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RSF calls on Morocco to end reporting restrictions in Western Sahara

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Paris, Nov. 5, 2016 (SPS) - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday called on the Moroccan authorities to end all restrictions on reporting freedom in Western Sahara, under Moroccan occupation, and "stop violating the rights of Sahrawi and foreign journalists to cover developments in the territory.
"By detaining reporters during demonstrations, putting Sahrawi citizen journalists on trial and deporting foreign journalists, the Moroccan authorities make life impossible for media personnel and maintain an arbitrary control over reporting in this territory," RSF said in a statement.
Morocco currently controls more than 80% of Western Sahara, which is considered by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory, said RSF.
The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which "is supposed one day to organize a referendum in which the territory's inhabitants would determine its future status," is also monitoring the 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, added the RSF statement. (SPS)
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