“Caught with the pants down”

Dagens Naeringsliv (Norway)
7 July 2005

Yara admits having bought phosphates originating from mines in the
occupied Western Sahara, but does not believe they have done anything
illegal. “Yara is caught with the pants down, and I understand that it is
uncomfortable” says Sigmund Valberg in the Norwegian Support Committee for
Western Sahara.

The fertilizer company now terminates the trade of phosphates from the
area, but does not exclude the possibility that they resume the trade
after having made “a total assessment”.

Grey zone
”We are happy that Yara terminates the trade, but we react strongly that they
completely rejects the political and legal aspects in this matter. They minimize
the serious situation in the region. I cannot understand that strategy”, Valberg
says to www.dn.no

Valberg does not want to say that Yara’s trade is illegal.

“But it is no doubt that they operate in a grey zone that is very risky for the
company. TGS-Nopec understood that when they withdrew two years ago, after the
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had recommended Norwegian companies to not
trade in the region”, he says.

Discouraged trade
In their letter, Yara calls the attention to the fact that they only have traded
0,3 of their total phosphate volume from Western Sahara.

“They try to minimize the volume, but that has never been a topic to us. That is
not of our business. We underline that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
discouraged trade with the territory”, says Valberg.

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Source: http://www.dn.no/forsiden/utenriks/article549514.ece

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Forwarded by:

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Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara

*** Referendum now! ***
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sahara-update
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