A fresh question mark has been placed over the future of controversial phosphate exports from the contested territory of Western Sahara, after a South African court ruled on June 15 that a dispute over a cargo should proceed to trial.
A fresh question mark has been placed over controversial phosphate exports from Western Sahara, after a South African court ruled on June 15 that a dispute over a cargo being held in Port Elizabeth should proceed to a full trial.
The cargo in question is aboard the NM Cherry Blossom. On May 1 the ship entered the port of Coega on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth for refuelling. The phosphate it was carrying was en route to Tauranga in New Zealand, for delivery to Ballance Agri-Nutrients, a fertilizer company.
The phosphate had been mined and sold by Moroccan phosphate giant OCP. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Phosboucraa operates a phosphate mine at Boucraa in Western Sahara, a region which was occupied by Morocco in 1975 and which it has since claimed as part of its national territory. Morocco’s claim is not recognized by any other country or by the United Nations, which describes the area as a non-self-governing territory.
The Polisario Front, the national liberation movement for Western Sahara, applied for a court order to prevent the ship from leaving port while it pursued its legal case for ownership of the cargo. That interim order was confirmed by the High Court in Port Elizabeth on June 15, which noted that “Morocco has no claim to sovereignty over Western Sahara” and said the case should go to trial.
OCP has responded by saying it is “outraged by this decision” which it says is “in breach of well-established principles under international law”.
In a strongly worded statement, the company added that it “deplores the fact that a local court is being used by the applicants as a forum for settling a political matter which falls squarely under the purview of the UN Security Council” and that it “categorically contests the decision of the South African court which has no jurisdiction to rule on the applicability of Moroccan laws relating to the exploitation of natural resources in the region”.
