Detain ship with Western Sahara fish, rights group urges Cape Town harbour master
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic routinely protests against unauthorised fishing in its exclusive economic zone area.
An organisation working to preserve the resources of occupied Western Sahara has asked the Port of Cape Town to detain a vessel that is due to anchor in Cape Town on Saturday. The vessel is alleged to contain about 5‚500 tons of fish‚ caught in the exclusive economic zone waters of occupied Western Sahara between December 2018 and early 2019. The Western Sahara Resource Watch has called for the action, relying on a precedent set by the high court in Port Elizabeth in June 2017 and February 2018‚ after the detention of the vessel NM Cherry Blossom‚ which carried phosphate rock illegally exported from the Western Sahara when it entered Port Elizabeth harbour in May 2017. The phosphate was destined for a company in New Zealand. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a partially recognised state‚ and insists it has sovereignty over the Western Sahara‚ also claimed by Morocco. In June 2017‚ the high court concluded that the SADR had a prima facie claim to ownership of the cargo a...
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