Restrictions on the Spanish media’s coverage of the recent dismantling of the Gdaym Izik protest camp in Western Sahara were so severe, it is amazing so many column inches have been filled on the issue. With some newspaper reporters mysteriously told at Rabat airport that their tickets were not valid to travel to Laâyoune, and others, such as two correspondents from La Ser radio station, expelled from the region, it hasn’t been easy to cover the story. This might explain why there has been so much confusion over what exactly happened on November 8, when Moroccan troops entered the camp to bring an end to the protest. At the time many media in Spain, informed it seems by pro-Sahrawi … [Read more...] about Western Sahara violence unleashes a media war
Sahrawi camp
Camp mentality reflects Western Sahara’s new dissidence
At first glance it seems surprising that representatives of Morocco and the Polisario were negotiating the future of the disputed Western Sahara region while the territorial capital of Laâyoune and the protest camp erected outside the city were shrouded in smoke after security forces had violently dispersed demonstrators. But the two sides talking on November 8 and 9 under the auspices of the UN in Manhasset, near New York, may for once have had some motivation to accelerate the process towards the resolution of a 35-year-old impasse. A new force appears to have been born made up of disaffected Sahrawis who have other things on their minds besides the status of their land and the colours … [Read more...] about Camp mentality reflects Western Sahara’s new dissidence