1.20.15 Western Sahara Home Rule

Philadelphia reporter and Temple University professor, Linn Washington Jr., reports that, “The Moroccan occupation of the Western Sahara is rife with human rights abuses condemned in reports by the Obama Administration and other monitoring organizations like Amnesty International.”

As in many places throughout the world, an ethnic minority, is struggling for freedom and national self-determination against a larger and more powerful ruling group. In this instance, the Sahrawi, are at odds with Morocco which has occupied their homeland, Western Sahara for two decades. The Sahrawi are penned in with a border wall that would make Texas proud. It is fortified with armed troops and landmines,

The international community, with the conspicuous exceptions of France and the United States, is calling for free and open elections so that Sahrawi can determine their own future.

Mr. Washington calls in with a firsthand account.