Japanese Scholar Accuses Morocco of Ethnic Cleansing and Resource Exploitation in Western Sahara
The Japanese university lecturer, specialized in African social and political issues and member of the Japanese Friends of Western Sahara Association, Yuichi Iwasaki, reviewed in his petition before the UN General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) the tragic situation in occupied Sahrawi territories, accusing Morocco of ethnic cleansing, exploiting Western Sahara’s natural resources, and violating international law.
According to the Sahrawi news agency SPS, Iwasaki explained that he has been visiting and meeting with Sahrawis since 1995 in occupied territories, liberated zones, refugee camps, and throughout the diaspora.
Through his research, he said he has documented evidence of military occupation, Moroccan colonialism, ethnic cleansing, resource exploitation, and breaches of international law.
Iwasaki said that the issue of Western Sahara faces a number of challenges, notably the lack of justice, pointing out that despite the presence of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), the region’s natural resources continue to be exploited, while the countries and corporations profiting from them turn a blind eye to Morocco’s occupation and its violations of international law.
He underlined that the United Nations recognizes the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, who are entitled to self-determination, stressing the need to allow them to decide the future of Western Sahara through a self-determination referendum.
