Open
letter to
Ambassador
of Germany in Rabat
Object:
grabbing of collective land and exploitation of children of Sidi Ayad.
Sidi
Ayad, an Amazigh tribe in southeastern Morocco is completely marginalized.
Ruins of the concentration camp built by the French army are still standing at
the foot of the mountain: it aimed to control the workers of the Ahouli mine at
the top of the hill. It is now sheltered from the poor peasants, their children
seek stones in the mineral waste of the mine to survive their families. The
mines mafia supported by the Midelt Gendarmerie exploit these children who risk
their lives instead of being in school.
Sidi
Ayad is home to one of the great mineral resources of Morocco, already
exploited by the French in the colonial era, like all regions of south-eastern
Morocco. It has a large body of water, a dam was built to supplement the
electricity production of the solar panels of the Noor 4 power plant.
Noor
4 is a solar power station intended to supply electricity to the projected
mining industry factories. Morocco is engaged in new colonial projects on the
land of the oppressed poor peasants of Sidi Ayad.
Sidi
Ayad is devoid of any sign of a dignified life: no school, no health center, no
electricity, no drinking water ... nothing but torture, especially after their
demonstration for their right to land, water and natural resources in 2017.
The
authorities are suing the peasants who are trying to build a house, and the
agents of the water and forests are condemning them to heavy lawsuits, they are
strange on their land.
They
fight in the National Union of small farmers and forestry professionals for
their right to 4500 hectares of their land by the Moroccan State without
compensation, these farmers are in sit-in open since February 22, 2019.
See
this link:
A
portion of these lands are set aside for the construction of the Noor 4 solar
power plant of a credit fund of the German Development Bank of 70 million euros
following official statements.
See
the link:
Our
union considers your Bank, as a stakeholder, an important member in this
dispute.
We
ask the Ambassador to take our letter into consideration, to transmit it to the
German Federal Government and to inform the German Development Bank of its
commitments in this type of project which does not respect the standards of the
rights of the populations.
Germany,
through its association agreements with Morocco, is involved in the conflict
between the Moroccan regime and the peasants. It therefore seems urgent to us
that the Federal Government of Germany adopt a demanding resolution, which it
recalls as the member of the German Development Bank, as a member of this
project, of its commitments to respect human rights and democratic principles.
