Kosmos Energy signed new petroleum agreement - wsrw.org

US oil company Kosmos Energy has signed a renewed petroleum agreement for offshore occupied Western Sahara. The new area reduces its illegal acreage off Western Sahara with a third.

Published: 23.08 - 2011 10:21Printer version

In a report filed by Kosmos Energy to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 11 August 2011, the Texas company explained that it in July 2011 signed a Petroleum Agreement with ONHYM, “covering the Cap Boujdour area offshore the Kingdom of Morocco.” The agreement is a new version of an old licence they have held in the waters offshore the occupied territory since the time the company was privately owned. No information were given in the SEC filing that the Kosmos licence in fact does not lie offshore the Kingdom of Morocco, but offshore the territory of Western Sahara, which Morocco occupied in 1975. The oil company’s plans severely contribute to maintaining the brutal occupation of the territory, and are in violation of international law as described by the UN. Changes made last week on Kosmos’ webpages show that the block has changed in size. The area is now two-thirds of what it previously was. The new acreage of the Boujdour block, as reported on Kosmos Energy’s webpages today, is 29.741 sq.km (7.3 million acres). The previous size was 43,988 sq.km (10.87 million acres). A prospectus from 12 May 2011 puts the size at 10.89 million acres. As seen on map to the right, the block was even bigger back in 2006, constituting an area of 110,400 sq.km (27.2 million acres). Also the name of the licence area was changed on the webpages from “Boujdour Offshore Block” to “Cap Boujdour Block”. The firm furthermore amended the name of the operator from “Kosmos Energy Offshore Morocco” to “Kosmos Energy”. See the webpage change below. The reduction of the licence area had already been anticipated by Kosmos. In May 2011, two months before the new agreement was signed, Kosmos wrote: “Regarding our license in Morocco, under the petroleum agreement covering the Boujdour Offshore Block (the ‘‘Boujdour Offshore Petroleum Agreement’’), the most recent exploration phase expired on February 26, 2011, however, we entered a memorandum of understanding with ONHYM to enter a new petroleum agreement covering the highest potential areas of this block under essentially the same terms as the original license. Accordingly, the acreage covered by any new petroleum agreement will be less than the acreage covered by the original Boujdour Offshore Petroleum Agreement”. …and… “We have not yet made a decision as to whether or not to drill our Moroccan prospects. We have entered a memorandum of understanding with ONHYM to enter a new license covering the highest potential areas of this block under essentially the same terms as the original license. If we decide to continue into the drilling phase of such license, we anticipate that the first well to drill within the Boujdour Offshore Block will be post 2012.” The reduction of the licence area can be clearly seen from the two maps above. Kosmos Energy webpages as of 3 August .....and 19 August 2011

Split EU Council decides to renew EU-Morocco fish pact - wsrw.org

Despite an unseen division on the issue, a slim majority in the Council assured the one-year prolongation of the controversial EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, the UK, Cyprus and Austria could not agree to the proposal.

Published: 30.06 - 2011 12:15Printer version

29 June 2010 Fishelsewhere After continuous delays due to concerns on the agreement’s impact on occupied Western Sahara, the final decision to adopt the one-year extension of the EU’s most criticised fisheries agreement was made today by the Member States' ambassadors. In a surprising last minute turn-around, and in spite of previous reservations, Germany decided to agree to the proposal – tipping the final turn-out in favour of the French-Spanish advocated prolongation. Rationalising their stance, Germany claims that Morocco has sufficiently proven that the local population of Western Sahara benefits from the agreement. 7 other EU Member States were less convinced of the Moroccan reports. Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands voted against, while the UK, Austria, Finland and Cyprus abstained. Their position is backed-up by a legal opinion issued by the European Parliament in 2009, stating that the EU-Morocco fish deal was in violation of international law for failing to take into account the wishes and interests of the Saharawi people. The provisional agreement suits the interests of Spain, which holds no less than 100 out of the 119 fishing licences available under the FPA. The former colonial power of Western Sahara was eager to underscore that the agreement is not just important in terms of fishing opportunities, but also has a political importance, referring to Morocco’s ongoing cosmetic constitutional reforms. As far as WSRW understands, some other countries, which ended up supporting the extension, did issue statements that their endorsement is conditional upon the Commission providing “concrete” information on the impact of the investments made through the agreement. Today's decision will be formally adopted by the European Council of Ministers in the coming weeks. The provisional protocol now has to pass through the European Parliament, which is not expected to express its opinion before October.

Norway: "Saharawi's wishes must be respected" - wsrw.org

Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs underlines that the wishes of the Sahrawis must be taken into account upon undertaking business in the territory of Western Sahara.

Published: 02.07 - 2011 13:30Printer version

In a statement given by the Deputy Minister mid June, it was clarified that whenever the Norwegian government refers to "the local population" in Western Sahara "we of course refer to the Sahrawi people”. The debate has now continued between Liberal parliamentarian Trine Skei Grande, and the the Norwegian minister for foreign affairs. Unofficial translation to English below made by the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara. Read original debate (in Norwegian). Question by Member of Parliament Trine Skei Grande (Liberal Party) to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 21 June 2011. "Can the Minister of Foreign Affairs confirm that the Government considers Western Sahara to be under Moroccan annexation, that this annexation is not recognised and thus is considered illegitimate by the Government, and can the Minister guarantee that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will now actively advise against Norwegian commercial activities in connection with Western Sahara?" Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre’s answer, 27 June 2011: "The Government’s Western Sahara policy remains unchanged. Norway supports the UN’s efforts to achieve a political solution that entails self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, and we urge the parties to enter into direct negotiations without preconditions. Since Morocco does not exercise internationally recognised sovereignty over Western Sahara, Norway has never considered Western Sahara a part of Morocco’s territory. In the UN, the territory has status as non-self-governing, and, like most other countries, Norway does not recognise Morocco’s declaration that Western Sahara is a part of the Moroccan state. This entails consequently that Norway does not recognise Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara and that we consider it illegitimate. This policy has remained constant during all Norwegian governments since the conflict arose in the 1970s. As I have also previously clarified for the Parliament, this entails among other things that the free trade agreement between EFTA and Morocco is not in force for Western Sahara (parliamentary question by Member of Parliament Dagfinn Høybråten (Christian Democratic Party) about EFTA’s free trade agreements with Morocco and Israel, respectively, on 11 May 2010). Western Sahara’s unresolved status entails further that exploitation of resources in the area must, according to international law, be carried out in accordance with the wishes and interests of the local population. This, together with the consideration of avoiding behaviour that might be cited in support of a particular outcome of the UN’s negotiation process or be perceived as a legitimisation of the situation in Western Sahara, forms the basis for the Government’s dissuasion against commercial activity in Western Sahara. I do not share the opinion that the the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is supposed to have expressed to the business community another attitude than that of the members of the Government in this matter. As I emphasised in my answer in the Parliament to the interpellation by MP Trine Skei Grande in May of 2010, the Government’s attitude to commercial activities in Western Sahara is clear and well known: the question has been commented on in the media frequently during recent years. The dissuasion has since 2007 been available at the Government’s web site. All business people are welcome to seek advise from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or to the embassy in Rabat if they have questions about activities in the area, and many companies get in touch every year for such purposes. The White Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility, in which the Government’s dissuasion against economic activity in Western Sahara is explicitly mentioned, is also available on the Internet. The dissuasion is furthermore constantly passed on in connection with contact between Norwegian and Moroccan authorities with regard to business activities – the last time was in Morocco in June of 2011. The Government will continue to actively inform about dissuasion in the same manner as earlier. " By : Western Sahara Resource Watch

Afrah Nasser: Arab Spring started from Western Sahara

Afrah Nasser: Arab Spring started from Western Sahara

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2011

Arab Spring started from Western Sahara

Being an activist means shedding lights on key global issues; in the hope to bring change for a better tomorrow for coming generations. In the midst of the Arab Spring; there is little attention paid to a revolution against a colony that has been happening for couple years and no one seems to care enough about that. As an activist; I couldn't help it but blog about this now.



Western Sahara cause, the forgotten conflict has been struggling for many decades for its independence. Western Sahara is a nation with undoubted claims to independence, yet still exists under the yoke of neighboring nations. Western Sahara is a territory of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and has been on the UN List of Non-Self-Governing-Territories since the 1960s when it was a Spanish colony.



I was blessed to meet up in Stockholm with Senia Bachir Abderahman, 21 years old, from Western Sahara and BA holder in Biology Study. With her passionate voice, I saw how she was a great advocate on her nation’s struggle. We meet for couple hours and talked about Western Sahara (the interview is on audio below and my apologies for the law quality of the sound). I was saddened by the little media coverage given to this nation. “We have been protesting in Western Sahara since last November and we had little media coverage comparing to the Arab Spring,” she told me. Her claims were confirmed by Pro. Noam Chomsky, the American philosopher and activist. (Watch the video below)



I dream of a world where we have an absolute democracy but I find hard time to think that my dream would come true one day. I hope I’d still be alive to see my dream comes true.





Interview with Senia from Western Sahara









Chomsky talks about Western Sahara







Couple videos from Western Sahara's Uprising for Independence: