Tag: Western Sahara
Western Sahara: the six-decade struggle to liberate Africa’s last colony
Western Sahara is the territory in north-west Africa bordered by Morocco in the north, Algeria and Mauritania in the east and the Atlantic Ocean...
Migration and world peace highlighted by top SA government appointees
A senior South African Parliamentary official wants “no effort spared” to rid the world of conflict with a Cabinet Minister calling for a “transparent...
Algeria says Moroccan bombardment killed three Algerians on Western Sahara border
Algeria said on Wednesday that Moroccan bombardment had killed three of its citizens in the border area between Mauritania and the disputed territory of...
Morocco recalls its ambassador to Berlin over Western Sahara
Morocco recalled its ambassador to Berlin for consultations on Thursday in protest at what it described as Germany's "destructive attitude" towards Rabat's position on...
Refugees’ frustration drives renewed Western Sahara conflict
Generations of young Sahrawis have grown up in Algeria’s remote desert refugee camps largely forgotten by the outside world and now see no prospect...
ISS: Donald Trump leaves Joe Biden a booby trap
Trump’s last-minute decision to recognise Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara presents the new US president with a dilemma.
United States (US) President Joe Biden is...
South Africa stands in solidarity with Palestine, Western Sahara
Department of International Relations and Co-operation (DIRCO) Minister Dr Naledi Pandor again expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and Western Sahara in their...
Morocco PM says Western Sahara wall at centre of dispute completed
Morocco has finished building a sand barrier in a UN-monitored buffer zone in Western Sahara, Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Otmani told Reuters on...
Fears grow of new Western Sahara war between Morocco and Polisario...
The Western Sahara’s Polisario Front group said on Friday that Morocco had broken their ceasefire and “ignited war”, but Rabat denied there had been...
Morocco vows to clear Polisario blockade of Western Sahara road
Morocco will clear the main road linking Western Sahara to Mauritania that has been blocked since 21 October by supporters of the Polisario independence...
AU Chair calls for calm between Sarahawi and Morocco
Chairperson of the African Union (AU), President Cyril Ramaphosa, has been made aware of the growing tension between the Western Sahara and Morocco, arising...
ISS: Former Liberation Movements charge to the rescue of Western Sahara
Southern Africa’s former liberation movements have symbolically donned their old camouflage uniforms and are resuming the decolonisation struggle. This time though, the colonising power...
Morocco, UN, AU urged to fast-track Western Sahara referendum
Western Sahara President Brahim Ghali has urged the African Union, the United Nations and Morocco to fast-track the long delayed referendum on the self-determination...
Africa not free until Western Sahara is decolonised – Sisulu
The SADC Ministers Solidarity Conference with Western Sahara will serve to remind the region that Africa will not be truly free until the last...
UN hosting Western Sahara talks
The UN envoy for the contested Western Sahara will convene talks in Switzerland this week, seeking compromise after a first round in December marked...
SA welcomes resumption of peace talks on Western Sahara
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has welcomed the resumption of peace talks on the situation in Western Sahara.
The first round of negotiations...
MINURSO mandate extended
The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until April 30.
Adopting...
ISS: AU limits its role in Western Sahara crisis
The African Union (AU) will be limiting its peace efforts in the Western Sahara in order to support the United Nations' (UN)...
SA, Algeria reaffirm support for independent Western Sahara
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says South Africa and Algeria remain firm in their support for the independence of Western...
ISS: The Western Sahara debate heats up
The contested Western Sahara, claimed by Morocco, borders Mauritania to the south. It is therefore apt that it is at the 31st...
SA wants Western Sahara independent
In solidarity with the Saharawi people in their fight for independence, South Africa has called for decisive steps to close the chapter...
Morocco mulling all options over Western Sahara truce threat
Morocco is considering "all options" if the United Nations does not address accusations the Polisario independence movement is threatening a 1991 ceasefire...
Auction starts for seized Western Sahara phosphate cargo
A sealed bid auction opened on Monday to buy 55,000 tonnes of phosphate aboard a ship seized by South African authorities last...
Peru sends Western Sahara emissary to Spain
Peruvian authorities sent an emissary of an independence movement in Western Sahara on a flight back to Spain after she spent two...
UN Security Council backs new Western Sahara talks
The United Nations Security Council unanimously backed attempts to restart talks between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement over the Western Sahara...
Guterres calls for new Western Sahara talks
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for new talks over the long-running Western Sahara dispute, saying negotiations should include proposals from both...
UN Western Sahara envoy offers to resign
The United Nations envoy for the disputed Western Sahara territory has offered his resignation after eight years of trying to bring the...
Morocco says forces to withdraw in Western Sahara’s Guerguerat standoff
Morocco on Sunday announced the withdrawal of its forces from a U.N. buffer zone in the disputed Western Sahara territory, where for...
Western Sahara stand-off fuels tensions, diplomatic scramble
At a rocky outpost in Western Sahara, a new generation of soldiers who have never known war are mobilising as tensions resurface...
Morocco, seeking support for Western Sahara plan, asks to rejoin African...
Morocco has applied to rejoin the African Union 32 years after it left, the bloc said on Friday, as the North African...
Morocco to keep clearing road at Western Sahara border, despite tension
The Moroccan government said on Thursday it will maintain its "clearing operations" against smuggling and crime at a Western Sahara border area...
Morocco, Polisario standoff escalates Western Sahara tensions
U.N. peacekeepers have deployed to monitor a standoff between Moroccan forces and Western Sahara's Polisario Front that risks escalating into one of...
Morocco to retry 24 jailed over Western Sahara clashes in 2010
The cassation court on Wednesday ordered a retrial in a civilian court for the defendants who were jailed for between 20 years...
Handful of UN staff return to Western Sahara after dispute
Four United Nations civilian staff have returned to a UN peacekeeping mission in disputed Western Sahara after months of talks between the...
Western Sahara’s Polisario names new leader
Western Sahara's Polisario independence movement has elected a former ambassador as its new leader after the death of its chief, Mohammed Abdelaziz,...
Leader of Western Sahara separatist movement dies after illness
The long-standing leader of Western Sahara's separatist movement, Mohamed Abdelaziz, died on Tuesday after more three decades of leading a fight for...
Security Council approves 12 month extension of UN mission in Western...
The Security Council has, by recorded vote, adopted a resolution extending for one year the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in...
U.S. submits new U.N. Western Sahara draft after criticism
The United States on Thursday gave the U.N. Security Council a new draft resolution on disputed Western Sahara after some members said...
ISS: The word that reignited the Western Sahara debate
No issue divides the member states of the African Union (AU) like the dispute over Western Sahara. Also known as the Sahrawi...
Gulf Arabs back Morocco in Western Sahara rift with UN
Gulf Arab rulers back fellow monarchy Morocco in its row with the United Nations over the disputed region of Western Sahara, Saudi...
U.N. warns of Western Sahara war if peacekeeping mission ends
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended extending the mandate of a peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara for a...
Polisario urges UN to keep pressure on Morocco over Western Sahara
The leader of Western Sahara's Polisario Front separatist movement on Thursday wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging him and the...
Morocco expels eight Europeans supporting Western Sahara prisoners
Moroccan authorities have expelled eight European activists they said were in the country to undermine public order by supporting prisoners from Western...
Morocco says West Sahara decision ‘irreversible’, U.N. council ‘concerned’
Morocco's decision to reduce United Nations staff at the Western Sahara mission is sovereign and irreversible, but the government is committed to...
Security Council response needed in West Sahara crisis – U.N. official
The United Nations Security Council must act to ensure Morocco's decision to expel personnel from a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the disputed...
Morocco’s U.N. expulsion puts Western Sahara ceasefire at risk – movement
Morocco is putting a ceasefire over disputed Western Sahara at risk by expelling United Nations staffers there and trying to scuttle a...
U.N. shuts Western Sahara military liaison office, as Morocco wanted
The United Nations has closed its military liaison office in the disputed territory of Western Sahara as demanded by Morocco amid an...
U.S. supports Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara
The United States supports Morocco's autonomy plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara, considering it both credible and realistic, the U.S....
U.N. chief disappointed by Security Council on Western Sahara – spokesman
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was disappointed by the Security Council's failure to take a strong stand in a dispute between him and...
Morocco asks U.N. to remove 84 staffers from West Sahara mission
Morocco has asked the United Nations to remove 84 staff members in the coming days from its Western Sahara mission after U.N....
