[West-Sahara] COP22 in Marokko, Powering the Plunder

fwillems op antenna.nl fwillems op antenna.nl
Di Nov 1 14:53:56 CET 2016


Binnenkort gaat in Marrakech, Marokko, de COP22 klimaatconferentie van
start. Marokko gebruikt deze gelegenheid om zich te presenteren als een
modern en vooruitstrevend land en om de bezetting van West-Sahara te
normaliseren.

Het Marokkaanse bewind geeft inderdaad veel ruimte aan wind en
zonne-energie. Helaas doet Marokko dat ook in het illegaal bezette
West-Sahara.

West-Sahara staat nog op de lijst van nog te de-koloniseren gebieden van
de Verenigde Naties. In het gebied is formeel een VN vredesmissie
aanwezig. Het is verdeeld in een door Marokko bezet, en een
door Saharanen bevrijd gebied. Daartussen ligt een militaire
verdedigingsmuur van 2700 kilometer omzoomd met miljoenen landmijnen.
Marokko exploiteert de natuurlijke rijkdommen van West-Sahara maar dat
is illegaal.

De Western Sahara Resource Watch heeft rapporten opgesteld over de
bedrijven die daarbij betrokken zijn. Het nieuwste rapport is “Powering
the Plunder – what Morocco and Siemens are hiding at COP22, Marrakech”.
Het gaat in op de energievoorziening van de plundering van met name de
fosfaat industrie.

In de ochtend van 2 november zal het Engelstalige rapport worden
rondgestuurd naar ngo's en journalisten.

Hierbij alvast een samenvatting.

An increasing part of the renewable energy programmes that Morocco is
promoting – even on the official COP22 website – are not taking place in
Morocco at all, but in Western Sahara, which it illegally and brutally
occupies.
Both the Moroccan government and a handful of renewable energy companies
will actively market their efforts for the development of green energy
solutions during the COP22 climate talks in Marrakech, 7-18 November 2016.
22 newly built mills by the German company Siemens supply 95% of the
energy required for the highly controversial plunder of non-renewable
minerals from Western Sahara. The green energy production is making
Morocco’s plunder of the territory even more lucrative.

Siemens and the Italian company Enel are those most heavily involved.
They win Moroccan tenders in Western Sahara by partnering with the
energy company owned by the king of Morocco. When the Moroccan royal
palace – which regulates the energy market – receives large energy
contracts in the territory, it comes at a high price for the UN peace
process in Western Sahara. By exporting the energy to Morocco proper,
the country and the royal family anchors its connection to the
territory. Would the king be interested in a process of
self-determination and decolonisation in Western Sahara when he,
himself, is benefiting from the Moroccan army’s illegal presence there?

The legal owner of the land, the Saharawi people, have never consented
to the Moroccan projects. Half of the territory’s original population
has fled the country since Morocco invaded it in 1975. Leading opponents
of socio-economic marginalisation of the Saharawis are serving life
sentences in Moroccan jails.

This report details how Morocco plans to build over 1000 MW (megawatts)
of renewable energy plants in Western Sahara. As of today, the
controversial energy production from solar and wind sources in Western
Sahara constitutes at most 7 percent of Morocco’s total energy
production from such sources. By 2020, the amount could be increased to
an astonishing 26.4 percent.
Western Sahara Resource Watch demands the involved companies to
terminate such infrastructure projects in Western Sahara with the
Moroccan government, in order to not lay obstacles to the UN peace process.





Meer informatie over de West-Sahara maillijst