Western Sahara and its Phosphate Rock: Is Australia in a hard place? - Kamel Fadel and Tim Robertson

Western Sahara and its Phosphate Rock: Is Australia in a Hard Place? Mr Kamal Fadel, Polisario's representative in Australia, and Mr Tim Robertson SC Wednesday 5 October, 2011 6pm – 7.30pm Dyason House 124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne Phosphate is essential to the production of our food and is used extensively in Australian agriculture. The main source for most of our superphosphate fertiliser is phosphate rock from the Bou Craa mine in Western Sahara.  It is exported by Morocco, which claims sovereignty over the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, and has proposed to the UN that it be an autonomous region within the Moroccan state. The Polisario, an Algerian-backed independence movement, disputes Moroccan sovereignty of Western Sahara. It also claims permanent sovereignty over Western Sahara's natural resources, and therefore disputes that Morocco has the right to sell the phosphate rock.  They accuse Morocco of disregarding the wishes of the indigenous Saharawi people by selling its phosphate to foreign countries, without the consent of and without apparent benefit to the indigenous population, a claim supported by a UN legal opinion in 2002.  The Polisario claims that as three Australian companies import phosphate from the Bou Craa mine, Australia risks the perception that it is helping to contribute to the yet unresolved situation in Western Sahara. Morocco rejects this claim. Mr Kamal Fadel, who heads the Polisario information office in Australia, will discuss this issue.  Australia does not recognise an independent Western Sahara.  With a background in international relations, Mr Fadel has served in India, Iran and the UK as a Saharawi diplomat, and is a former Ambassador to East Timor.  He is joined by Mr Tim Robertson SC, a senior NSW barrister and civil libertarian with a very broad practice, predominately in environmental law and public law, including public international law.