PN also keeps watch on the struggle for freedom in Western Sahara, illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975.
Solidarity campaigners has been targeting foreign companies involved in the illegal exploitation of Saharawi resources. In the last few months, several have pulled out.
The giant Swiss/British multinational Glencore finally left on 4 January (it had been exploring for oil). The Canadian firm Nutrien announced on 25 January that it would no longer buy phosphate rock from Western Sahara (it had previously bought over $270m worth of Saharawi phosphate rock from the Moroccan government).
In early February, the US oil company Kosmos Energy pulled out of oil exploration in the waters off Western Sahara – after 14 years. One of the largest investors in Kosmos, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, had disinvested from Kosmos because of its ethical violations in Western Sahara.
Earlier, on 18 December, the German government had clarified that it will not give export credit guarantees for projects in Western Sahara.
Meanwhile the European Union continues to pursue a fisheries deal with Morocco that should be declared invalid because it includes Western Sahara, according to Melchior Wathelet, an advocate general to the European Union court of justice.
Topics: Western Sahara