Morocco appears to a adopt a schizophrenic behavior towards the Saharawi Republic by officially sitting down in international forums side by side with the Saharawi delegation. Yet behind closed doors it continues to wage a campaign to discredit the rights of the Saharawi for full independence

Africa trade unions, led by the Nigerian Labor Congress demanded in solidarity with the Saharawi people that Morocco, a close ally of the United States and France, withdraw its military and security forces from the Western Sahara and hold a referendum on the future of the territory

Setting up a music project in the Saharawi refugee camps in south-west Algeria may not seem to some an obvious priority for a population that relies largely on humanitarian aid for its survival. Yet that is precisely what London-based arts and human rights charity Sandblast has been hard at work doing since early 2010.

Morocco, which militarily controls Western Sahara since its occupation in 1975, is trying to present a false image of the situation in Western Sahara, taking advantage of the military siege and the media blockade imposed on the region.