White Rock-born graduate student Tess Espey – now a resident of Norway – is among students and activists involved in an attempt to focus international attention on a long-standing issue concerning Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
Alleged exploitation of the west African disputed territory’s natural resources by Morocco should be of concern to Canada, she said in an email to Peace Arch News Monday, since many Canadian companies are supporting it through trade.
Espey, 25, and a friend, U.S. citizen Michael Foster, said they were among five separate sets of travellers – including residents of Norway, Poland and the Netherlands – who were forced out of the occupied territories by Moroccan authorities on Sunday.
“(We) attempted to enter Western Sahara by overnight bus from Marrakech,” the Earl Marriott Secondary grad said in the email.
Espey wrote that at El Aaiun – about 60 km inside Western Sahara and within sight of the capital of Laayoune – they were stopped at a police checkpoint and detained for questioning for more than three hours.
“We were then forcibly deported by police on a private taxi for the nine-hour journey back to Agadir in Southern Morocco, along with three Norwegians and a Pole,” she added. “Many members of the 68-person delegation have also been deported.”
The Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara is reporting on its website that 67 foreign visitors, also including Swedish and Lithuanian nationals, have been refused access to Western Sahara since Sunday.
Espey acknowledges she and Foster had intended to enter the occupied territory to “talk with Saharawis about living conditions and human-rights concerns.”
This trip was part of a greater Norwegian-based effort to garner attention for – and condemn Morocco’s 40-year-long occupation of – Western Sahara, she said.
She noted she was drawn to the movement after studying the issue at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences campus in Aas, Norway.
“The native Saharawian population is still denied many basic human rights (including the right to vote),” Espey said.
“Canadian companies purchase and import more natural resources from Morocco – mostly phosphate rock, an essential ingredient for agricultural fertilisers – than any other country in the world,” she wrote.
“Much of this ore enters the port of Vancouver before travelling across North America for processing,” Espey added.
“Many Canadians are unaware what a large part our country does to support Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara through the purchase of phosphate rock.”
In an item posted to the Western Sahara Resource Watch website on Sunday, Espey and Foster said they had been told by police that they had stopped and detained them because they doubted the pair had come to El Aaiun as tourists.
Espey and Foster did not reveal what their next actions will be, but Espey indicated she continues to be concerned by Canada’s role in the region.
“I think it is embarrassing that Canadian companies are pivotal in exploration of resources of Western Sahara,” Espey stated on the website.
“They should stop. It is unjust, underpinning the human-rights violations. It is against the moral standings that Canada is trying to promote on the world stage.”