At a conference in Bergen 27 October, former UN Special Representative to Western Sahara aired his disappointment over the international communitys inability to solve the last colonial issue in Africa.
7 March 2011, Swedish national TV was supposed to have screened the film ‘Stolen’. The TV station took the film off the programme after taking into consideration the wishes of the main character of the film.
Former Rafto laureate criticised lack of openness in Moroccan courts at a seminar in Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Bergen, Norway. He was himself denied access to a court last month.
Sigrun Henjum defended today her PhD thesis on the iodine levels in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria.
A Norwegian humanitarian organisation and a university college has cooperated on researching the nutrition levels of the Saharawi refugees. The cooperation has led to a series of publications. See the studies here.
Associate Professor, Hans Morten Haugen, on a conference on Corporate Social Responsability in Norway, elaborated on how Norwegian importing firms relate to the advice of the Norwegian government to abstain from Western Sahara trade, and how they omit the proper due dilligence on human rights.
"I have no problem in stating, in retrospect, that it might have been a bad idea to take this assignment, CEO of seismic services firm Spectrum ASA told media today. Now, Irish oil minor San Leon has to find another subcontractor to process the geological data they collect from the occupied territory in violation of international law.
Morocco is continuing its oil programme on the Boujdour onshore block. These cars were filmed as they did geological surveys in the occupied territories.
Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs underlines that the wishes of the Sahrawis must be taken into account upon undertaking business in the territory of Western Sahara.
"We urge businesses to stay away from the territory since we do not recognise the annexation of Western Sahara" stated Norway's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Friday. An opening to invest in the "illegitimately annexed" territory is given under the condition it benefits the local population - "and with the local population we of course refer to the Sahrawi people", said the Deputy Minister.
The Norwegian Support Committee of Western Sahara supports the struggle for democracy across the Arab world. Dictators and security forces have for too long dominated the region and suppressed the peoples' call for freedom.
"Morocco does not have the right to exploit the areas resources as if they were its own", states Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs, underlining that fisheries in Western Sahara "must be exercised in accordance with the wishes and interests of the population involved".
A group of Nordic students were last night ordered to leave occupied Western Sahara by Moroccan police.
Two Norwegian tourists were detained in Western Sahara today. The two men were taken by the police few minutes after meeting the mother of Sahrawi prisoner of conscience, Brahim Dahane. The formal explanation they were given by the Moroccan police for their detention and expulsion was that "speaking with the local population is not explicitly permitted with a Moroccan tourist visa".
The Spanish embassy in Oslo does not wish to respond to the question whether the word “wishes” is mentioned in the conclusion of the UN 2002 legal opinion. In order to get an answer of how Spain interprets the UN document, a national Norwegian student organisation was referred to the Saharawi delegation in Madrid.
Norwegian company obliged to pay 1,2 million Euro in customs for importing fish oil from occupied Western Sahara. The importer falsely labelled Western Sahara products as Moroccan.