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WORLD NEWS Saturday 19 March 2022
Spain changes stance, backs Moroccan rule in Western Sahara

By ARITZ PARRA Ceuta, a Spanish city on
Associated Press the coast of North Africa.
MADRID (AP) — Spain on That leashed an unprece-
Friday declared "a new dented humanitarian crisis.
stage" in its strained rela- Morocco also recalled its
tions with Morocco after ambassador in Madrid and
the Spanish prime minister hasn't reinstated her.
wrote to the Moroccan Abdulah Arabi, who repre-
king, agreeing that hav- sents the Polisario in Spain,
ing Western Sahara oper- said Sánchez "succumbs to
ate autonomously under the pressure and blackmail"
Rabat's rule is "the most from Morocco by paying
serious, realistic and cred- "a toll" to mend their dam-
ible" initiative for resolving a aged political and diplo-
decades-long dispute over matic ties. He said having
the vast African territory. Western Sahara be auton-
This marked an enormous omous under Morocco is
departure from Spain's ear- only one of many options
lier stance of considering that should be voted upon
Morocco's grip on Western in a referendum.
Sahara an occupation. The "The solution has to be
shift followed months of based on the choice voted
frosty diplomatic relations by the Saharawi people,"
and led to the announce- Arabi said.
ment of a flurry of visits by Polisario Front soldiers talk during a shooting exercise, near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Wednes- Some 176,000 Saharawi are
Spanish officials to its south- day, Oct. 13, 2021. believed to live in five refu-
ern neighbor. Associated Press gee camps on Algerian soil,
It also opened up disputes east of Western Sahara, in
within Spain's left-to-center territory's decolonization. ace quoted Sánchez. nent communication." a sweltering desert that
governing coalition. But according to a state- Spanish Foreign Minister Relations between Spain many consider no man's
The United Nations has con- ment issued by Morocco's José Manuel Albares con- and Morocco hit a histori- land. They rely on humani-
tinued to regard Madrid as royal palace on Friday, firmed the Moroccan an- cal low last year after Spain tarian help and goods from
the colonial administrative Spanish Prime Minister Pe- nouncement. secretly hosted for medical international aid agencies,
power for Western Sahara, dro Sánchez recognized "Today we begin a new treatment the leader of the under the governance of
even after its annexation "the importance of the Sa- stage in our relations with Polisario Front, which has the Polisario Front, which
by Morocco immediately hara issue for Morocco" in Morocco and finally close led the yearning for inde- presides over an exiled
after Spain abandoned its a letter to King Mohammed a crisis with a strategic part- pendence by many Saha- Sahrawi republic.
African province in 1975. VI. ner," he told reporters. He rawis. In late 2020, their frustra-
Over the years, the Spanish "Spain considers the auton- added that the new chap- But when media affiliated tion over three decades
government's official posi- omy initiative presented by ter was "based on mutual with the Moroccan gov- in limbo led to the end of
tion, along with the Euro- Morocco in 2007 as the ba- respect, compliance with ernment revealed Brahim a cease-fire and new hos-
pean Union's, has been to sis, the most serious, realistic agreements, the absence Ghali's presence in Spain, tilities between Polisario
support a U.N.-sponsored and credible, for resolving of unilateral actions and Rabat allowed 10,000 peo- forces and the Moroccan
referendum to settle the the dispute," the royal pal- transparency and perma- ple to cross the border into army.q

U.S. sanctions Uganda gold dealer, citing illicit Congo origin

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA ment. emailed to The Associated
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) The illicit movement of gold Press, saying he has no
— A Belgian businessman threatens Congo's peace recent business ties with
sanctioned by the U.S. over and stability, it said, charg- Congo. "I have not been
allegations of illicit gold ing that more than 90% of to (Congo) in more than 20
trade in Congo said Friday Congo's gold is smuggled years," he said. "I have not
the action undermines ef- to neighboring coun- kept any active contacts
forts to improve transpar- tries such as Uganda and within (Congo) either."
ency in a region seeing Rwanda where it's "then He warned that sanctions
rising official exports of the often refined and exported against African Gold Refin-
mineral. to international markets, ery would hurt efforts to im-
The U.S. announced sanc- particularly the UAE." prove transparency in the
tions late Thursday tar- Congo's expansive east- gold business by potentially
geting Alain Goetz and ern provinces have long offering informal traders "a
African Gold Refinery, a been wracked by spo- safe haven" again.
Uganda-based company radic armed conflict, and "International organizations
that has been in business monitoring groups assert can now easily verify infor- Gold miners pan for gold in the Eastern Congo mining town of
since 2014. The company that control of the minerals mation and quote figures Kamituga March 13 2021.
is among several linked to trade fuels the violence. because of the transparen- Associated Press
Goetz that are "involved The new sanctions include cy that I laid a foundation
in the illicit movement of the blocking of U.S.-based for with the launch of Afri- tions." years from activists con-
gold valued at hundreds of assets owned by Goetz can Gold Refinery," he said. The African Gold Refinery, cerned that minerals from
millions of dollars per year" and his companies. "This transparency is what worth $15 million and the conflict-prone countries in
from Congo, the Treasury But Goetz denied the al- the U.S. has just placed at first of its kind in East Africa, the region were among its
Department said in a state- legations in a statement great risk with these sanc- drew attention over the raw materials.q