Western Sahara is a big lake!

Well, almost. Via blog friend Justin Anthony Knapp, an article about African aquifers and the potential they hold to cause or avert water wars.

The first thing you notice, as Justin pointed out to me, is that Tindouf sadly has nothing. On the plus side, so much underground water in Western Sahara could mean water for Western Saharan agriculture once extraction methods improve.

SADR oil deal boosts company's stock

Investors can make or lose fortunes on the results of one stock bet, and in at least one case they're betting on Western Sahara. Tower Resources, a British oil exploration company, experienced a bump in its stock price after announcing it had acquired a license to explore for oil off Western Sahara's coast. Unlike other companies, though, Tower's deal is different: its deal is with SADR, so it can only explore once Western Sahara is independent.

Tower obtained the license by buying Comet, which previously held the license. I would've thought the SADR license wouldn't have had a great effect on Tower's stock, given the seemingly-remote chances for Western Saharan independence any time soon. Apparently stock buyers feel more optimistic. It's heartening to see people who are probably more interested in profits than self-determination placing money on independence.

Stopping the occupation on the high seas

A Jinhui shipping vessel

Looks like asking nicely does work sometimes, as long as they're a little shaming mixed in. Through a campaign that, at its heart, just told shipping companies what they were doing was wrong, Western Sahara Resource Watch convinced three shipping companies to stop carrying plundered Western Saharan phosphates. The three companies--Hong Kong's Jinhui, and Norway's Arnesen and R-Bulk--agreed to stop taking contracts for Western Sahara's phosphates, though Jinhui insists it was just carrying out an old contract made by a boat's previous owner.

Along with getting France and the United States to stop supporting Morocco and convincing ordinary Moroccans of the referendum's righteousness, the other part of ending the occupation is making repressing Western Sahara more expensive to Morocco. Making it more difficult for Morocco to hock plundered phosphate on the global market is a necessary part of that campaign, and becomes even more important as the price of phosphates rises.

There's even more good news to come: Afrol News predicts more shipping companies will soon stop working with Western Sahara's phosphate extracters.

Photo from Western Sahara Resource Watch

Plundering Western Sahara can't get Island Oil & Gas a new office

Apparently exploiting Western Sahara's resources isn't as lucrative as previously thought. From the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, here's a picture of Island Oil and Gas's container ship-like offices. It's probably pretty sweet on a road trip, but as an office it leaves something to be desired.

Island Oil and Gas became notorious in the Western Sahara after they signed an exploratory deal with Morocco to look for Western Saharan oil. Don't feel too bad for them--this might not be their main office. Still, it looks like all the occupation booty is going to Morocco's other cronies.

English version of video about Gearbulk's phosphate exploitation now available

The Dagbladet article I mentioned earlier this month about Gearbulk transporting Western Saharan phosphates now has an accompanying video in English. I hope this doesn't convince Morocco to block Youtube again.

Gearbulk is helping to plunder Western Sahara's phosphates

There's disagreement about why Morocco invaded Western Sahara in the first place--was it Greater Morocco nationalism, a lure to keep a restless army occupied, or a distraction from Hassan II's domestic problems? One thing is for sure, though--the phosphates from the Bou Craa Mine (pictured) didn't convince anyone to give peace a chance. Since the occupation began Morocco has been trying to peddle its ill-gotten phosphates, despite the best efforts of Polisario fighters and human rights activists.

Now, Norwegians and others are mad at Gearbulk, a British-based shipping company, for its role in the illegal phosphate trade. One of Gearbulk's ships, the Bulk Saturn, has been transporting phosphates extracted from Western Sahara to New Zealand. Here's an article in Norwegian about the controversy, and here's a video of the Bulk Saturn with its phosphates.

Companies that work with Western Saharan phosphates prolong the occupation by keeping it financially bearable for Morocco. That's why members of parliament from the UK, New Zealand, Norway, and Japan (!) wrote an open letter to Gearbulk urging it to sever its shameful relationship with Morocco. With the successful campaign against Kerr-McGee behind them, Western Sahara advocates are hoping that raising awareness of Gearbulk's profiteering will convince the company the game's not worth the phosphate.

Update: There's now an English version of the video.

Western Sahara fish oil finds its way to Norway

I'll hand it to those Norwegians--they know their Western Sahara. The latest Norway-Morocco fight is about Omega 3 fish oil, which is illegally finding its way from plundered Sahrawi fisheries to health-conscious Norwegians. Plus, it's written by classy guy Erik Hagen.

The article further underlines the region's potential wealth. If Morocco would invest some of the money it gets from the region in infrastructure, it wouldn't be able to make a case against Western Sahara's economic viability.

Busy week, but I'll give you a hint: there's some Jacob Mundy. Until then, why not check out People-Mover, the blog for Houston and the people who love it? It's written by Alex, who got a shout-out before on One Hump but squandered it.

As long as I have a big picture of Omega 3 fish oil to reach to the end of, I'm also writing for Vox Populi, the blog end of the newspaper I write here at Georgetown. This post was dynamite.