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the (486), and (202), sahara (159), western (147), morocco (91), for (76), that (65), this (63), polisario (53), #minurso (50), moroccan (45), has (41), from (39), with (37), its (37), are (34), berm (33), propaganda (33), conflict (32), ceasefire (32), sahrawi (31), which (31), not (29), about (26), been (26), have (24), you (24), libya (23), some (21), military (21), algeria (20), website (19), their (19), camps (19), politics (18), can (17), all (17), territory (17), buffer (17), areas (17), map (16), information (16), support (16), under (16), occupation (16), nick (15), brooks (15), they (15), world (15), these (15), peacekeeping (15), agreement (15), strip (15), november (14), there (14), will (14), see (14), here (14), text (14), ntc (13), also (13), were (13), was (13), one (12), qadhdhafi (12), between (12), side (12), now (11), blog (11), 2008 (11), 2011 (11), partition (11), news (11), two (11), posted (11), into (11), other (11), south (11), 1991 (11), people (11), war 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ara general western sahara minurso western sahara politics tagged ceasfire military agreement minurso missing information morocco polisario unlb western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks hostage taking and propaganda november 17 2011 i ve been hoping to write a post about the kidnapping of 3 foreigners from the reception centre at rabuni in the sahrawi refugee camps where i ve spent many happy days on the way to and from the free zone for fieldwork however time is short thankfully malainin lakhal has written about it here in pambazuka this story has been squeezed dry for its propaganda value by morocco and its apologists and it s fair to say that only party to benefit from this sorry affair is morocco this in itself raises some questions about who is behind it it doesn t take a genius or a conspiracy theorist to conclude that rabat and its allies may have had a hand in the kidnappings although the whole affair remains very murky http pambazuka org en category features 77846 leave a comment western sahara general western sahara politics tagged al qa eda kidnappings morocco pambazuka polisario rabuni terrorism western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks areas defined under the un ceasefire in western sahara november 11 2011 following on from my last 2 posts here are a couple of images that schematically illustrate the division of western sahara into different areas under the un ceasefire agreement of 1991 as enshrined in military agreement 1 i think i downloaded them from the minurso website some time ago although did not note the precise origin presumably as i had no reason to believe that minurso would decide to remove this vital and basic information 1 comment western sahara berm partition western sahara conflict western sahara minurso western sahara politics tagged buffer strip map military agreement 1 minurso morocco peacekeeping polisario restrictions schematic un western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks text of military agreement 1 november 8 2011 in my last post i urged people to contact minurso and un peacekeeping to ask why vital information on the terms of the ceasefire in western sahara has been removed from the minurso website and request that this information be reinstated here is the text in question from military agreement ma 1 copied from the minurso website in october 2008 from this address which is now defunct http www minurso unlb org monitoring html ma 1 divides the disputed territory of western sahara into five parts one 5 km wide buffer strip bs to the south and east side of the berm two 30 km wide restricted areas ra along the berm the buffer strip is included in the restricted area on the polisario side and the berm is included in the restricted area on the rma side two areas with limited restrictions alr which are the two remaining vast stretches of land of western sahara on both sides respectively i quoted this text in a briefing note i prepared on the partition of western sahara also in october 2008 for a graphical representation of ma 1 click here for map a4 010 showing the ceasefire on the ground see below or click here for a jpeg version i ve posted all this before and will keep reposting it until minurso reinstates the relevant ceasefire information on its website and morocco s propagandists stop their attempts to mislead the world into believing that morocco controls all of western sahara and that the polisario controlled areas are in fact an empty buffer strip set up by the un for morocco s protection the buffer zone is just 5km wide on one side of the berm and there is parity between the moroccan and polisario controlled zones on either side of the berm in ma 1 morocco is misrepresenting the situation on the ground in order to persuade the world that its autonomy plan for western sahara is viable it is not as it does not address the issue of partition or of the sahrawi refugees in algeria the information presented here downloaded from earlier versions of the minurso website clearly contradicts morocco s representation of the situation rabat is desperate to obscure the situation on the ground and it seems likely that this is why minurso removed the information relating to the terms of the ceasefire as a result of pressure from morocco and its allies france and the united states which are pushing for a normalisation of morocco s occupation of western sahara if this is not the case all parties should be happy to see this information reinstated that would be sufficient rebuttal division of western sahara under the terms of the 1991 ceasefire agreement map from minurso leave a comment western sahara berm partition western sahara conflict western sahara minurso western sahara politics tagged 010 1 a4 area autonomy autonomy plan berm ceasefire information ma map military agreement minurso misrepresentation morocco no 1 peacekeeping propaganda removal restrictions un website western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks show me the text of military agreement 1 november 1 2011 put pressure on un peackeeping and minurso the un peacekeeping force in western sahara to reinstate the text of military agreeement 1 and map no a4 010 on the minurso website this text and map clearly contradict moroccan claims that it controls all of western sahara and that the polisario independence movement has no presence there see this earlier post for a discussion this schematic representation of the ceasefire terms and below or here for a relevant map the absence of this information removed by minurso sometime over the past year or so plays into the hands of morocco s propagandists minurso has not responded to repeated requests for clarification on this matter maybe they will take it more seriously if more people contact them please write to un peacekeeping operations and minurso asking why ma 1 and map no a4 010 have been removed from the minurso website and requesting that they be reinstated you can contact un peacekeeping operations at http www un org en peacekeeping about contact asp and you can email minurso at minursoinformationofficer un org update some email has bounced back from this address so make sure you also contact peacekeeping via the web form in the above link suggested text is below or write you own suggested text dear sir or madam i am trying to find official copies of military agreement ma 1 and map no a4 010 relating to the 1991 ceasefire agreement between the moroccan armed forces and the frente polisario in western sahara these were available via the minurso local website prior to 2010 however since the website has been redesigned these materials have not been available on the minurso site and do not appear to be available on any other un websites could you please point me to a publicly available official un source of this text i would also be very grateful for any information as to why this text has been removed from the minurso website and request that these documents be reinstated yours faithfully background in 1975 morocco invaded western sahara in 1991 the un brokered a ceasefire between the moroccan armed forces and the polisario independence movement the united nations mission for the referendum in western sahara minurso was established to organise a referendum on self determination for this disputed non self governing territory and to monitory the ceasefire the terms of the ceasefire were set out in military agreement ma 1 and map no a4 010 see image here which describe the zones defined under the ceasefire as follows one 5 kilometres 3 mi wide buffer strip bs to the south and east side of the berm the 1500 km wall built by morocco to secure the areas it has occupied in the north and west of western sahara two 30 kilometres 19 mi wide restricted areas ra along the berm the buffer strip is included in the restricted area on the polisario side and the berm is included in the restricted area on the rma side two areas with limited restrictions alr which are the two remaining vast stretches of land of western sahara on both sides respectively the text of ma 1 is embarrassing to morocco which repeatedly claims to control all of western sahara the reality of partition means that morocco s plan for limited autonomy for the territory is unworkable the autonomy plan ignores the fact that this solution can only apply to the areas of western sahara under moroccan control and not to the entire territory it also ignores the plight of some 165 000 sahrawi refugees displaced by the conflict moroccan propagandists claim that the areas to the south and east of the berm are a buffer strip set up by the un from which the polisario is barred in fact these are made up of the restricted area and the area of limited restrictions which are equivalent to the areas on the moroccan controlled side of the berm sometime in 2010 the text of ma 1 and map no a4 010 were removed from the minurso website an action that is beneficial to morocco and prejudicial to the peace process a peacekeeping force mandated to monitor a ceasefire should be transparent with respect to its mandate and objectives minurso is not and the removal of this vital information could be interpreted as an action designed to favour morocco in its propaganda campaign minurso have ignored repeated enquiries regarding this matter 2 comments western sahara berm partition western sahara conflict western sahara minurso western sahara politics tagged berm buffer strip buffer zone ceasefire map military agreement minurso morocco peacekeeping polisario terms un western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks better to be talked about october 31 2011 as regular readers of this blog will have noticed my posts come in fits and bursts by my own admittedly quite slack standards i ve been pretty active lately with four articles in just over a month usually when i m this active there is a rapid response in the comments spaces from a small cabal representing the official moroccan position on the western sahara conflict enthusiastically pushing pro rabat and anti polisario anti sahrawi propaganda the cheerleader of this little group is someone who goes by the monicker of ahmed salem amr khadad see here for a discussion of his approach and a for number of his comments ahmed salem has been the most prolific commenter on my blog posts and he can be found in many other corners of the internet pouring scorn and vitriol on anyone critical of morocco and its occupation of the disputed non self governing territory of western sahara which both morocco and the polisario claim lately i ve been wondering where ahmed salem has got to as this blog has been somewhat lacking in comments in recent months however thanks to will sommer of the currently and sadly dormant one hump or two western sahara blog the mystery of ahmed salem s silence and apparent lack if interest in attacking my material has now been solved it turns out that he s not been ignoring me after all far from it instead he s been putting his not inconsiderable talents and i m not being entirely facetious there to use setting up the following facebook page of which he appears to be the administrator against the propaganda of nick brooks for the account of algeria so if you want to know what nefarious activities i ve been up to sitting in my secret eyrie stroking my diamond collared fluffy white cat while counting my millions in algerian blood money you now have a one stop shop where you can learn the truth of my evil plans join it and have some fun i ve asked to join myself and am waiting with baited breath to see if ahmed salem will let me in i can t wait to see what he cooks up if the other moroccan propaganda sites purporting to reveal the truth about their enemies are anything to go by there should be some real peaches in the pipeline 1 as will said you know you ve made it when you have a facebook page devoted to opposing you congrats a little generous perhaps but i have to say i am flattered all fun aside i m guessing the moroccans wouldn t bother with this sort of thing unless they were at least worried about this blog having some impact while i have no hard evidence i suspect that ahmed salem is more than just an enthusiastic moroccan nationalist doing this in his own time morocco takes its propaganda very seriously indeed and invests a lot of effort in it so until i have evidence to the contrary i m going to take this as an official state sponsored propaganda undertaking aimed purely at attacking me as an individual because of my support for the sahrawi cause and my opposition to morocco s occupation of western sahara and its supporting propaganda campaign it gives me quite a nice warm glow to know that i m having such an impact as that great statesman terrible old colonialist and sometime genocidal racist churchill is reported to have said you have enemies good that means you ve stood up for something sometime in your life or maybe i ll just go with the less objectionable and almost as amusing oscar wilde with it is better to be talked about than no all quotes are unverified and may be apocryphal update ahmed salem amr khaddad has declined my request to join the group unless i put some pro moroccan links on my blog this sounds a little like attempted blackmail to me you don t like what someone is saying so you set up a forum in which to attack them and then say you will only give them a right of reply if they promote your views i think this tells you all you need to know about the moroccan approach to debate and criticism 1 see for example polisario confidential and polisario think twice for moroccan propaganda sites attacking the polisario who knows maybe there is some real dirt to be found there but here it s lost in a far dirtier mire of fabrication sahara developpement and corcas for sites extolling the virtues of the moroccan occupation here rebranded as decolonisation and morocco board and the moroccan american center for policy for the muscular promotion of moroccan views in general including propaganda on the western sahara conflict for other views that don t push the propaganda line of an aggressive expansionist country illegally occupying and partitioning one of its neighbours look to any of the western sahara blogs and news links to the right 6 comments western sahara conflict western sahara politics western sahara propaganda tagged against the propaganda of nick brooks ahmed salem algeria amr khadad facebook morocco nick brooks polisario propaganda sahara sahrawi western sahara permalink posted by nick brooks the colonel is dead long live the king october 21 2011 the dark hypocrisy that lurks at the heart of the libyan revolution so colonel muammar qadhdhafi crafty tyrant political funster and would be leader of africa is dead and libya is entering a new era of hope hope that its people will live in a more open society in which they are free to determine their individual and collective fates to talk about politics to disagree with each other and with the government to challen...