부산대학교 도서관

Remarks made by French president Jacques Chirac and new deals signed by two oil companies have done little to improve the hopes of the thousands of refugees who have been waiting for the UN to hold a referendum on the independence of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. Chirac delighted Morocco by referring to Western Sahara as “the southern provinces of Morocco” on a visit in November 2001. Furthermore, TotalFinaElf, an oil company based in France, and Kerr McGee, a U.S. oil company, signed deals with Morocco in November to prospect for oil in waters off the coast of Dakhla and ignored the Polisario Front, the Saharawi independence movement that is the other official claimant to the area to be prospected.