- A new campaign to protest oil and gas exploration onshore and offshore Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara was launched today, hoping to repeat the success of earlier campaigns against a seismic company. Again, shareholders of the companies involved in the controversial exploration are advised to divest.
Dutch and British companies involved in the geological exploration of the seabed of Western Sahara have become the target of an international campaign led by the Norwegian, Dutch and UK branches of what they call "an international coalition for the protection of the natural resources of Western Sahara."
The companies are accused by campaigners of being "complicit in the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco," they are requested to hand over collected data to the Polisario Front, and the shareholders of the companies are being urged to divest.
In spite of the special status of Western Sahara – a non-self governing territory occupied by Morocco since 1975 and awaiting decolonisation – the Dutch company FUGRO N.V. agreed to carry out seismic surveys on behalf of the US company Kerr-McGee, which won a license from Morocco in 2001.
Further, the British subsidiary of Fugro - Svitzer - has been carrying out the survey, while the Wales-based Robertson Research International has, according to their website, been carrying out a study in the occupied Western Sahara. The activists today sent protest letters to the companies.
– The companies have been advised that any current and future involvement in the exploration of hydrocarbons in Western Sahara is illegitimate, politically improper and ethically irresponsible, says Liesbeth den Haan from the Netherlands Foundation for the right to Self-Determination for the Sahrawi People. The Dutch group is one of ten currently participating in the campaign.
– We are disillusioned with the lack of transparency in the operations of these companies, and their unwillingness to disclose any specific information about their activities, says Ms den Haan. "We interpret their silence as a deliberate strategy to try and stall for time until their illegal activities have been completed," she adds.
The Advisory Boards of the involved companies have received a copy of the protest letter and were informed that the companies are seen as being "complicit in the illegal occupation of Western Sahara." Shareholders were advised to "take immediate action on these unethical activities."
The letter also cites the previous successes by the Norwegian Western Sahara Committee in putting an end to the operations of the Norwegian seismic survey company TGS-Nopec in Western Sahara. In particular the successful divestment campaign, causing a significant drop in TGS-Nopec's shares on the stock market, will interest the shareholders.
25 of the Norwegian company's shareholders at that time sold their shares as a consequence, among them the ethical fund administrator Banco, an investor in the ABN-AMRO group, the letter informs. "The company's two biggest shareholders, The Storebrand Group and The Norwegian government, put pressure on TGS-Nopec to change its policy. The two investors had a total stock value of approximately 20 million euros," the letter goes on.
- It was a result of the investors' involvement or divestment, that TGS-Nopec finally regretted their contract, and publicly renounced any more activities in the occupied territory, the letter says. "Today, TGS-Nopec has established a Code of Conduct to ensure that they do not make the same mistake again," it concludes.
The only response that the campaign group has received from Fugro so far - apart from an announcement that the survey from one of its subsidiaries is recently completed - is the assertion that no UN embargo is in place in Western Sahara.
– This is completely irrelevant, states Ms Den Haan. "We demand a guarantee from Fugro N.V. that no future exploration activities will be carried out in Western Sahara without the consent of the Saharawi people, and that the data collected will be handed over to their representatives; the Polisario Front," she adds.
The activists can also count on the support of the exiled Sahrawi government, composed of the Polisario. Earlier this month, the Polisario Foreign Minister protested strongly to Fugro, stating it was "disingenuous" for Fugro N.V. "to attempt to hide" its decision to operate in Western Sahara behind a commercial tendering process.
- You will be well aware that other seismic companies have withdrawn bids for this work once the gravity of the political situation became apparent, the Sahrawi Minister told the company. "Western Sahara is clearly a country in conflict, in which Fugro N.V. is now involved without authorisation from the legitimate administration," he added.
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