The Western Sahara conflict : the role of natural resources in decolonization / Pedro Pinto Leite ... [and others] ; edited by Claes Olsson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Leite, Pedro Pinto.

Olsson, Claes, 1942-

Series:

Current African issues ; no. 33.

Current African issues ; no. 33

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History.

Autonomy and independence movements.

Western Sahara--Politics and government--1975-.

Western Sahara.

Politics and government.

Western Sahara--History--Autonomy and independence movements.

Physical Description:

31 pages ; 30 cm.

Place of Publication:

Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2006.

Summary:

This publication gives a comprehensive background to the long-running conflict on the status of Western Sahara and particularly highlights the question of the territory's natural resources, such as fish, oil and phosphates. It analyses why this territory, mainly covered by desert and only sparsely populated, has since 1976, when the former colonial power Spain officially ceded the territory, engaged governments and people, both regionally and internationally, and the implications of its natural resources. The publication includes: a summary of the Western Sahara conflict, by Pedro Pinte Leite, specialist in international law in the Netherlands; an up-to-date picture of the situation in Western Sahara with regard to natural resources, and the way in which exploitation is taking place, by Toby Shelley, a British journalist; the UN's legal opinion from 2002 on exploitation of the natural resources of a Non-Self-Governing Territory written by Hans Corell, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Counsel.

Two political views of the conflict are also included. Magnus Scholdtz and Pal Wrange from the Swedish Foreign Ministry elucidate the Swedish foreign policy on the Western Sahara conflict. A statement by Karin Scheele, MEP and President of the Intergroup on Western Sahara in the European Parliament focuses on the economic interests of the parties involved in the conflict. These contributions together with an extended chronology, compiled by Claes Olsson, over the different phases of the conflict form a useful information source for policy-makers, researchers, students and activists interested in or dealing with issues related to the Maghreb framework and in particular the Western Sahara conflict. Book jacket.

Contents:

The Western Sahara conflict - Chronology / Claes Olsson 5

International legality versus realpolitik-The cases of Western Sahara and East Tinnor / Pedro Pinto Leite 11

Natural resources and the Western Sahara / Toby Shelley 17

Swedish foreign policy and the Western Sahara conflict / Magnus Scholdtz, Pal Wrange 22

1 Letter dated 29 January 2002 from the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, the Legal Consel, addressed to the President of the Security Council / Hans Corell 25

2 The role of natural resources in the Western Sahara conflict / Karin Scheele 30.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9171065717

OCLC:

70621533