The latest movement on the position of Western Sahara, illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975, has come from the EU. The European Union signed a fishing agreement with Morocco in 2006, whereby the EU would pay Morocco €144 million over four years for fishing rights in Moroccan and Western Saharan waters. In 2009, the EU’s legal department ruled that this violated international law by ignoring the rights of Western Sahara.
When Maria Damanaki became European commissioner for fisheries in February, she told the Moroccan government that the fishing agreement, which expires in February 2011, would not be renewed without proof that it benefits the Sahrawi people.
On 21 October, the Moroccan minister of fisheries, Akhannouch Aziz, finally met with Damanaki. A group of MEPs are calling on the European parliament to exclude Western Saharan waters from the fisheries agreement.
For more campaigning news: www.wsahara.org.uk
Topics: Western Sahara