Why Western Sahara Could Be The New Darfur, and Why The Hell Isn't Anyone Talking About It?

There is disturbing news out of Western Sahara today, according to an AP report:


"RABAT, Morocco (AP) - A human rights activist says Moroccan soldiers and police are patrolling the streets of the main city in the Western Sahara after unrest that officials said left seven people dead.


Galia Djimi tells The Associated Press the city is largely calm after riots Monday triggered by a police raid to dismantle a huge tent camp set up by local Saharawis pressing for better living conditions in the vast desert territory claimed by Morocco.


Djimi told AP most Saharawis were staying in their homes Tuesday because of the heavy military and police presence in the capital, Laayoune.


Morocco's official news agency MAP says five members of the Moroccan security forces were killed Monday. The pro-independence Polisario Front says two demonstrators died in Laayoune"


 It seems as though the Moroccan government and army wishes to expand their influence in Western Sahara, a desert area unofficially under their purview. Unfortunately for the native Saharawis who have lived in the deserts for generations, the Moroccans want them gone.

Reports claim that Moroccan authorities have imposed a media blackout in the region, and have quietly shooed away inquisitive reporters and NGOs. Only the Spanish media has covered the establishment of the Saharawi "protest" camp, the subsequent raid of the camp by Moroccan police, and the pro-Saharawi riot that has broken out in the nearby town of Al Aaiun.


By and large, the world seems to be ignoring this issue, just like it sat on its hands during the Rwandan Genocide. I am not by any means claiming the actions by the Moroccans are on par with the crime of the Akazu (yet), but driving indigenous people away from their homes to move others in their place certainly sounds like a crime against humanity to me. I wonder how you say "Lebensraum" in Arabic?


Unfortunately, you and I know these things have happened before, are happening now, and will happen forever. What I'm most upset about is the fact that the media, supposedly the protectors of the oppressed and the defenders of truth, sit largely mute on this issue. I find the contrast between the clandestine journalists of Rimjingang, bravely risking their lives to let the world know what's going on in their little corner of "paradise," and the silence of the mainstream media on this potential genocide in the desert.


Someone e-mail this blog to George Clooney. Maybe he will take care of this one, too.


-Justin