Dubai (United Arab Emirates), January 8, 2015 (SPS) - Morocco has broken international law by signing an agreement with US-based Kosmos Energy to permit drilling in the Western Sahara, says Hans Corell, a former under-secretary-general for legal affairs and legal counsel of the UN, reported the Middle East Economic Digest magazine (MEED), in its edition on January 8.
“Morocco is breaking international law … signing an agreement of this nature is in violation of international law,” the former head of the UN Secretariat Office of Legal Affairs told MEED. “I am looking to the Security Council and the responsibility that the council has under the UN Charter.”
According to Corell, Morocco has violated the principles of international law applicable to mineral resource activities in ‘non-self-governing territories’, the term used by the UN for countries that are yet to complete the decolonisation process.
Kosmos Energy started drilling in the offshore Cap Boujdour region of the disputed territory on 19 December using the $100m drill ship the Atwood Achiever, it should be recalled. (SPS)
062/090