Western Sahara, resources, and international accountability

Western Sahara, resources, and international accountability

Stephen Zunes argues that foreign companies and governments are helping Morocco exploit the natural resources of Western Sahara, a non-self-governing territory under occupation since 1975, in breach of international law. He traces the conflict from Spain’s abandoned promise of a referendum and the 1975 ICJ opinion through the Green March, the US and French vetoes that blocked Security Council action, and the stalled UN referendum and Baker Plans.

Drawing on UN resolutions 1514 and 1803 and the 2002 legal opinion of UN legal counsel Hans Corell, he argues that exploration alone is not illegal, but extraction without the consent of the territory’s people is. His examples include the Bou Craa phosphate mine, the EU fishing agreements and offshore oil licences held by companies such as Kosmos and Total, as well as the withdrawal of TotalFinaElf and Kerr-McGee after public pressure and the divestment of Norway’s pension fund. He also argues that Moroccan development spending mainly benefits settlers and the security apparatus, and that Morocco’s autonomy plan would legitimise conquest.

Zunes concludes that, as with Namibia and East Timor, global civil society campaigns of boycotts and divestment may be needed to make companies and Western governments stop the exploitation and respect UN mandates.

Full article

Read the full article on Taylor & Francis Online

Support our work