So, what is the current state of affairs? Beisat said that since November 2020 when Morocco again attacked Western Sahara, seizing more lands, hostilities between the two armies have resumed. He pointed out that while Morocco claims there is no on-going war, it has approached the UN to organise a ceasefire. He chuckled, “Morocco that claims there is no war wants a ceasefire.”
I went to a meeting in Abuja with the visiting Western Sahara’s – Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic’s – Foreign Minister. It was arranged by Mr Brahim B Buseif, the country’s ambassador in Nigeria.
I was received by Buseif and a friend, Mohammed Yeslem Beisat. Since 2020, he had been Sahrawi ambassador to South Africa and Lesotho, and for the past one year, we have been communicating. Previously, he had served in the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and is quite knowledgeable about Africa.
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We embraced and I almost asked him what he was doing in Nigeria, when it occurred to me that he was the only one with Buseif. Then it hit me: my friend is the new Sahrawi foreign minister! Since when? Just a few weeks before. Yet, he had already hit the road, visiting Nigeria and South Africa.
When I reached out on 26 June, he was in Mozambique after attending the 50th Independence Anniversary of that country, the previous day.
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Nigeria has, since 1984, recognised the independence of Western Sahara. During his visit last week, Ambassador Beisat was received by the Nigerian Foreign Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, the Chairmen of the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Foreign Affairs, the media and various groups.
As I sat down with some other members of the Nigerian Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara, I asked him about the announcement by some foreign countries supporting Morocco’s claims over Western Sahara and its ‘autonomy’ proposals. He dismissed it as a public relations stunt. He pointed out that the Western countries making those announcements have been supporting the Moroccan occupation for decades. He said it was Spain that, 50 years ago, rather than grant independence to Western Sahara, handed it over to Morocco and Mauritania as a war booty. France, he pointed out, in the 1970s, supported Morocco militarily in its attacks against the Sahrawi. The United Kingdom has been duplicitous in supporting the 1990 United Nations and African Union joint resolution for referendum, while also backing Morocco’s territorial grab. As for the US, he said it was the then Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who in the 1970s asked Morocco to invade Western Sahara.
But why is the West so bent on denying Western Sahara full independence? Beisat says his country is suffering for the wealth in its belly, which includes oil, gas, iron, copper, gold, diamond, uranium, phosphate and rare earth materials. Also, it has over 3,000 species of fish. He said the fish in Western Sahara are so much in abundance that in some places, it is difficult to swim.
The Sahrawi wants to use the riches for themselves, the West wants to exploit these in their interest, while Morocco is willing to share them with the West. The foreign minister said, “The US says Morocco has always been loyal; it does not think an independent Western Sahara will be loyal.”
He argued that since its 18 November, 1956 independence, Morocco has remained a puppet of France. He gave the example of the Tangier-Casablanca high speed train contract, which China offered to build for $1 billion and France for $3 billion, with Morocco awarding the contract to the French. Even at that, cost variations are being suggested that may push the figure to $4 billion. All these, he pointed out, are adding to the Moroccan debt burden, as the entire funds are loans repayable with interests.
He made a similar reference to the proposed Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Morocco, onward to Europe. He said Morocco, which has no oil and imports gas for its local consumption, is merely trying to position itself to benefit unfairly from Nigerian gas.
He pointed out that the Moroccan proposal on the pipeline traverses 14 countries: Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco, while his country has not even been consulted.
He contrasted this with the Trans-Saharan Gas pipeline (TSGP), designed to pipe gas from Nigeria to Algeria. He pointed out that while the one to Morocco is lengthy, crossing 14 countries, the later crosses only three; Nigeria, Niger and Algeria.
He also pointed out that while the Nigeria-Morocco gas pipeline is estimated to cost $25 billion, that to Algeria, itis $13 billion to transport the same amount of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.
He equally pointed out that unlike Morocco that does not have any gas pipeline to Europe, Algeria has the existing Trans-Mediterranean, Maghreb-Europe pipeline, which carries gas from El Kala and Beni Saf to Europe through Spain and Italy.
So, what is the current state of affairs? Beisat said that since November 2020 when Morocco again attacked Western Sahara, seizing more lands, hostilities between the two armies have resumed. He pointed out that while Morocco claims there is no on-going war, it has approached the UN to organise a ceasefire. He chuckled, “Morocco that claims there is no war wants a ceasefire.”
Western Sahara, he said, is not opposed to a ceasefire, provided it is part of a package which includes a referendum for independence, and release of all prisoners of war (POWs). Some of the POWs, he said, have been handed 30-year imprisonments or life sentences by Morocco, which is offering to release them if the Sahrawi would allow the deceptive autonomy plan. He said over 50 international non-governmental organisations are gathering signatures for Morocco to release all POWs.
He said the issue of autonomy does not fly as it is the same ‘autonomy’ that Charles de Gaulle of France offered Algeria and Apartheid South Africa offered the Black population in South Africa. He added, “When the oppressed revolts, the oppressor offers ‘concessions”. The Foreign Minister pointed out that the ‘autonomy’ proposals being hawked around by Morocco includes a referendum, but if the latter is sincere, why does it not simply allow the AU-UN Referendum?
Morocco, he said, no longer refers to the POLISARIO Liberation Movement of Western Sahara as mercenaries, “It now agrees that the Sahrawi are human beings.”
As we left, I reflected on my visits to Morocco, including holiday seasons in Casablanca, and once spending about a week in Marrakesh. So why does such a richly blessed country with good infrastructure not concentrate on its resources, rather than expending energies trying to steal from its neighbour, and striving to join the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, when it belongs to neither geographic area? On the other hand, if the AU has a miscreant like Morocco that continuously and wilfully violates its Constitutive Act by illegally occupying a Member State, why not kick it out?
Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
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