What happened?

Moroccan army fort in Guerguerat

During my embarrassing absence, a lot of Western Sahara-related things happened:

• In December, Morocco began reinforcing its position on the Berm, a violation of the ceasefire. Polisario complained to the UN.
  
• Human Rights Watch released its annual Western Sahara report. The report focuses on the abuses the Moroccan government inflicts on pro-independence Sahrawis. Here's a description of the torture of a Sahrawi activist named Asfari:

  After two, two and-a-half-hours, [the police] said, “Let’s try something else.” While I was still seated, they lifted my feet onto a second chair in front of me and hit the soles of my feet with what felt like hard plastic batons, for two, three minutes…One of them burned me with cigarettes on my wrists.

• Two Sahrawi students, Mustapha Abd Daiem and Laktif el-Houssin, were crushed by a bus in a sit-in at a Marrakesh bus stop.
  

That last one is the one I'm saddest about effectively ignoring. It's a huge story, and the kind that shows how unpleasant life in Morocco can get if you're on the government's bad side. Interestingly, the incident also shows how good the Western Sahara conflict is, compared to other conflicts. An unjust death in DR Congo or Palestine would garner much less attention, considering the violence in those areas.

I know as well as anyone that a lot of stories on blogs are treated like a big deal, but then . If you want more coverage of one of these events or one I didn't name, say so in the comments. I'll do follow up reporting, and maybe post an interview with someone involved. It'll be a way to make up for the coverage these issues missed when I stopped blogging.

Photo from Flickr user Zongo769 used under a Creative Commons license.

Moroccan police brutalize protester in Sidi Ifni

This guy is getting beaten up for participating in protests last month in Sidi Ifni, Morocco. The protests weren't related to Western Sahara, but the video gives you a sense of the way Moroccan police treat protesters.

Update on Dakhla fishermen attack

Cahiers du Sahara has more (translation) on Tuesday's attack on Sahrawi fishermen. 42 people were injured, shops were burned, and one person is still missing.

Things were a lot better when Morocco tried to rule a country through internet antics, rather than random violence.

Bleeding Dakhla: Moroccan settlers attack Sahrawis, injure 60

Whenever someone tells you unrest is Western Sahara is just about economic concerns, call him a liar. In Western Sahara (like everywhere else), the economic is political and the political is ethnic. It's all a Gordian knot that will only be cut with a referendum, but until then, Sahrawis are going to get the crap kicked out of them (from translated version):

Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of Moroccans, mostly engaged in fishing, attacked in the town of Itereft, 100 kilometers from the city of Dajla, Western Sahara, fishermen and fish traders established Saharans in the area, causing dozens of injuries.

So far it is 57 wounded, five of them extremely serious, and two of those still missing are unaware of the whereabouts, said the chairman of the Committee Against Torture Dajla, El Mami Amar Salem, the Communication Service Saharawi in the Canary Islands (SCSC), through a note sent to afrol News.
...
The Moroccans, "thousands", according to witnesses, attacked the fishermen and traders Saharans with sticks, knives, diesel and even several axes, burning at least seven vehicle.

Emphasis mine. The article says the attack was meant to dislodge Sahrawis from Dakhla's fishery industry, and speculates that the two missing Sahrawis might have been thrown into the ocean.

This is the kind of outrageous stuff that people like Edward Gabriel and Robert Holley perpetuate from their comfy DC offices, and it's what people like me allow by sitting in identical offices and not doing nearly enough.

The worst thing is that these weren't even all activist Sahrawis--some of them were just trying to make a living, and now they have axe wounds. Occupation advocates will tell you that an independent Sahrawi state couldn't govern itself, that it would descend into lawlessness. They don't realize that this is lawlessness.

Via Sahara Libre and a fast commenter

Moroccan soldiers attack Sahrawi and Moroccan students in Marrakesh

It seems something unites previously-fractious Sahrawi and Moroccan students at Marrakesh University: they're both not jackboot thugs, and they get repressed by the same. On the 17th of May Moroccan police stormed the campus, and while we're just getting the images recently, one thing's clear: it was bad.

Demonstrations started after 19 Moroccans got food poisoning. It seems as though the Sahrawis used student anger to call for self-determination. Police officers uninterested in compromise and negotiation responded, and threw 2 Sahrawis and 1 Moroccan out of windows and shot tear gas at other students (video of the tear gas attack's aftermath).

The Norwegian Support Committee has several other videos shot by Rabab Amidane before, during, and after the assault on campus. I was affected by this one, showing all the university rooms ransacked by Moroccan police. It's sad to see these rooms touched by the hand of a Moroccan elite afraid of its own sons and daughters.



This anti-student bias isn't limited to the police: according one of the videos, some in Marrakesh are refusing to rent to the rebellious students, leaving them to sleep on the streets or in internet cafes.

I recently read Joseph Califano's The Student Revolution, a book about unrest at universities across the world in 1968. One of Califano's themes is that poor university conditions allowed small radical groups of students to win support from the student mainstream for their off-campus politics. Maybe the same thing will happen in Morocco, as Sahrawis are able to mix with politically-active Moroccans on student issues.

Update: the Moroccan student isn't dead, fortunately. I'm sorry for the mistake.

Sahrawi youths carrying SADR ID cards under occupation

According to my source in El Aiaun, some Sahrawi youth are carrying SADR ID cards like the one above as a silent form of protest against the Moroccan occupation. The card Moroccan authorities would rather they carry can be seen here.

They got their cards while living in Tindouf, but eventually returned to Western Sahara after camp life became too hard. My guy in Western Sahara says one person he knows with the card uses it to keep hope for a free Western Sahara, while another plans to use the card to claim SADR citizenship once he reaches Spain.

Obviously, I'm not in Western Sahara to confirm this, but it seems true to me. I worry for the people carrying the cards, though--I don't think Moroccan security forces will be pleased if they find the cards on the youths.

El Aiaun, I love you but you're bringing me down

ARSO news is back after its noted holiday, and the world is better for it. One of the entries got me thinking:

10.08.07, Testimony of human rights defender, Yahdih Ettarouzi, imprisoned in the Black Prison of El Ayoun for 10 months:
"Black Jail" of El Aaiún/Western Sahara, "A grave for alive people",

There's been some talk lately about calling the Black Jail/Prison "a grave for alive people." I understand the sentiment, but that's crummy phrasing. Couldn't we say "a living tomb" or "a grave for the living"? I think those are catchier.

Children of the Clouds has video of Moroccan occupation

ASVDH linked to this fantastic short documentary, Children of the Clouds. Watch it here. The filmmaker, Carlos Gonzalez, was able to get rare footage of a Sahrawi demonstration being suppressed by police. It's only ten minutes--check it out.

To encourage you, here are some of Children's highlights:

• Gonzalez wrapping his face in a turban so Moroccans won't notice him
• Footage of police blocking off a demonstration and dragging protesters away
  
• A chase with the Moroccan police after being spotted
  
• Two Sahrawi women, one of whose son has just been beaten in the demonstration, demanding independence
• A lengthy interview with human rights activist Hamad Ahmad, who I haven't heard of. Anyone know about him?

The documentary doesn't have all of its footage, perhaps because Gonzalez was eventually expelled from Western Sahara and accused of being a Venezuelan spy. Interviewing more Sahrawis would've made the documentary more credible, but it's a fascinating look into life under Moroccan occupation.

Monday Fun and Shames: Black Prison edition

Tarruzi Yehdih, a former Sahrawi political prisoner and member of CODESA, recently got out of the Black Jail of El Aauin. His description of jail life is horrifying, and a must-read for people interested in human rights in Western Sahara.

For today, though, I'll focus on a list of names Yehdih provides. He says these men abuse Sahrawis inside the prison. I have no corroboration that these men are torturers or otherwise violate human rights, but I hope the dissemination of this list will expose those who are.

List of the torturers and the main outstanding “lords” of the “Black Jail” of El Aaiún:

1- Abd-Lilah Az-zunfri: Director of the jail.
2- Mohamed Al-mansuri: President of the detention centre.
3- Mohamed Al-buhzizi: Vice-president of the detention centre.
4- Abd Al-ali Al-buhnani: Vice-president of the detention centre.
5- Abdelkader Ait Sus: Responsible for general works.
6- Abderrahim Al-harruchi: Responsible for construction and general work in the jail.
7- Abderrazag Mugtasam: Responsible for the visits and the searching of possessions.
8- Jamal Beiruk: President of the Section or the centre.
9-Abdelhag Wahbi: Searching.
10- Ahmed Alharrag: President of the judiciary office of the jail(director of the third level).
11- Yusef Al-manur: President of the judiciary office(director of the third level).
12- Ismail Bachari: President of a sector.
13- Idris Butib: Nurse.
14- Mustafa Al-azizi: Nurse.
15- Yusef Butiglidin: Nurse.
16- Abdelhag Fartamis: He was transferred to “Ramani Jail”.
17- Abdelhakim: He was transferred to the central prison of Al-kinetra.

I'm not sure what he means by "lords," or whether the last two who are listed as transferred are guards or prisoners. It'd also be interesting to know how many are Moroccans and how many are Sahrawis.

Norwegian youth staying with the Amidanes detained

Moroccan police in Western Sahara love to harass two groups: the Sahrawi Amidane family, and Norwegians. It was a happy day for them, then, when they discovered them both in the same place. Last week, two Norwegian youth politicians staying with the Amidanes were arrested and interrogated by Moroccan police.

Kamilla Eidsvik and Andrea Gustavsson, the arrested girls, are members of a socialist youth party in Norway (even though one of them is Swedish). They were on the street in El Aiaun when they saw Moroccan security forces raid a house. As you might've noticed at this point, Morocco isn't thrilled when outsiders visit Western Sahara to see if it's treating the Sahrawis as well as it claims. The girls were bundled into an armored car and held for two hours. Since they were going to leave Western Sahara anyway, they weren't expelled.

This isn't going to help the Amidane family, whose imprisoned son El-Ouali is already a cause celebre amongst Western Saharan activists. Their daughter Rabab (pictured with the Scandinavian women) has been beaten by Moroccan police and recently visited Norway to garner support for Western Sahara.

The event gives lie to Morocco's claim that it's treating Sahrawis well. Why would Morocco arrest young, foreign women just for being near a raid unless that raid was unlawful? I'd like to see Morocco's henchmen claim the young women presented a security risk.

Spain sells 600,000 Euros worth of anti-riot equipment to Morocco

Spain, which lately hasn't been feeling too guilty about the Madrid Accords, is one step closer to taking the "neo" out of "neocolonialism." According to the Spanish newspaper El Pais (via ARSO), the Spanish government is selling 600,000 Euros worth of riot control equipment to Morocco. It's no secret where the Moroccan plans to use the purchase.

They'll put their new weapons to good use in Western Sahara, where the intifada is flaring up again, and Morocco is starting to feel the heat. I suppose they figured the usual repression isn't working, and they call in the last colonial occupier for help.

Morocco's gleeful assault on Sahrawi demonstrators has long since ceased to shock or even surprise. What is disgusting, though, is Spain's about-face regarding Western Sahara. Under President Jose Zapatero, Spain has sold Morocco army vehicles and supported its autonomy proposal. I might've expected this from Jose Maria Aznar, but Zapatero's supposed to be a socialist. Socialism's reputation for peace hasn't been this injured in western Europe since Georges Clemenceau.

Someday, Spain will reconsider its policy towards the Moroccan occupation and realize that no amount of time in Ceuta and Melilla is worth being complicit in Sahrawi deaths. Until then, Moroccan oppression will continue to be hecho en Espana.

Moroccan increases assaults on Sahrawi activists

It sounds like Morocco is going crazy in Western Sahara this month. I'd expect Morocco to play it cool until the autonomy plan is passed or rejected, but maybe the competing plans have excited the Sahrawis so much Morocco has to respond.

Western Sahara Info, the Norwegian Support Committee for the Western Sahara, and ASVDH (a Sahrawi human rights group) have extensive coverage of this recent outbreak of repression that's hitting Sahrawis, especially youths. Here's what's happening:

• Morocco arrested 3 young Sahrawis aged 13 and 14 after pro-independence demonstrations in El-Aiun. According to ASVDH, Morocco also tortured a 14 year-old boy. Seriously?
  
• Mohammed Tahlil, the Boujdour ASVDH representative, was beaten by security forces in El-Aiun.
• Amadayne el-Ouali, a 21 year-old Sahrawi active in the independence movement, was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Check out Western Sahara Info's highly-recommended profile of Amadayne. On the plus side, I think I have a crush on his self-determination- loving sister.
  

Can someone explain to me why MINURSO isn't getting a human rights component this renewal? [Kudos to Western Sahara Info for tipping me off to this latest wave of repression].

Petition against arbitrary arrests of Saharawi activists

In May of last year some non-violent protests for independence were organized in Western Sahara. The Moroccans reacted harshly, and began a new campaign of repression and intimidation. They've arrested many activists, including two who are currently on a hunger strike.

The nice folks at ASVDH, which I'm told translates roughly to the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State, have a petition against this recent assault on human rights. Go ahead and sign it. You'll feel a little better about yourself, and you'll have thumbed your nose at the occupation.