The clashes between Moroccan forces and rebels in the disputed region of Western Sahara has taken a toll on reportage. Morocco has been accused of increased hostility towards Spanish journalists trying to cover the conflict.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 10 Spanish journalists were on Monday prevented from reaching the city of Laayoune in the conflict zone. Their tickets on a Royal Air Maroc (the official carrier) flight from Casablanca were cancelled and they were told that they would not be allowed to purchase other tickets.
The same day, police officers chased and beat up John Thorne, a correspondent for the UAE daily The National, and Brahim Elansari of the Saharawi Association for Human Rights Victims. Plainclothes officers later apologised to Thorne, saying that they thought he was from Spain, and not the US. Earlier on Friday, several Spanish journalists were attacked in a court in Casablanca, where they were covering a trial of Sahrawi activists.
Also on Monday, the regional office of the Société Nationale de Radio Television (SNRT) in Layooune was attacked. Armed with swords and knives, the group vandalised the office's equipment and damaged two cars. Journalists and employees barely managed to escape.
The attacks have been condemned by press freedom groups.
Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, said, "We call on Morocco to grant access to Laayoune for all journalists and to investigate the recent attacks on Spanish journalists. Restricting access to the Western Sahara amounts to censorship and should be stopped immediately."
International Federation of Journalists General Secretary, Aidan White said, "The kind of violence meted out against journalists in the last few days has been shocking. It is unacceptable for the public to be venting their fury for political issues onto journalists."
These incidents came in the backdrop of the Moroccan government last week suspending Al-Jazeera's reporting in Morocco. Accreditations of its staff were summarily withdrawn. Al-Jazeera had been covering the conflict quite exhaustively.
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Spain relinquished control and Morocco annexed it. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Polisario Front) is a national liberation movement composed of native Sahrawis and supported by neighbouring Algeria. The Polisario Front favours a popular vote on self-determination. Morocco, on the other hand, considers all advocacy of independence or even of a referendum where independence is one option, as an attack on its "territorial integrity," punishable by law.
This week's fighting broke out after Moroccan authorities raided a camp on Monday in Western Sahara, leaving 19 people dead, 723 wounded, and 159 missing. Eight Moroccan police officers also died in the raid, according to CNN. Ahmed Boukhari, a Polisario representative, told CNN that "the tragic events" were "the result of a deliberate act carried out by Morocco to undermine the current peace process."
The clashes, incidentally, erupted the same time that UN-brokered peace talks were being held between the two sides near New York. The talks ended in a stalemate, though both sides agreed to continue the discussions.
The UN special envoy to the region Christopher Ross, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), said after the meeting, "Morocco and Polisario engaged in broad and frank discussions on each other's proposals in an atmosphere of mutual respect despite the fact that each party continues to reject the proposal of the other as a basis for future negotiations. The participants agreed to convene again in December as well as early next year."
