After bitter debate within the Security Council, and strong pressures from France to avoid any kind of progress in the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, the member states of this “non-democratic” international body adopted a new resolution completely void of any sense or reason.

The President of the Saharawi Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, gave a speech in the Spanish city of Seville, where the 37th European Conference of Coordination and Support to the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO), was held from 3 - 5 February.

The prisoners were taken from a group of more than 200 activists arrested by Moroccan authorities a year ago. And as Malainin Lakhal reports, Morocco has over 60 Saharawi prisoners of conscience, including eminent human rights defender Naama Asfari.

Young Senia has spoken before delegates of the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee and met with politicians and NGOs in the UK, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Here she explains parallels between the Sahrawi tea ritual and the people’s quest for freedom.

Saharawis in Algerian refugee camps and in Morocco-occupied Western Sahara are watching the revolution wave in North Africa with jubilation and unease. Mass protests in Algeria have been announced - Algeria being the main ally of Saharawis fighting for their independence and the host for around 150,000 Saharawi refugees. For next weekend, marches are announced in Morocco - their occupying power.

The Royal Advisory Council for Human Rights (CCDH) of Morocco in a unique report confirms the killing of 352 'disappeared' Saharawis from 1958 to 1992. Out of these, over 200 died in military bases and secret detention centres, including children.

Almost four weeks have already passed since the six of the seven Saharawi human right activists, held at the Moroccan prison of Sale, began their open hunger strike. Their were arrested and detained, on 8 October 2010, on their return from a family visit to the Saharawi refugees camps in south West of Algeria. The Moroccan government intends to bring them before a military court on account of that trip.

The United Nations refugee chief has appealed to Spain and Morocco to consider any measure to pave the way for the movement of a Saharawi activist who started a hunger strike last month and whose condition is rapidly deteriorating.

Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar has declined an offer by Madrid to grant her refugee status following her expulsion from the territory by Morocco, a representative said Saturday. Jose Morales Brum, a trade union leader in Spain's Canary Islands, said that Haidar, a winner of several human rights awards, was continuing the hunger strike she began at midnight on Sunday.

As improbable as it may sound, a group of 170,000 refugees living in tents in the middle of the Sahara, sustained by international aid, have formed a nation in every sense of the word. This paper has provided a theoretical framework for explaining why and how this can occur, and just as important, has obtained and highlighted empirical data to support it. As a result, it better enables one to hear, and to truly understand, the stories of a nation.

Imagine being torn from your family and your home by a foreign invasion. Imagine living in a refugee camp in one of the harshest desert environments on earth. Imagine having your time in exile extended to an entire generation due to political manipulation by the invader and the ineffectiveness of the political and peacekeeping arms of the United Nations. Imagine, finally, enduring this situation with precious little solidarity and attention from the wider world. This, in summary, is the plight of the Saharawis of Western Sahara, one of the world’s forgotten people, begins a report from Refugees International.