrawi female Mariam Rgaibi, who is sentenced to 6 years in the prison, Elaalaoui-Hafidi Fatima Zahra, is on hunger strike for the third week and her health is deteriorating alarmingly.

Wednesday 7 March at 11.30, the Norwegian Section of Amnesty International, the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara and the Human Rights House Foundation co-host an open meeting at the Human Rights House in Oslo, with the well-known Saharawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar.

The Norwegian Liberal Party adopted at a meeting of the National Board on 24th-25th of February a resolution that urges Norway, as the first European state, to recognise Western Sahara as an independent state.

"Two of my friends were arrested because of me. Not that I had known them for a long time. But it was because we were together they were arrested." By Thomas Frantsvold, Rafto Foundation.

Once again, Moroccan authorities have detained a Western journalist interested in the Western Sahara issue.

Last week, Rafto Award Winner Sidi Mohammed Daddach met with Norwegian Minister for International Development, Erik Solheim. Daddach thanked him for the Norwegian solidarity with his people, and begged for further assistance to protect civilian Sahrawis against the Moroccan oppression in the occupied Western Sahara.

Welcome to open seminar in Red Cross United World Colleges in Fjaler on February 19th 2007. Main speaker is human rights activist Sidi Mohammed Daddach.

The homepages of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, launched this week, will contain the latest news about the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, and the struggle against the occupation in Norway, in Western Sahara and internationally. The pages are at the moment only launched in Norwegian and English, but French and Spanish versions are on their way.

The conflict in Western Sahara has led to serious human rights violations. Thousands of Sahrawis live in the refugee camps in Algeria, the freedom of expression is limited and use of torture is being reported. The Rafto Foundation and Amnesty group at the University of Bergen arranges Feb 13th 2007 a seminar on the conflict and the human rights situation in Western Sahara. Main speaker is Rafto laureate from 2002, Sidi Mohammed Daddach.

In the Algerian hammada, a hot and harsh region of the Sahara, more than half the Sahrawi people have been waiting for 31 years to go home. See article by Norwegian Refugee Council in latest issue of Forced Migration Review.
 

Norway has not stopped the import of fish oil from the Moroccan–occupied Western Sahara. The Norwegian exporter in Western Sahara is uncertain about who receives the oil, whereas the importer in Norway is uncertain about where the fish oil actually originates from. The two managers are partners in a third Norwegian fish-oil company.

A small brokerage firm outside Oslo has played a key role in linking the Moroccan fishing industry in occupied Western Sahara with buyers on the world market. The company does not wish to comment on the relationship.

From: “Unknown harbour in Morocco”. That is how Western Sahara fish oil that reaches Norway is registered. Western Sahara is occupied by Morocco, and Norwegian authorities advise against the trade.

The construction of a Norwegian fishery plant planned for El Aaiun in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara was in 2005 stopped at the last minute. After intervention by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was instead decided to place the plant in Morocco. But neither the exporter nor the importer can tell us anything about where the plant's raw materials derive from.

Today, the rally circus speeds through Western Sahara, a desert country occupied by Morocco. The serious human rights violations in the country is a non-topic, both for the organisers, the participants and visiting journalists.

Download pictures of the Romanian company's cars in Dakhla here.