Green energy, accomplice of Moroccan occupation in Western Sahara

A report, detailing how Morocco intends to build over 1000 MW (megawatts) of renewable energy plants in Western Sahara, a territory partially occupied by Morocco, was launched by the non-governmental organization Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW). These solar and wind projects, no matter how green, will be "severely damaging" for the people of Western Sahara, warned WSRW’s coordinator Sara Eyckmans. According to the same source, the energy produced will be used to "capitalise on the resources already illegally being exploited by Morocco in Western Sahara, thereby intensifying the ongoing pillage." And by exporting the energy to the EU and to Morocco proper, the occupying power seeks to anchor its untenable claim over the territory," added WSRW, underlining that Morocco does not produce gas or oil itself, and its government "hungers for energy." The report shows that the new front for solar and wind energy production will be in the territory that the Saharawi people fled from after the Moroccan military invasion in 1975, known as the Green March. "Today, the energy production from solar and wind sources in Western Sahara constitutes at most 5.5 percent of Morocco’s total energy production from such sources," said the organization which foresees that by 2020, however, the amount could be increased to an astonishing 26.4 percent.