One Hump or Two?

Leave old Sahrawis alone!

2008-05-18T01:21:00.005-04:00

Geez, late middle-aged Sahrawis can't catch a break from Morocco. First it was the guy in the wheelchair, now two brothers and their sister, all in their 50's and 60's, were interrogated for six hours by Moroccan security forces for visiting Mauritania and meeting with other Sahrawis there. Not the best way to run an occupation.

Taking our lumps and hitting back

2008-05-18T00:21:00.006-04:00

It's been a crappy week for Western Sahara supporters in the United States. A Moroccan-American Center for Policy tour of Sahrawi refugees from Tindouf (who may or may not be telling the truth) managed to dominate the internet, even getting an article in the Associated Press (and so in several other major American media outlets).

Several emails I got from a Western Sahara supporter with the stories expressed the way I think a lot of us are feeling--first amused by MACP and Robert Holley's machinations, then outraged that the story was getting more play, then resigned as the AP story was circulated.

The story of Sahrawi refugees abused in Tindouf is frustrating for several reasons. Human rights abuses have happened in Tindouf before--from the Moroccan POWs to the suppression of domestic Abdelaziz opponents--so it wouldn't be that wild of a thing. Tindouf's distance from DC and other American media centers and a language barrier make checking the MACP's unappetizing. The MACP's meetings were closed to the public, so opposing ideas were excluded. The end result is a battered image for Polisario and the entire Western Saharan independence movement.

What now? Alle wants to know why Algeria isn't throwing any hydrocarbon money at Western Saharan lobbying efforts. That's a damn good question. If Algeria would put its back into and Polisario would make itself more public relations friendly (cough Baba Sayed cough), great strides could be made in a short period of time. Instead, Morocco's the one putting time into lobbying and public relations--the MACP office isn't on DC's famed K Street, but it's close.

Even now, though, those of us unaffiliated with Polisario and without much money can help. I know some Sahrawis read my blog, and I hope they'll be inspired by the past week's disaster to tell their stories more often to American media sources. Speaking as a journalist, I assure you most writers are always hard-up for stories. If I got pitched a story as compelling as Western Sahara, I'd be grateful.

Those of us who aren't Sahrawis can keep spreading the gospel through media. One Scandinavian is trying to place an article attacking one of Morocco's favorite congressional reps, Lincoln Diaz-Balart in one of the Miami papers that cover him. I've been planning to write an article about Western Sahara for Dissident Voices, an open leftist site. Add pitching guest blog posts to other bloggers, and we can sway public opinion and google results.

Like the recent "realism" from the UN, the MACP's current popularity is depressing. But look: Western Sahara is helped by Sahrawis, Algerians, Moroccans, Mauritanians, South Africans, Americans, Brits, Australians, French, Scandinavians, Spaniards, and at least one man from Japan. Shoot, democratic dissidents in Swaziland work on precious internet connections to help Western Sahara. Reading that list of nationalities, I find it hard to believe a cut-rate PR firm and their unwitting media accomplices can deny the Sahrawis their right to self-determination.

Picture from Flickr user Saharauiak used under a Creative Commons license

Awful Human Events article on Western Sahara

2008-05-15T20:28:00.003-04:00

Looks like the Moroccan-American Center for Policy got another one. In a piece that quotes Robert Holley as an impartial Western Sahara expert, Human Events's Ericka Andersen swallows whole the latest touring MACP show.

I've contacted her in hopes of persuading her that she's been fed a pack of lies, but until then, the piece could do with some pro-self-determination comments.

Update: If you comment (and I hope you do), keep the audience in mind. Human Events readers are mostly conservative, and mostly American. To that end, speak well of the United States and point out conservatives like John Bolton, James Inhofe, and Sam Brownback who support Western Sahara.

How to reach tourists going to Morocco?

2008-05-14T23:34:00.000-04:00

I've long thought Georgetown's weak spot lies in the groups of prospective students that tour campus several times a day. Anyone wanting anything from the administration could scare off these high school students with their complaints and horror stories until the administration relented.

I think we can apply the same logic to Morocco (it's worked in the past, with campaigns against apartheid South Africa). Tourism brings Morocco a lot of money each year, and anything that threatened its tourism revenues would merit the government's attention.

I can't think of any tactics now that could use tourism's importance to Morocco as leverage for Western Sahara, but they'd be immensely powerful. Let's talk it out. An obvious problem I see is that tourists to Morocco are harder to reach than, say, prospective Georgetown students.

Photo from Flickr user *hoodrat*

Do I speak double Dutch to a real double Dutch Western Sahara blog?

2008-05-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

Valued One Hump commenter Van Kaas has a blog of his own about Western Sahara, alternately named Van Kaas or الجبن. His blog's in Dutch, but that doesn't mean he's a bad guy. In fact, he has a couple of posts about Peter van Walsum.

Official Western Sahara friend Robert Malley under fire

2008-05-12T19:17:00.000-04:00

Robert Malley, the director of the International Crisis Group, gave what I thought was a reasoned critique of the Moroccan autonomy plan at a Center for American Progress event last May. It was also decidedly pro-Sahrawi.

Apparently, he gave Barack Obama foreign policy advice. He won't in the future, though, because he's resigned from the campaign for meeting with Hamas in his capacity as an International Crisis Group analyst.

Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Saturday Malley called the Obama campaign on Friday to sever ties with the candidate after learning the Times of London was publishing a story about his contacts with the terrorist group.

I just can't get over how wacky it is that people are freaking out that an analyst at the ICG met with terrorists. It's his job!

Anyway, there is a bright side to this story. I assume Barack Obama and Malley know one another, and if Obama wins Malley stands to get a diplomatic appointment. Even if he's too tainted by this Hamas foolishness, he'll exercise some behind-the-scenes influence. Rob Malley's involvement with a major presidential candidate could herald a more logical US policy towards Western Sahara.

Tip from Sahara-Watch and, alas, Michelle Malkin

Morocco legalizes morning-after pill

2008-05-11T20:49:00.002-04:00

Good on them. The decision was made by the Minister of Health, Yasmina Baddou, who looks like a pretty cool lady. I'm glad Moroccans are at least making strides in women's rights, if not Sahrawi rights.

You know who's probably pretty pleased about that? Alex at Broken Rubbers, the source for birth control news.

Sahara-Watch and Western Sahara Info: the game always pulls them back

2008-05-08T17:29:00.001-04:00

A Moroccan tank after Sahara-Watch and Alle got through with it

The "realistic" MINURSO renewal has brought some old hands back to blogging: Sahara-Watch and Alle at Western Sahara Info. Here's what they've been up to:

Alle pondered what foreign policy eagles, as opposed to hawks and doves, should think about Western Sahara and relations with Algeria.
Sahara-Watch thinks about Resolution 1813, the realism MINURSO renewal everyone's abuzz about, and wonders if it's time for Polisario to go to war. Also, he gets a little scoop on the Western Sahara blogosphere: Polisario is sick of Peter van Walsum.
And oh, they collaborated! Alle and Sahara-Watch on Resolution 1813.

Glad to have those blogangsters back. Sahara-Watch is responsible for me entering the game, as he was the first person I contacted about Western Sahara. Gave me my first hit for free.

Photo by Nick Brooks used under Creative Commons license

Zunes, Holley, Roussellier--all in the same PDF!

2008-05-07T15:48:00.002-04:00

I'm glad the ARSO news round-up caught this: a "Viewpoints" discussion from the Middle East Institute about Western Sahara and autonomy between Jacques Rousellier, Robert Holley, Stephen Zunes, and some guy from al-Akhawayn University in Morocco.

Thoughts after I read it, but I have one problem already: Holley's bio fails to mention that he's a paid lobbyist for the Moroccan government.

Nacho Hernandez's Tindouf photo exhibit in DC Wednesday

2008-05-07T15:25:00.004-04:00

Photo by Nacho Hernandez

Photographer Nacho Hernandez visited the Tindouf refugee camps last year, and a week from today he'll show the pictures he took.

The photos will be on display from 11 AM to 8PM in the Rayburn Foyer, in the Rayburn House Office Building. There's a reception by 6 to 8 PM. It's co-hosted by the US-Western Sahara Foundation and Representatives Trent Franks, Tim Ryan, and Zach Wamp (good to see Zach Wamp sticking with Western Sahara). To RSVP email RSVP@venividiphoto.com

The last US-WS Foundation event I went to in Rayburn, the Aminatou Haidar reception, was great. You ought to go, because I'm sure it'll be a blast. Clever idea to put it in Congress where hopefully a few staffers and representatives will stop by and learn more about Western Sahara.

Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for

2008-05-06T22:57:00.005-04:00

That's Frank Ruddy, quoting Clarence Darrow, in Adam Wolfe's blog post about the MINURSO renewal. Wolfe also wrote an article for the World Politics Review about the UN and realism.

I think his blog post is spicier, but then, I would--he gives good shout-outs to people commenting on this blog, the Norwegians, the Australians, and the irrepressible St. Chasli III. I don't think Western Sahara's a lost cause, and since it's not, Wolfe gives a good idea of where to go from here.

Update: Arabic version of Wolfe's post, courtesy of a friendly anonymous commenter.

Listen closely boys and girls, 'cause it's time to change the world

2008-05-03T15:42:00.004-04:00

I was thinking yesterday that efforts at ruining the reputations of people who perpetuate bad Western Sahara policies have been misdirected. Sure, it's fine (and fun) to make fun of Robert Holley and Edward Gabriel, but they'll always have access to people who won't think to google their names.

The one we should be targeting are the bureaucrats in France, the U.S., and other countries who often end up making decisions on Western Sahara. Even in the run-up to the Moroccan invasion, it was Henry Kissinger, not Gerald Ford, who read the International Court of Justice ruling. Who are the people in my government who decide forcing autonomy on Sahrawis is a good idea? The trick is finding out, then convince them or their bosses otherwise.

UN's love for realism: the dogs bark, but the caravan continues

2008-05-02T13:11:00.000-04:00

Peter van Walsum got what he wanted and the UN's 1 -year renewal of MINURSO insists that the parties be realistic about the prospects for a Sahrawi state. Here's resolution's wording on realism:

2. Endorses the report’s recommendation that realism and a spirit of
compromise by the parties are essential to maintain the momentum of the process of
negotiations;

This saddens me, but not because I think it means the end of Sahrawi nationalist aspirations or even because I think it's that big of a deal (after all, van Walsum's realism just means Morocco won't move unless major powers make it, something that was clear already).

I know that if a majority of Sahrawis want an independent state, it'll happen. The only unknowns are how long until it happens, and how much pain Moroccans, Sahrawis, Algerians, and whoever else gets involved in the conflict will suffer before it happens. I think essentially taking away the diplomatic option from Sahrawis, as more UN policies in this vein will inevitably do, will just increase both the length of time and suffering before a Sahrawi state.

Even if you don't think one word is going to do much about a 32-year conflict, it's hard not to be disgusted how the Western powers (including my own country) can exert so much effort to get one word in the document, but actively block the addition of a human rights component to MINURSO. At least SADR still has some friends on the Security Council like Costa Rica and South Africa. If it could get a few more, the UNSC could stop talking about what's realistic and start talking about what's right.

Photo from Flickr user Saharauiak

More on the Sahrawi in a wheelchair turned away by Morocco

2008-05-02T02:05:00.000-04:00

The indispensable Norwegian Committee for Western Sahara has more information and pictures of the wheelchair-bound Sahrawi visiting his family in the occupied territories who was only allowed to visit them for 4 minutes. According to the Committee, Yarba Mahfud Mohamed's visit was cut short because he refuses to renounce Western Saharan independence:

On arrival in El Aauin, I was stopped because I had not signed a declaration that the Moroccan authorities had given me, and which they said was required to obtain permission to enter the country: “I am a Sahrawi who is returning home in order to beg the king’s forgiveness,” it said. After checking the general situation, with plainclothes policemen, and on the basis of the degrading manner in which they treated me, I understood that I only had one alternative: to return to Spain. The worst part was to see my loved ones there behind a dirty glass wall, without being able to being able to do anything.

He says at one point they took his wheelchair away so he couldn't even move. Mohamed makes exactly the point Morocco is missing--treating Sahrawis like this only gives them more reason to find the status quo untenable.

Together Foundation: Keystone Cops abolitionists

2008-04-29T10:10:00.000-04:00

Pity the hapless Together Foundation. First they jumped on the slavery in Tindouf story without enough evidence, then they lost their entire board of advisors. The latest bad news is that they can't keep even keep important evidence straight. From the Foundation's news page, March 30th:

Meeting with alleged Sahrawi slaves in Mauritania.

We were contacted by two people who alleged that they were Sahrawi slaves from the refugee camps. Our president met them in Nouakchott, Mauritania, early February, received their statements and recorded the answers of one of them.

On the way back to New York the tape mysteriously disappeared from the luggage. Therefore the Foundation has a rather stunning report, which cannot be verified by direct testimony.

They had proof of Sahrawi slavery, but they lost it! What are the chances? The Together Foundation would be modern day John Browns and William Lloyd Garrisons if it weren't for their darned butterfingers.

Nocturnal manumission

2008-04-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

Smoking gun?

It looks like the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has laxer evidence standards than bloggers. They've picked up the Tindouf slavery story like Mohammed Abdelaziz himself runs a slave market, even though all the evidence thus far comes from the Ayala-Fallshaw team.

Someone who was in the camps at the same time as the Ayala/Fallshaw crew pointed me to this document above, which the Committee says is the manumission document for the release of a slave. The big deal is it's ostensibly signed by a Polisario official.

Presuming that this says in Arabic what it's supposed to, papers can easily be forged, so more evidence is still needed before we say Polisario condones slaveholding. I wish the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants felt the same way.

Bomb the suburbs: Sahrawi graffiti

2008-04-26T11:56:00.000-04:00

Speaking of Sahrawi Youtube videos, check out this guy spraypainting pro-independence slogans and the SADR flag on walls and doors in El Aiun. At least, that's what I think is happening--I can't figure out the Arabic. Wherever it's going down, it's neat. I love how good his Arabic looks even though he's using spraypaint.

Dan Newman dishes on TV, is ambivalent about Western Sahara

2008-04-25T14:23:00.000-04:00

My Arabic and newspaper pal Daniel Newman has started a TV blog, A Newman Scorned. He's the Marlo Stanfield of television blogging (young, fierce, and entirely amoral), as I think his episode review of The Paper on MTV demonstrates. Dan's turned me on to so many good shows this year (Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, and even a little Veronica Mars) that I'm sure he can do the same for you if you read his blog.

Even if you're the kind of person who doesn't enjoy puckish wit and spritely writing, however, there's another reason you should read his blog if you love Western Sahara--he's living in Morocco next semester. I'm sure if a lot of Western Sahara fans read his blog he'll be won over to the cause.

Sahrawi students under attack in Marrakesh

2008-04-23T22:47:00.003-04:00

The irrepressible Rabab Amidane, whose brother El Ouali is serving time in a Moroccan jail for his independence work, has two videos of harassment of Sahrawi students at Marrakesh University. This month Sahrawi students have been assaulted for their activism on behalf of self-determination by roving gangs, according to CODESA.

In the first video, Rabab interviews some Sahrawi students who have moved into a central building to protect themselves from further attacks. Perversely, seeing them eat in this redoubt made me really want some Sahrawi food.

It looks like the younger generation has learned human rights lessons well from --in the video, a group of students record who was attacked and how for future complaints. They'll need the information, because it looks like the attacks have been serious. Assaulted student Letif Lahbib just lies on a stretcher moaning in the video, while his friends outside demonstrate by waving his bloody shirt.

In the second video, Sahrawis angry at the attacks march through the university. People walking by seemed pretty blase about the march, which I take to be a good sign. All the best to those in Marrakesh.

Human Rights Watch on Morocco

2008-04-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

Human Rights Watch released its report on human rights in Morocco earlier this month. Their conclusion: Morocco's not so hot, especially for a supposedly liberalizing friend of the West.

The report mentions abuses against Sahrawis, saying that police are harsher with Sahrawi human rights activists and mentioning repression of Sahrawi student protests.

Morocco's press freedom's also pitiful, according to the report. It talks about the Nichane/Tel Quel travesty we know well, as well as the imprisonment of another newspaper's editor who published a classified document related to terrorism. He was charged with concealing information related to a crime. Can you think a better way to not conceal something than publishing it in a major paper?

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

Morocco and Algeria, together at last (at least in my MidEast class)

2008-04-22T11:44:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a survey course on Middle Eastern history, and I just had to read the book and watch the movie version of Bab el-Oued, about Algerian Islamic extremism. Yesterday I read Year of the Elephant, a book about the Moroccan struggle for independence and those it left behind. Reading Year of the Elephant (in Arabic, عام الفيل), I was struck by how brave the Moroccan revolutionaries in the book were--and how quickly they forgot that the thirst for self-determination is unquenchable.

Have you read these two books, and what did you think? I promise I'm not looking for a plot summary so I don't have to read them myself.

Polisario officials write opinion pieces, but where are the occupied Sahrawi voices?

2008-04-21T21:23:00.003-04:00

Emhamed Khadad isn't someone I've heard of before, but he's described as Polisario's coordinator with the UN (I guess that means he's the MINURSO liaison, because I thought Boukhari's the UN representative). He recently wrote two pieces for European audiences: one in the European Wall Street Journal argues that MINURSO needs a human rights component, while another in European Voice complains that the French idea of a European-Mediterranean trade sphere including Morocco strengthens the occupation.

I'm left to wonder, though, why we aren't seeing anything similarly from human rights activists inside Western Sahara like Ali Salem Tamek, Mohammed Daddach, Aminatou Haidar, or Brahim Sabbar. I can see some problems: activists might not know as many languages or be as educated as Polisario leaders, they could face repercussions from Moroccan authorities, or they don't have the connections that Polisario has to get a piece in a major paper. They also can't be as open about support for independence as a Polisario Front representative, certainly.

Still, they're more effective images for readers, and they can comment on Western Saharan issues without overtly opposing Moroccan sovereignty. Even an integrationist could want a human rights component for MINURSO, for example. Polisario should use the contacts it doubtless has with dissidents inside the territory and media elites in Europe and the United States to get articles by Sahrawi activists under the occupation published.

Aziz Mekouar: bull doggin' hos like them Georgetown Hoyas

2008-04-15T20:01:00.003-04:00

Aziz "Wreck you all" Mekouar, Morocco's ambassador to the US, is hitting up Georgetown Thursday to have a 'private conversation' with whoever wants in. Lunch will be served. I'm there. You can be too, maybe, if you RSVP. The whole shindig starts at 12:30 in the Intercultural Center.

Update: So, I've been missing Arabic class a bit lately, so I decided to go to that instead of see Mekouar. Later in the day, I had class in the conference room he ate in, and the chalkboard had a message that was rife with spelling errors--"chaplin" "glade to see you". Intellectual birds of a feather...

An idea I don't have the skills to implement

2008-04-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

Getting a majority of Moroccans behind a referendum on Western Sahara would be a total game-changer. That's a tricky proposition, but I think the younger generation is more likely to be receptive to overtures than older Moroccans, who've had longer exposure to Greater Morocco propaganda and might've lost family and friends in the war with Polisario. Plus, Morocco's youth bulge means they're going to be the dominant group soon.

To that end, I think the Western Saharan cause needs an internet game with pro-self-determination overtones targeted at young Moroccans. It shouldn't hit them over the head with the Sahrawi message, just something subtle that's presented along with the main game. A bowling game called Frente Bowlisario? Maybe.

Wheelchair-bound Sahrawi turned back at airport

2008-04-09T13:30:00.000-04:00

This will be remembered as the week we uncovered the Moroccan government's distaste for people in wheelchairs. Apparently that distaste includes Sahrawis too. According to ARSO's latest news update (required reading for fans of self-determination), a Sahrawi wounded in the Polisario-Moroccan war wasn't allowed to visit his family in Western Sahara after flying all the way from Spain.

Yarba Mahfoud Mohamed arrived by plane in El Ayoun to visit his relatives, coming from Spain where he lives. Paralysed following a war injury in the ranks of the Polisario, he is in a wheelchair. As he was not returning to the Sahara to defect to the regime, the Moroccan authorities refused to let him enter. Thanks to the insistence of his relatives, he was finally able to meet them for four minutes before being sent back on an aeroplane.

He got to see them for four minutes? What's the matter, Moroccan government, going soft?