by Gaici Nah / Translation Tim Kustusch
On April 4, 2007, a 10-year-old girl named Irma Janeth was severely injured after tragically stepping on an anti-personnel landmine in the Quebardona region of Colombia. Each year, this date marks the observance of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
This initiative inspired the UN General Assembly to condemn the use of these often unperceivable weapons and raise awareness of the growing threat that they pose to human beings.
It would be ideal if this decision – which represents a considerable achievement for humankind – were to be implemented equally around the world. Since the beginning of the war against the Saharawi people, the Moroccan army undertook a massive, systematic mining of the territory of the former Spanish colony. In just a few short years, the Western Sahara was transformed into one of the world’s most contaminated territories, with mines and other unexploded ordinances.
The double standard with which the international community treats the Sahara and its people is manifested not only in political issues, but also in humanitarian concerns, such as landmines and their grave consequences. Indeed, on February 2, 2011, a 4-year-old Saharawi girl named Muna Elhafed – who, for a lack of parks for children, was walking around in her native region of Bir Lehlu – picked up a French-made M-42 cluster bomb and threw it to the ground, ending in a painful tragedy. Rather than being condemned or discussed in the UN General Assembly, as was the case of the Colombian girl Irma, no international media outlet so much as mentioned this terrible accident. The indiscriminate nature of landmines and the double standards of the international community prey on the innocent.
There is no doubt that the Moroccan army is the primary guilty party for the contamination of the Sahara, but there are also accomplices – in fact, some of the countries that are currently undertaking the attacks on Libya are providers of the millions of mines that make the Western Sahara a dangerous tinderbox. These mines continue to maim and kill Saharawis every day, as do explosive remains of war (ERWs) and unexploded ordinances (UXOs). The wall of shame, which was built by Morocco in the early 1980s and splits the territory in two to this day, harbors millions of these weapons.
This criminal assistance and the double standard of the international community only encourage the government of Morocco to continue refusing to join the prohibition of anti-personnel landmines and cluster bombs. It is not surprising that someone once concluded that war is the continuation of politics by more violent means. Landmines represent the continuation of war, but in an even more cruel and shameful manner. Why then, do other countries not intervene to protect Saharawi civilians? The Saharawis face daily these terrible remains of war, yet no European country denounces the precarious landmine situation in the Western Sahara. These biased policies deepen the pain of landmine victims and lengthen the suffering of a people.
To give an example, would it not be more practical and less costly to – in defense of human rights – persuade Morocco to destroy the anti-personnel landmines and prohibit their use, rather than to mobilize an arsenal of aircraft carriers, fighters, warships, and bombers to undertake a questionable war “on behalf of human rights” in Libya?
It is for these supposed reasons that Spanish President Zapatero has joined the coalition for a war in Libya. The same Zapatero defended the Spanish position regarding the incidents at Gdeim Izik last November, citing overlapping interests. Unfortunately, the human rights interests of Spain and France are not on the same scale in Libya and in Morocco or the Western Sahara.
And why did France veto the supervision of human rights in the Western Sahara in April of 2010? If these utopian rights do not become universal, they will remain a mere instrument of interest or payoff. It is too soon after the start of the war in Libya for France to forget the very reasons for which that war was begun!
In the next Security Council meeting in April, France and the international community will essentially square off against themselves.
This initiative inspired the UN General Assembly to condemn the use of these often unperceivable weapons and raise awareness of the growing threat that they pose to human beings.
It would be ideal if this decision – which represents a considerable achievement for humankind – were to be implemented equally around the world. Since the beginning of the war against the Saharawi people, the Moroccan army undertook a massive, systematic mining of the territory of the former Spanish colony. In just a few short years, the Western Sahara was transformed into one of the world’s most contaminated territories, with mines and other unexploded ordinances.
The double standard with which the international community treats the Sahara and its people is manifested not only in political issues, but also in humanitarian concerns, such as landmines and their grave consequences. Indeed, on February 2, 2011, a 4-year-old Saharawi girl named Muna Elhafed – who, for a lack of parks for children, was walking around in her native region of Bir Lehlu – picked up a French-made M-42 cluster bomb and threw it to the ground, ending in a painful tragedy. Rather than being condemned or discussed in the UN General Assembly, as was the case of the Colombian girl Irma, no international media outlet so much as mentioned this terrible accident. The indiscriminate nature of landmines and the double standards of the international community prey on the innocent.
There is no doubt that the Moroccan army is the primary guilty party for the contamination of the Sahara, but there are also accomplices – in fact, some of the countries that are currently undertaking the attacks on Libya are providers of the millions of mines that make the Western Sahara a dangerous tinderbox. These mines continue to maim and kill Saharawis every day, as do explosive remains of war (ERWs) and unexploded ordinances (UXOs). The wall of shame, which was built by Morocco in the early 1980s and splits the territory in two to this day, harbors millions of these weapons.
This criminal assistance and the double standard of the international community only encourage the government of Morocco to continue refusing to join the prohibition of anti-personnel landmines and cluster bombs. It is not surprising that someone once concluded that war is the continuation of politics by more violent means. Landmines represent the continuation of war, but in an even more cruel and shameful manner. Why then, do other countries not intervene to protect Saharawi civilians? The Saharawis face daily these terrible remains of war, yet no European country denounces the precarious landmine situation in the Western Sahara. These biased policies deepen the pain of landmine victims and lengthen the suffering of a people.
To give an example, would it not be more practical and less costly to – in defense of human rights – persuade Morocco to destroy the anti-personnel landmines and prohibit their use, rather than to mobilize an arsenal of aircraft carriers, fighters, warships, and bombers to undertake a questionable war “on behalf of human rights” in Libya?
It is for these supposed reasons that Spanish President Zapatero has joined the coalition for a war in Libya. The same Zapatero defended the Spanish position regarding the incidents at Gdeim Izik last November, citing overlapping interests. Unfortunately, the human rights interests of Spain and France are not on the same scale in Libya and in Morocco or the Western Sahara.
And why did France veto the supervision of human rights in the Western Sahara in April of 2010? If these utopian rights do not become universal, they will remain a mere instrument of interest or payoff. It is too soon after the start of the war in Libya for France to forget the very reasons for which that war was begun!
In the next Security Council meeting in April, France and the international community will essentially square off against themselves.
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