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Article: Stones in a minefield: refugees' rising frustration at UN impotence.(WESTERN SAHARA)
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- December 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On 23 August this year, nearly 1,000 young Saharawi refugees gather for their annual protest at the Berm, a 2,500-kilometre fortified wall guarded by 130,000 Moroccan soldiers. Approaching the Berm, the young people walk around landmines and begin to throw rocks at Moroccan soldiers who in turn brandish their weapons, threatening to shoot. Some demonstrators expose their chests and call upon the soldiers to fire.
The repression of Saharawi protesters by Moroccan authorities in occupied Western Sahara in 2005 launched an intifada that is now being felt in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria. Demonstrations on the other side of the Berm calling for an end to human ...