Declaration of support to students in Western Sahara, approved at the Student Parliament of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Ås), on November 19th 2007.

Norwegian insurance company divests from Australian fertilizer importer over imports from Western Sahara.

At its Board Meeting in Vilnius, December 2nd 2007, The European Students' Union (ESU) unanimously voted through a motion calling for the protection of Sahrawi students. ESU is the umbrella organisation of 47 national unions of students from 36 countries. In total, ESU represents today 11 million students all over Europe. 
Read also: Norwegian Student Unions pass resolution on Western Sahara. 
Read also: Students at Ås University declare their support

"Failure to recognise the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic would constitute a grave and unacceptable betrayal of our own struggle, of the solidarity Morocco extended to Mandela and the liberation movement, and our commitment to respect the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitutive Act of the African Union", said the South African ambassador to Norway at a seminar in Oslo. Read his speach, delivered at the University of Oslo, 20 November 2007.

Morocco is entering new oil contracts with European firms to illegally search for oil in Western Sahara.

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.

Sahrawi student Elkouria Amidane interviewed on the popular radio show Osenbanden, on Norwegian national broadcaster, NRK P3, 21 November 2007. Hear the interview here.

The national board meeting of Young Conservatives demands respect for human rights in occupied Western Sahara, along with a widening of the UN forces mandate, increased financial aid, and recognition by Norway of the Western Sahara Republic.

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs brushes aside debating the legal status of Western Sahara, while at the same time rhetorical statements made by the Ministry show a changing viewpoint. Only a week ago, the Ministry was adamant that the Western Sahara should be viewed as annexed, while now they talk about "the situation in the area". A rather odd statement can be read here.

Successful seminar at Red Cross Nordic United World College in Norway.

Order here.

Elkouria Amidane's mother, and her two sisters, aged 14 and 24, have been released from police custody. "I called my Mother today. She could hardly speak. She had screamed so much during the interrogation that her voice was failing."

Mother and two sisters arrested.

Update Saturday 12:15 GMT
The aunt and grandmother of Elkouria Amidane are now reported to be in safety. Friday night the Moroccan police were at their door. The two managed to escape in last minute. 

For more information, please call Jørn Henriksen +47 95161741.

More than 60 people gathered today in a demonstration in front of the Moroccan embassy in Oslo, Norway, calling for the respect of human rights in Western Sahara. 
Read also: Amidane's closest family is arrested
Read also: "My aunt and grandmother are safe"

Says to Norwegian national broadcaster they did not know of the conflict -and that they will never trade with Western Sahara again.

"We have a dream today to see the rise of our colorful flag and to see freedom reigns in our capital city of El Aaiun in a Free Western Sahara soon." The Sahrawi student Agaila Abba Hemeida spoke to the UN.

In this interview with Al Jazeera, Nov 2nd 2007, Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's permanent representative to the UN, criticizes the security council for double standards on Western Sahara and slams Morocco's "powerful friends".

Check out photo of the new walls around the university area. Students fear they can no longer stage demonstrations.

Sahrawi students fear that the end has come for study opportunities in the major cities of Morocco.

Through an impressive piece of research, a US blogger this week forced a pro-Moroccan propaganda campaign down on its knees.

Senia Bachir Abderahman, who has studied in United World Colleges in Norway for two years, spoke on October 9th for the Fourth Committee in the UN. The Committee treats the world´s remaining decolonisation issues. Read her speech here.

The brilliant short movie "Children of the Clouds" gives an extraordinary feeling on how it must be for a youth in a country with more police and security forces than civilians.

"The UN must widen, without delay, the prerogatives of the MINURSO", said Daha Rahmouni, member of the Sahrawi human rights organisation ASVDH at the UN UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week. Rahmouni demands that the MINURSO also should work for the protection of human rights in occupied Western Sahara.

Sahrawi students suffer under occupation. The ones who are imprisoned, are refused their right to study. Protest here!

Members of parliament protesting in front of Incitec Pivot offices, importer of phosphate from occupied Western Sahara.

Read the statement here, published on the Norwegian government's homepages September 12th, 2007.

"Morocco has no right to exploit the natural resources in Western Sahara for its own benefit", said Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, in parliament this week.

The political prisoner El Ouali Amidane applied to be transferred to a prison in Agadir, in order to pursue his studies. The demand was turned down by the prison authorities. Yesterday he started a hunger strike, demanding his right to study.
Read also: El Ouali transferred -but to wrong prison

Wednesday afternoon, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign affairs publicized on their webpages an announcement that they discourage Norwegian businesses from operating in Western Sahara. The statement was made at the same time as another Norwegian vessel was discovered transporting phosphates to New Zealand. See Norwatch films of the Norwegian phosphate exports, taken in New Zealand Wednesday.

Once more, it is revealed that the Norwegian owned but UK- based company Gearbulk is assisting the Moroccan occupying power in exporting phosphates from Western Sahara. One of their bulk transport vessels arrives New Zealand on September 9th. -This is war profiteering, says the Association of Sahrawis in Norway in a press release today.

Representatives of Western Sahara's Polisario Front (the Saharawi liberation movement) and the Moroccan government met in Manhasset, New York, on August 10 and 11 with a view to "achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara" - the words of UN Security Council's Resolution 1754, adopted on April 30.

Read the testimony of Tarruzi Yehdih, a Sahrawi human rights activist and former political prisoner. Yehdih was released on July 14th, 2007 from the Black Prison in El Aaiún, Western Sahara.

“Someone must stop these terrible violations of human rights against my people.” This summer the Sahrawi student Elkouria Amidane visited Norway. She came to tell her side of the story about what is happening in the occupied territory of Western Sahara. Through demonstrations and protests against Moroccan authorities, and her fight for the freedom of a people, she has endured both torture and persecution.

...The case of Western Sahara. 
Article published by Dr. Juris (PhD) Hans Morten Haugen, University of Oslo in Law, Environment and Development Journal.

Written by Agaila Abba Hemeida, this poem is dedicated to all the Saharawi children, especially the children who lost their fathers in the war for the freedom of Western Sahara. Agaila has lived and studied in the US for the last 6 years.

The student Elkouria Amidane from Western Sahara visited Norway from July 20th to August 6th 2007.

Norwegian-Japanese owned company Gearbulk transports phosphates from occupied Western Sahara to New Zealand. Check out Norwatch video documenting the illegal exports.

A visiting journalist from Western Sahara today appealed for support from New Zealand to block trade supporting the military occupation of his country by Morocco. Pacific Media Centre, New Zealand, 23 July 2007.

Members of parliaments in Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand and at home in Norway are not at all happy with shipowning firm Gearbulk. Aftenposten, 29 June 2007.

Is it a toilet? Is it Island Oil & Gas office? Is it both? Judge yourself.

PRESS RELEASE: 06/29/2007. This morning, parliamentarians from the UK, Norway, New Zealand and Japan sent a letter to the London-based shipping company Gearbulk. The company profits from the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.

Hear Polisario's representative to the UN, Mr. Ahmed Boukhari, and Chairman of the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, Mr. Ronny Hansen, interviewed on South African radio June 28th, 2007.

Carlos Ruiz Miguel analyses the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara. First published on the Grupos de Estudios Estratégicos, www.gees.org.

Norwegian diplomats want bulkers to stop loading phosphate in Western Sahara but their jawbones are their only weapon. 
 

Gearbulk, a company partially owned by the Jebsen family, ships phosphates from Western Sahara on behalf of the Moroccan occupying authorities. Norwatch can reveal that a Jebsen vessel docks Tuesday in a harbour in New Zealand. This trade is contradictory to discouragement from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Jebsen owned company Gearbulk is transporting phosphates from occupied Western Sahara, and ignoring the advises from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to not carry out trade with the country.

Australians are receiving, without knowing it, 'stolen' goods from Western Sahara, Africa's last colony. Opinion by Melainin Lakhal in Australian newspaper Geelong Advertiser.

Opening presentation done by Front Polisario on the first day of negotaitions with Morocco, in New York, June 18th 2007.

Senia Abderahman, former student at the United World Colleges in Fjaler, Norway, recounts the story of her grandmother.

Following pressure from the UN and pro-Sahrawi activists, most serious oil companies pulled out of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. But now, a new group of fortune hunters is eying great financial opportunities in the probably oil-rich territory, ignoring international law. Investors from Ireland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the US and Sweden hide behind a jungle of interwoven small companies.

The American oil company Kosmos Energy writes in a recent presentation that they plan to drill for oil on behalf of the Moroccan government in the occupied areas in 2009. According to the UN, that would be illegal.

Political parties from the far right to the far left come together to support Sahrawi students after attacks from Moroccan police.

The last two weeks, Sahrawi students at colleges and universities across Morocco and Western Sahara have been subjected to serious human rights violations. Today, 43 Norwegian organisations signed a letter to the Moroccan government, demanding that the attacks on Sahrawi students are stopped, and that their rights are respected.

- Diplomatic activities between Morocco and Israel have been on a high gear lately, despite the fact that Rabat broke its ties with Jerusalem six years ago. Sahrawi sources claim to have proof Morocco is offering the resumption of full diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for a strong Israeli lobbying in favour of Rabat's Western Sahara policies.

See the latest photos of the Sahrawi student, Sultana Khaya, here.

Read the shocking testimony of the Sahrawi student, Sultana Khaya Sidi Brahim, who lost her eye from the police beatings last week.

A resolution passed yesterday at the annual congress of European Liberal Youth (LYMEC) in Berlin, demands the recognition of the Saharawi Arabic Democratic Republic. The resolution was tabled by the Young Liberals of Norway. LYMEC has a quarter of a million members in 37 European states.

One of the companies of shipowner Kristian Eidesvik is a large investor in disputed Western Sahara. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against such practice. "Theft of our resources", says activist Aminatou Haidar. Bergens Tidende daily, March 10, 2007.

During his five day long official visit to Morocco, the president of the Norwegian parliament, Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland, will raise the human rights situation in Western Sahara with the Moroccan authorities. Jagland will exert pressure on the Moroccan authorities to allow a Nordic delegation into the occupied area, and he believes the controversial Royal Council for Saharan affairs is to be considered a part of Morocco's occupation policy. Read article in Verdensmagasinet X.

- A good opportunity to discuss the violations in occupied Western Sahara, says the Support Committee.

Aminatou Haidar has been imprisoned and tortured because of her struggle for Africa's last colony. She now appeals for Norwegian recognition of Western Sahara as an independent state. Vårt Land (Oslo, Norway) March 9th 2007.

My name is Lamira and I was born in 1988 as a refugee. I spent my childhood in a camp called Dakhla in southern Algeria, which is one of five camps for refugees from Western Sahara. I lived there with my mother, and I have no brothers or sisters.

The Sahrawi human rights activist Aminatou Haidar celebrated Women's Day 2007 in Bergen. Written by chairman of the Rafto Foundation, Arne Lynngård.

Join the letter that is being sent to the UN Secretary General. Campaign launched by WS Task Force and Belgian Committee Of Support to the Saharawi People. [THIS SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN IS NOW TERMINATED].

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.

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.

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.