Morocco has has used military action to end a three-week blockade of his arterial road to West Africa by Saharawi’s demanding that the kingdom keep its promise to hold a referendum on the Western Sahara.

The territory has been under internationally-condemned Moroccan occupation since 1975 when General Franco’s fall forced Spain to end its colonial occupation.

Polisario, the Western Sahara liberation movement,  immediately turned their guns on the Moroccans and Mauritanians who sought to replace the Spanish.

Mauritania quickly abandoned such intentions, but the Moroccans, armed by the apartheid regime and other reactionary forces at the time, fought until a UN-negotiated truce in 1991.

More than 9000 people died in the fighting.

Only that part of the Western Sahara behind a sand wall, called a berm, is under Moroccan control.

United Nations peacekeepers monitor that area under Polisario’s control.

This  includes the town of Guergarat where the blockade, stopping 150 trucks daily is being enforced.

Polisario  has warned that any Moroccan military incursion into its territory will end the 1991 truce.

Morocco took almost a month to respond to the blockade.

Fearing a mutiny, Moroccan authorities have not issued their army with bullets.

Only the paramilitary gendarmerie is given live rounds.

The military action from Rabat this week entailed anti-tank rounds entrusted to units believed to be loyal to King Mohammed VI.

Polisario does not share the fears of the international and continental organisations about the escalation of violence.

The liberation movement is under pressure from Saharawi activists to force the kingdom to keep its promise, made as part of the truce agreement, to hold a referendum on self determination for Western Sahara.

A return to fighting will also force the African Union and United Nations to decide who holds ultimate responsibility for enforcing peace and getting a Western Sahara settlement.

The African Union, at the behest of Morocco, which joined it only three years ago after shunning it because to recognizes the government of the Western Sahara, wants the file to be carried by the United Nations where it has the support of France and the United States.

The United Nations has been unable to get any movement on a settlement.

The the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has not found a suitable replacement for former German President Horst Kohler who threw in the towel more than a year ago as his special enjoy to the Western Sahara.

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Nkosi Mandla Mandela calls on Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to accept this legal judgment and to allow the occupied Saharawi people to exercise their autonomy about their future.

The late Nelson Mandela approved the accession of his grandson Mandla Mandela to head the Traditional Council in Mvezo.

Now the younger Mandela, who is also an ANC MP, says Morocco must respect the European Court of Justice ruling on the sovereignty of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco since 1975.

He calls on King Mohammed VI to extend the hand of friendship to Western Sahara and end the decades of war and dispute.

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The three organizations will accelerating the assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin, and the resettlement of those in need of international protection.

The plight of would-be migrants from Africa to Europe dominates discussion among delegates at the African Union European Union summit in Abidjan.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio  Guterres who has come to pay tribute to what calls a strong and essential pillar of global coopertion, recognizes this

He says its vital to combat traffickers and smugglers of migrants but the tragedies in the Mediterranean will not end without the creation of significant opportunities for legal migration.

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Morocco insists on maintaining its illegal occupation of the Western Sahara, which is an AU member. Joining under these circumstances threatens to split the body as it did its predecessor the OAU.

Morocco’s aspiration to join the African Union will colour the election tomorrow of an AU Commission head to replace Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

Because Senegal has supported  Morocco since its stormed out of the Organisation of African Unity 32 years ago because  the Western Sahara was given membership, the kingdom’s supporters are backing  Senegal’s Bathily Abdoulaye.

Three African powers -South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria – head the group insisting that Morocco can only join the AU if it abides by its anti-colonialist constitution – which would mean ending its occupation of Western Sahara.

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He was hosting a summit of African leaders at the COP22 climate change summit in Marrakesh that was also attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and French President Francois Hollande.

Disruptions caused by climate change are hampering African development and greatly affecting the rights of millions on the continent, says King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon tells the 20 African leaders present that 36 of the 50 countries most affected by global warming are African.

Senegal’s President Macky Sall says African countries have to wait until 2020 for promised aid from developed countries to fight global warming.

French President Francois Holland says COP22 will lay the foundations for this help laid out in the Paris Climate Change agreement at COP21 last year.

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He was crushed by a compactor after he jumped into a garbage truck to retrieve his merchandise thrown there by police.

The tragic death of 31-year-old Mouhcine Fikri event occurred in the northern port city of Al Hoceima.

Protests there spread y to cities like Marrakesh and Rabat, the capital.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the prosecution of  anyone who’s  broken the law.

Police reportedly asked for the trash compactor to be activated to stop Fikri and friends who dived into the garbage truck to retrieve R120 000  worth of swordfish, a protected species in Morocco, that the police had thrown there.

The protests that led to the fall of Tunisian strongman Ben Ali were sparked by the death of a fruit seller bullied by police.

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The kingdom walked out of the continental body’s predecessor 32 years ago when the Organisation of Africa  recognised the government in the Western Sahara illegally occupied by Sahara for 40 years.

A Moroccan special envoy is is Kigali where African leaders start their summit to tomorrow.

Moroccan officials won’t say if King Mohammed VI will attend the summit.

His country is the only one on the African continent  not to belong to the AU

Host President Paul Kagami, who’s to become the next AU president  visited Morocco last month where he was decorated by  King Mohammed.

Joining the AU would require recognising  the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which Morocco has resumed to do,  just as it has broken its promise to allow a referendum enabling the people of the occupied territory to determine their future.

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The north African country denies Jonathan’s claim that he’s spoken to its King Mohammed VI – and to underline its displeasure, it’s withdrawn its ambassador from Nigeria.

Morocco says it’s unethical of the Christian President Goodluck Jonathan to use King Mohammed VI to win Muslim voters in an election campaign.

It strongly denies that the king has spoken to Jonathan, as had been stated it Nigeria.

In its turn Nigeria denies that the king is being used to win over Muslim voters.

The foreign ministry in Abuja insists an extensive telephone call did take place when Jonathan and the king spoke about matters of mutual interest and concern.

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