NGO denounces Siemens wind farm project in western Sahara

Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) denounced Tuesday the launch of a wind farm project by the German company Siemens in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. "Despite the ongoing protest, the German multinational Siemens is currently in the process of shipping windmill parts El Ayun, in the occupied Western Sahara. The company is partnering with the same royal family that brutally occupied the territory," said WSRW on its website. "The construction parts have arrived in the territory on a caravan of vessels, while two weeks ago, human rights activists were sentences to life imprisonment by a military court," said the NGO. WSRW sent a letter to Siemens asking for clarifications on the presence of vessels at Al Ayun port, but received no reply, the source added. In 2012, the Siemens/Nareva windpark project sought to obtain carbon credits through the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism. "This was refused, however, precisely for taking place outside of Morocco’s national borders: in occupied Western Sahara," the WSRW said. "It is saddening to observe that companies in this way fail to take their corporate social responsibility commitment seriously," said Sara Eyckmans, coordinator of Western Sahara Resource Watch.