The Report of the Second AU Conference of Ministers Responsible of Mineral Resources and Development was formally adopted by the Twenty-First Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council via decision (EX.CL/ Dec.714(XXI)) at the latest AU Summit held in Addis Ababa on 9-16 July 2012. The declaration itself was first made in December 2011.
The first operative paragraph of the declaration reads as follows:
“Hereby: RECOGNISE the sovereign rights of AU Member States in protecting and safeguarding their natural resources from plunder and exploitation by all actors”.
The Saharawi Arabic Democratic Republic is a full member of the African Union (AU).
In 2002, the UN Legal Counsel stated that any further mineral exploration or exploitation in Western Sahara would be in violation of international law if the local people were not consulted. They are not. Instead, Morocco has been speeding up its illegal exploration programmes in the territory, both for oil and gas offshore and onshore, as well as phosphates and minerals onshore.
Morocco is the only state in Africa not member of the AU, because of the Western Sahara issue. Morocco occcupies a section of the territory of Western Sahara.
Morocco occupies the major part of its neighbouring country, Western Sahara. Entering into business deals with Moroccan companies or authorities in the occupied territories gives an impression of political legitimacy to the occupation. It also gives job opportunities to Moroccan settlers and income to the Moroccan government. Western Sahara Resource Watch demands foreign companies leave Western Sahara until a solution to the conflict is found.
The military court in Rabat has convicted 25 Saharawi activists to shockingly tough sentences. All were arrested in relation to the Gdeim Izik protest camp; a peaceful manifestation disputing the Saharawi people’s continual marginalisation in their occupied country.
Sign the Petition: Stop the EU fisheries in Western Sahara
The WSRW report ‘Label and Liability’ documents how produce from the controversial agro-industry in the occupied territory, ends up in the baskets of unaware EU customers.
