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Western Sahara

May 2024

  • Performers and traditional activities ongoing in the traditional tents Ausserd Refugee camp , Algeria, set up for the FiSahara film festival, held 29 April-5 May 2024. Approximately 170,00 live in the 5 Sahrawi refugee camps located in Algeria’s Hamada desert, each named after a major town in Western Sahara, The camps were begun in 1975 to offer shelter from the war of independence against Morocco . They continue to grow in people fleeing the war , reignited when Morocco broke the ceasefire in 2020 .

    The art of resistance: desert film festival showcases stories of the Sahrawi people

    Exiled from their home since it was occupied by Morocco in the mid-70s, nearly 200,000 Sahrawis live in camps in Algeria. Now in its 18th year, the FiSahara festival is a window to the world

March 2024

  • A performance by El Wali in Laayoune refugee camp in 2023.

    ‘This music survived in a network of phones’: El Wali, the shapeshifting voice of Saharan struggle

    Since the 1970s this band in Western Sahara, made up of Sahrawis who oppose Moroccan rule, have made spellbinding music – and a long-awaited new collection of music is being prepared

June 2023

  • A Spanish maritime rescue boat brings 51 people rescued from a boat at sea ashore at Lanzarote

    Spanish investigation launched into fatal boat rescue delay

    Spanish and Moroccan authorities blamed for 12-hour delay after up to 60 people seen stranded en route to Canary Islands

May 2023

  • Kamal Fadel, a representative of West Sahara’s Polisario Front, was invited to the event by South African officials.

    Moroccan officials accused of intimidation after fracas at African unity event in Canberra

    Kamal Fadel, a representative of the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara, was initially blocked from entering venue by Moroccan embassy staff

December 2022

  • France's foreign minister Catherine Colonna in Rabat with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita

    France and Morocco resolve visa tensions after World Cup clash

    French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said the countries had returned to ‘full consular cooperation’ on visit to Rabat

May 2021

  • Migrant boy swims to beach in Spain's Ceuta with plastic bottles to stay afloat – video

  • Young people are returned to the Moroccan side of the border with Spain

    Spain accuses Morocco of ‘show of disrespect’ for EU in migrant row

April 2021

  • A march on human rights day in Manila, Philippines

    Rights and freedom
    Hidden human rights crises threaten post-Covid global security – Amnesty

    ‘Crises will multiply’ if escalating repression by governments under pretext of pandemic ignored, says secretary general

January 2021

  • A seagull flies past a worker and a fishing vessel docked in the main port in Dakhla city, Western Sahara

    From the agencies
    Western Sahara's diplomatic opening – in pictures

    US plans to open a consulate in Western Sahara marks a turning point for the disputed territory. US recognition of Morocco’s authority over the land frustrates indigenous Sahrawis seeking independence but others see the future US consulate as a boost for Western Sahara cities like Dakhla

December 2020

  • Simon Tisdall

    Trump's flurry of dodgy deals will not bring the Middle East any peace

    Simon Tisdall
    The outgoing US president has his eyes on a Saudi Arabia-Israel accord – no matter who gets hurt

September 2019

  • Tecber Ahmed Saleh

    Foreign interference fears after Sydney University cancels Western Sahara speaker

    Human rights advocates warn of ‘dangerous precedent’ as sold-out event featuring Tecber Ahmed Saleh cancelled after Moroccan embassy expresses concern

September 2018

  • Soldiers from the Moroccan army stand behind a fortified earthwork on the Berm.

    Build a wall across the Sahara? That's crazy – but someone still did it

    Since Morocco invaded Western Sahara it has built a 1,700-mile desert barrier keeping Sahrawis out of the resource-rich west

July 2018

  • Biogeochemistry lab manager Janet Hope from the ANU research school of earth sciences holds a vial of coloured porphyrins (pink coloured liquid), believed to be some of the oldest pigments in the world.

    Scientists discover world's oldest colour – bright pink

    Pigments found in 1.1bn-year-old rocks beneath the Sahara desert shed light on ‘major puzzle’ about early life

July 2017

  • Tauro Beach, Gran Canaria

    Trouble in paradise: the Canary Island beach accused of illegally importing sand

    Investigation launched into allegations that sand in Gran Canaria resort was sourced from Africa’s last colony, in breach of international law

June 2017

  • Tateh Lehbib Braica – aka ‘the crazy bottle guy’ – has built circular houses that protect from wind and sun from waste plastic bottles.

    Bottling it
    The house that Tateh built ... out of sand-filled plastic bottles

    In the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert, Tateh Lehbib Braica – aka ‘the crazy bottle guy’ – has built circular houses from waste plastic that protect from wind and sun

January 2017

  • African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017. African Union leaders meet in Ethiopia on January 30 for a difficult summit likely to expose regional divisions as they debate whether to allow Morocco to rejoin the bloc, and vote for a new chairperson.

    Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years

    The country left the Union in 1984 after a row over the status of Western Sahara. Morocco’s readmission brings hope of peace-building over the territory

November 2016

  • Western Sahara Dakhla refugee camp

    Western Sahara: the last colony in Africa – video

    Women at the Dakhla refugee camp explain how they are using film activism to empower their community

June 2016

  • Mohamed Abdelaziz was co-founder of the Polisario Front, which fought Spain, Mauritania and then Morocco for independence for Western Sahara.

    Mohamed Abdelaziz obituary

    Charismatic leader of the bedouin Sahrawi people seeking independence for Western Sahara

May 2016

  • A picture shows the "bricks work" realized in Paraguay by architect Solano Benitez and presented on May 25, 2016 during the opening of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice. The Biennale, entitled "Reporting from the front", curated by Chilean Alejandro Aravena will be open to the public from May 28 through November 27, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / VINCENZO PINTOVINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images

    Alejandro Aravena's Venice ​architecture ​​biennale: 'We can’t forget beauty in our battles'

  • Western Sahara

    Insider's guides
    An insider's guide to El-Aaiún: camel convoys and revolutionary rappers

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