World
EU-Morocco trade deals in Western Sahara ruled invalid, Rabat claims ‘bias’
Morocco slams ECJ ruling that said the people of Western Sahara were not consulted before the 2019 deals were signed.
The European Union’s top court has confirmed an earlier ruling cancelling trade deals that allow Morocco to export fish and farm products to the EU from the disputed Western Sahara region, a move Morocco slammed as “blatant political bias”.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Friday ruled that the European Commission breached the right of people in Western Sahara to self-determination by concluding trade deals with Morocco.
The Commission said it would examine the ECJ judgement in detail, while Morocco condemned it.
The ruling contained legal errors and “suspicious factual mistakes”, Morocco’s foreign ministry said in a statement, urging the European Council, the Commission and member states to uphold their commitments and preserve the assets of the partnership with Morocco.
Western Sahara, a tract of desert the size of Britain, has been the scene of Africa’s longest-running territorial dispute since colonial power Spain left in 1975 and Morocco annexed the territory.
The Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state in Western Sahara, hailed the verdict as an “historic victory” for the area’s Sahrawi people.
Friday’s decision is the final ruling after several appeals by the Commission, the EU’s executive arm. The bloc signed fishing and agriculture agreements with Morocco in 2019 that also covered products from the Western Sahara.
“The consent of the people of Western Sahara to the implementation … is a condition for the validity of the decisions by which the [EU] Council approved those agreements on behalf of the European Union,” the court said.
It said a consultation process that took place had not involved “the people of Western Sahara but the inhabitants who are currently present in that territory, irrespective of whether or not they belong to the people of Western Sahara”.
The court also ruled that melons and tomatoes produced in Western Sahara must now have their origin labelled as such.
“Labelling must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin of those goods, to the exclusion of any reference to Morocco, so as to avoid misleading consumers,” it said.
‘Historic victory’
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the European Commission was analysing the ruling and reiterated that the bloc highly valued its “long-standing, wide-ranging and deep” strategic partnership with Morocco.
“The EU firmly intends to preserve and continue strengthening close relations with Morocco,” she said in a joint statement with EU foreign affairs boss Josep Borrell.
Welcoming the ECJ ruling, Oubi Bouchraya, the Polisario’s representative to the United Nations in Switzerland, said, “It is a historic victory for the Sahrawi people that confirms the wrongdoings of the EU and Morocco and confirms the permanent sovereignty of the Sahrawi people over their natural resources,” the Reuters news agency reported.
“It is the most eloquent response to the last unilateral position of France and others,” Bouchraya added.
Western powers, including the United States in 2020, and most recently France, have backed Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory, angering Algeria.
Thousands of Sahrawi refugees have been stuck in limbo, living in desert camps in Tindouf, Algeria.
The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 ending a war between Morocco and the Polisario, but failed to organise a referendum due to disagreements about who should vote.
In its recent resolutions, the UN Security Council has urged the parties to seek a mutually acceptable political solution to the conflict.
World
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World
Russia unleashes major drone, missile attack on Ukraine as US diplomatic talks continue
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Russia launched a major attack against Ukraine overnight as talks between Ukraine and the U.S. continued in Florida this week.
Moscow sent 653 drones and 51 missiles across Ukraine, leaving eight people injured, Ukrainian officials said.
French president Emmanuel Macron condemned the attacks, writing on X “We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it towards peace.”
Macron said he plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and their British and German counterparts in London on Monday.
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Ukrainian Fire Point’s Flamingo missiles are inspected in the Ukraine on Thursday. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Zelenskyy said on Saturday that he had a “substantive phone call” with American officials involved in the talks with the Ukrainian delegation in Miami.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday shared a readout of the talks, which also included President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The readout called the talks “constructive discussions on advancing a credible pathway toward a durable and just peace in Ukraine.”
“American and Ukrainian parties underscored that an end to the war and credible steps toward ceasefire and de-escalation are necessary to prevent renewed aggression and to enable Ukraine’s comprehensive redevelopment plan, designed to make the nation stronger and more prosperous than before the war.”
People gather in Kyiv on Saturday during a blackout caused by Russia’s ongoing strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. (Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
PUTIN REJECTS KEY PARTS OF US PEACE PLAN AS KREMLIN OFFICIAL WARNS EUROPE FACES NEW WAR RISK: REPORT
Following Russia’s Friday night barrage, Ukraine’s air force said 29 locations were hit, and the military was able to shoot down 585 drones and 30 missiles.
Three of the eight wounded were hurt in the Kyiv region, local officials reported.
The “massive’ attack also targeted power stations in the country and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost power overnight, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seen in 2022. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
Zaporizhzhia is under Russian control and not in use, but it needs power to cool its shutdown reactors to prevent a catastrophic incident.
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Zelenskyy said that a drone strike had also “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, near Kyiv.
In retaliatory strikes, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces said its military hit Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery.
World
Ukraine peace talks stall as Russia unleashes huge waves of attacks
Negotiations fail to yield progress, while Moscow launches over 700 drones and missiles across Ukrainian territory
Three days of negotiations between Ukrainian and United States officials have ended without a breakthrough, as Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.
The talks in Florida concluded on Saturday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing a phone call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as “substantive”, though both sides acknowledged that meaningful progress hinged entirely on Moscow’s willingness to pursue genuine peace.
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The impasse underscores the gulf between diplomatic efforts and the grinding reality on the ground, where Russian forces continue advancing in eastern Ukraine.
Russia deployed 653 drones and 51 missiles in the overnight barrage that began on Friday, striking energy facilities and critical infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said.
At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, which Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko confirmed hit 29 separate locations.
The assault temporarily severed power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, raising new concerns about reactor safety.
The facility, which has been under Russian occupation since early in Moscow’s invasion, requires continuous electricity to cool its six shutdown reactors and prevent catastrophic failure, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“Energy facilities were the main targets,” Zelenskyy said of the latest assault, noting that one drone strike destroyed a railway station in Fastiv, near Kyiv. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force reported.
Moscow claimed its strikes targeted “military-industrial complex enterprises and the energy facilities that support them”, asserting that all designated targets were hit.
The diplomatic push comes as battlefield dynamics increasingly favour Russia.
Moscow’s forces are closing in on Pokrovsk, a former logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and have nearly surrounded the neighbouring city of Myrnohrad.
Russian troops captured roughly 505 sq km (195 sq miles) in November alone, nearly double October’s territorial gains.
Russia now controls almost the entirety of the neighbouring Luhansk region and holds the majority of coastal territories stretching to Kherson. The front lines have largely stabilised along these positions, though Moscow continues to make incremental advances.
French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Zelenskyy alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday to assess the US-mediated negotiations.
Macron condemned Russia’s “escalatory path” and insisted that “we must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace”.
The talks in Miami followed a Tuesday meeting between Witkoff, Kushner and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, which failed to produce an agreement.
A joint statement released on Friday acknowledged that “real progress towards any agreement” depends on Russia demonstrating “serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps towards de-escalation”.
Adding another layer of complexity, the International Criminal Court’s deputy prosecutor said on Friday that the arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine cannot be halted by peace negotiations.
The warrant could only be temporarily deferred by United Nations Security Council action, prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told reporters, emphasising that “there must be the possibility of accountability in order for peace to be enduring”.
Putin has signalled he will not soften his territorial demands, ordering Russian forces to prepare for continued winter combat operations.
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