By Chris Jones - 26th July 2006
EU fleets will be able to fish in the waters off the disputed territory of Western Sahara following an agreement with Morocco this week.
No country supports Rabat’s claims to jurisdiction over the former Spanish colony, which it invaded in 1975.
But more than 60 countries recognise the exiled government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, based in Algeria, as the rightful leaders of the Western Sahara.
Sweden and Finland led the opposition to the fisheries deal from within the EU, arguing that signing the agreement would effectively endorse Morocco’s right to the territory.
“The fisheries deal allows European vessels to fish in waters that are not legally controlled by Morocco,” a spokesman for the Swedish government told this website back in May.
“We want to be sure that the agreement is in conformity with international law and to make sure that any deal benefits the people of the Western Sahara.”
But with European waters suffering from increasing over-fishing, EU leaders are keen to strike deals with other countries.
The agreement with Morocco will cost €144 million, making it the most expensive fisheries agreement in the history of the EU.
It will allow 119 European boats to fish in Morroco’s waters – including those off the Western Sahara region – for the next four years.
The deal is likely to benefit Spanish fishermen the most, with the Canary Islands also just of the north African coast, although French and Portuguese boats will also be allowed to fish there.
The preliminary agreement with Morocco was endorsed by the European parliament in May after assurances from fisheries commissioner Joe Borg that it would not break international law.
Morocco’s ambassador to the EU Minouar Alem said that the agreement “shows the willingness of Morocco and the government of his majesty the king to strengthen its relations with the EU”, according to the state news agency MAP.
The UN has already ruled that Morocco does not have the right to offer licences for oil exploration in Western Sahara, but there is no such ruling over fishing rights.
The SADR ‘government’ of the Western Sahara has denounced the fishing deal, calling it “a massive enterprise of plundering and amassing of natural wealth of Western Sahara and a flagrant violation of international law”.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.