"The Saharawi people deserve better": Cairn begin drilling
Joanna Allan, an activist with WSC and WSRW, and John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want, write for Newsnet.scot about Scottish oil firm Cairn drilling in Western Sahara, amid repression of Saharawis who oppose the plunder of their natural resources.
“You mean you haven’t heard of the roast chicken?” asks Shaykh, a young Saharawi activist, whilst we discuss Moroccan repression tactics in the relative safety of a street side café.
Shaykh comes from Western Sahara, a country that has been illegally occupied by neighbouring Morocco for almost 40 years. It seems the Sunday dinner staple is a useful metaphor for the savage manner in which Saharawis are suspended from bars, limbs bound, and beaten in the pursuit of information.
The young Saharawi tells us he has experienced “the roast chicken” many a time, in retribution for protesting against foreign governments and corporations that plunder his country’s natural resources. The latest of said corporations is Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy, who began drilling off the shores of Western Sahara last month.
WESTERN SAHARA CAMPAIGN UK
The Western Sahara Campaign works in solidarity with the Saharawi people to generate political support in order to advance their right to self-determination and to promote their human rights.
Our role is to lobby the UK Government and the EU. You can help us to ensure the UK does not ignore the voice of the Saharawi people.
Follow the news about EU's illegal fisheries in Western Sahara
