Only two years have passed since a Norwegian delegation was expelled from Western Sahara. Sad memories resurface now as the two Norwegian youth politicians Andrea Gustavsson and Kamilla Eidsvik were detained and interrogated by Moroccan security forces earlier this week after meeting with Saharawi youth activists, among them Rabab Amidane, right. (23-AUG-07)

Text by Gunta Venge/HRH Bergen. Photo: The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
 
In 2005 a delegation of five Norwegians experienced Moroccan state inhospitality and was deported from Western Sahara after visiting Saharawi human rights activists in El Ayun.

Amidane Gustavsson and Eidsvik summer 07.jpgAppalled by the conduct of Moroccan security
This time the detainees are of considerably younger age. The two youth politicians, Andrea Gustavsson and Kamilla Eidsvik, right, with Amidane, are Swedish and Norwegian nationals respectively. They are both members of the Socialist Youth in Norway and had come to Western Sahara to demonstrate against Moroccan authorities. Both of them, appalled by the unravelling scene, witnessed the security forces raiding houses in the neighbourhood where they were staying. As they commented on the incident to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, they did not seem particularly worried on their own behalf. However, the two foreign activists have received signals that their hosts will face serious retaliation from Moroccan police as soon as they leave the country. “We are indeed concerned what will happen to the family when we leave”, says Eidsvik to Aftenposten.
 
Fear of further harassment of Saharawi youth activists
One of the many they are concerned about is exactly the 22-year old human rights activist Rabab Amidane. Ms. Amidane has several times been subjected to torture, simply for fighting for her country’s independence. Earlier this summer she visited Oslo to have talks with the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and several youth politicians. She has in recent years kept residence in Marrakesh, Morocco, where she has attended university. Even at the university campus she and her compatriots have come to confrontations with Moroccan police, and suffered severe beatings.

Arne bilde.jpgNo compromise on Western Sahara from Morocco
Human rights are broken, and hopes shattered as we speak. That is the reality the two Norway-based politicians came to Western Sahara to encounter and raise their voices against. Now, having personally had a close encounter with the scrutiny of Moroccan security forces, their original impressions have been confirmed; Morocco will not compromise on the future fate of Western Sahara. “It is vital to put more pressure on Morocco. The world must be told of how the Moroccan authorities treat people who stand up against oppression”, Mr. Lynngård, left, Chairman of the Rafto Foundation says in a comment to the recent event. He was member of the Norwegian delegation that was deported from Western Sahara in 2005.
 
Background
 The conflict over the territory of Western Sahara goes back 32 years, to 1975, as the state of Morocco invaded the country. Ever since it has been under siege, physically demonstrated by the construction of a giant wall running through the country from north to south. Attempts have been made, before and after the UN passed a resolution in support of Western Sahara’s right to self-determination, to achieve peace in this deadlocked conflict. In 1991 the UN declared that a referendum was to take place. In that way the Saharawis would be allowed to decide for themselves; were they to be an integral part of Morocco, or would they be independent? The referendum has, despite tireless diplomatic efforts, not yet taken place.
 
Constant fear and constraint
 Meanwhile, the Saharawi population lives in constant fear and constraint. About 165,000 live in refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria. Those who remain in Western Sahara do so with hardship. They are prisoners in their own home; tied to their feet in chains. The people need to be released, and not on probation or against bail. The Saharawi demand, as a colonized country, is legitimate by all standards. Their demand is peace, freedom, and justice. Their demand is Western Sahara.