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occupation of a large portion of Western Sahara (see economic data contained in the
preliminary report of the Sahrawi State to the 33rd Session of the Commission).
15.
The fishery resources (along the 1065 square kilometres Sahrawi coast) and
phosphate mines in Bucraa (rich with uranium) are not the only natural resources in the
region. There are strong indications that there are petrol, gas, iron and other mineral
resources in that area.
16.
The fishery and phosphate resources are under the Moroccan occupation which
exploits these resources to perpetuate its policy of occupation and strengthen its army
with more weapons along the military belt it has built towards the end of the 1980s in an
area of more than 2,400 square kilometres. It has divided the Sahrawi people and land
into two at a time when the Sahrawi people in the occupied cities are being
marginalised and are suffering from poverty and discrimination in all walks of life.
Chapter Two: The Process of Democratization in Western Sahara
17.
During its 56th Session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which
it affirmed the right of the people of Western Sahara to freedom.
By that, the
international community for the 45th successive time declared without a shadow of a
doubt that the issue of decolonisation of Western Sahara which involves two parties,
namely, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario could only be resolved by allowing
the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination.
18.
In fact, the conflict in Western Sahara which has been on the list of territories
whose destiny has to be determined within the framework of Resolution 1514 (27) of the
General Assembly as well as the Declaration on Granting the Colonised Nations their
independence. We have already made reference to the political background of the
conflict in Western Sahara in the Preliminary Report submitted by the Sahrawi Republic
to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights during its Niamey Session in
Niger in May 2003.