Western Sahara: New Ryanair flights to resort with dark secrets
Ryanair has introduced new flights from mainland Europe to Western Sahara as Morocco tightens its grip on the occupied territory.
According to Air Service One, the first flight between Madrid and Dakhla in Western Sahara departed on January 8th, with trips to run biweekly.
The Dakhla peninsula, an established paradise for French tourists, boasts luxury resorts, seafood and surfing, but beyond the glitz and glamour lies the dark secret of state oppression, according to El Publico.
The surveillance, the disappearances of activists, beatings in police stations and the segregation of the Sahrawi population are kept quiet and out of sight.
While young Europeans romp about their holiday pen, in downtown Dakhla a young Sahrawi tells El Publico that his brother has been missing for two years and he assumes he is dead.
He said: “The dictatorship blamed him for having participated in a robbery in King Mohammed VI ‘s mansion because they found a marked bill, which is absurd. Here you are never arrested for being a Sahrawi activist, they look for another excuse.”
The young man showed EL Publico into his house, where owned a Sahrawi flag, the flying of which is prohibited by Moroccan authorities.
According to pro-Sahrawi Sahara Press Service, there are currently 46 Sahrawi political prisoners distributed across 11 Moroccan prisons, mostly in solitary confinement on minimal food.
A Sahrawi activist, who had arrived in Dakhla on the first flight from Madrid said: “The Moroccan regime intends to turn the occupied territory into a tourist apartheid. This situation, which we have witnessed with our own eyes, not only violates the human rights of the Sahrawi people, but also infringes the dictates of the United Nations.”
He was expelled along with the El Publico journalist on January 19th as reported by Maghrebi.org.
According to El Publico, the United Nations has said that any economic plans Morocco has in Western Sahara must involve the participation of the indigenous Sahrawi population and their legitimate representative – in this case the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Morocco it seems has given up on any public consultation and is barreling along with ambitious plans to overhaul Dakhla, and transform it into an African Benidorm.
Abdulah Arabi, representative of the Polisario Front in Spain, says: “We have been warning for several years about Morocco’s use of tourism as a tool to consolidate and legitimize the occupation of Western Sahara . It is a strategy that has been in place for about a decade, but whose execution has become more evident in recent years.”
It comes after Morocco announced a milestone project to build a power line between it and Mauritania through Western Sahara on January 23rd.
According to Maghrebi.org, the line will include internet and telephone networks operated by the Moroccan Telephone Group, adding to the existing road connections along their territory.
Staunchly pro-Moroccan Moroccan World News reported that Polisario leader Bachir Mustapha Sayed claimed that the new crossing would “turn Sahrawi borders into Moroccan borders” and “embroil Mauritania in a war between brothers.”
Air Service One, El Publico, Sahara Press Service, Maghrebi.org
