Dakhla (Refugee Camps), December 22, 2015 (SPS) Member of Sahrawi Board of Petroleum and Mining Kamal Fadel has welcomed the announcement of French oil company Totalto withdraw from the occupied Western Sahara and its decision not to renew license of oil exploration in the territory under UN responsibility pending the completion of its decolonization.
"This decision is positive and consistent with international law," said Kamal Fadel in a statement to SPS on the sidelines of the 14th Congress of the Polisario Front, held in Dakhla, the refugee camps.
Kamal Fadel called foreign oil companies activating in the occupied Western Sahara, through illegal agreements with the Moroccan regime, to follow the path of Total and retreat, considering their presence in the territory as violation of international law and an encouragement to the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco.
He also confirmed that the Sahrawi Republic will spare no effort in order to exercise pressure on other foreign companies, including resorting to legal means.
"Total has informed the Moroccan authorities that it would not seek a further extension to its authorization in the block of Bir Anzarane," a source told AFP Tuesday.
AFP noted that Total's decision comes less than two weeks after the annulment by the EU Court of Justice of the EU-Morocco trade agreement because it included the territory of Western Sahara.
In this context, the observatory of the natural resources of Western Sahara, Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), denounced the oil exploration by foreign companies in the Saharawi territorial waters, calling for "the immediate cessation" of the oil exploration operations by foreign companies, including the American company "Kosmos Energy".
The president of the observatory, Erik Hagen, affirmed that foreign companies "have no right to explore resources in the Sahrawi regions, without the consent of the Saharawi people who rejects these operations."
Erik Hagen stated the explorations carried out by American company Kosmos Energy "hinder peace efforts led by the UN in Western Sahara".
"The exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara, not taking into account the interests of the Saharan people is a violation of the principles of international law", the former legal counsel of the United Nations, Hans Corell, in an article published on the website of the International Judicial Monitor. (SPS)
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