PRESS RELEASE
The POLISARIO Front condemns the illegal participation of Siemens Gamesa in the occupation of Western Sahara
According to credible sources, Siemens Gamesa is loading windmill masts aboard a freighter in the port of Motril, Spain, for export to the port of El Aaiún in occupied Western Sahara. These materials are intended for the construction of a wind farm in Bor, operated by Enel Green Power and Nareva. Another shipment of the same nature is scheduled for tomorrow.
In its capacity as the only and legitimate representative of the Saharawi people, the POLISARIO Front condemns with the utmost vehemence the participation of Siemens Gamesa in the illegal construction of a so-called “wind park” in the occupied area of Bojador.
In 1975, the International Court of Justice confirmed that there was never any territorial sovereignty link between Morocco and Western Sahara. Since 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union has repeatedly ruled that, in accordance with the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people, Western Sahara has a separate and distinct status from Morocco. Thus, all economic activity carried out in Western Sahara must receive the consent of the Saharawi people, represented by the POLISARIO Front, regardless of the benefits claimed.
On the contrary, since Morocco does not have sovereignty over Western Sahara – it has never had it in the past and will never have it in the future – any authorization issued by the Moroccan authorities has no legal value. By concluding contracts with Moroccan occupying forces that have no legal title to the territory, European companies involved in occupied Western Sahara, such as Siemens Gamesa, operate in a legal vacuum. Their investment only serves Morocco’s policy of illegal settlements, making them complicit in a war crime under the Rome Statute.
Mr. Oubi Bucharaya, member of the Polisario Front National Secretariat responsible for Europe and the European Union said: “The Saharawi people have never accepted Siemens Gamesa’s exports to Western Sahara or to the so-called “wind park” of occupied Bojador. In the absence of a valid authorization, which can only be issued by the Saharawi authorities, the operation of Siemens Gamesa is manifestly illegal. These reckless and illegal acts demonstrate Siemens Gamesa’s lack of understanding of the current dynamics at the site. At a time when the Saharawi Liberation Army is at war with the Moroccan occupying forces, the EU courts are expected to take new decisions in September, in line with previous jurisprudence of the ECJ.
In this context, the performance of Siemens Gamesa is short-sighted and can only lead, as in the past, to irresponsible and irrational decisions. This company bets on the wrong horse without an exit strategy. We advise them, like other foreign companies, to stay out of occupied Western Sahara. In any case, the Polisario Front is determined to continue by all legal means its struggle to guarantee the sovereign rights of the Saharawi people.
