A $7 million shipment of phosphate bound for New Zealand will remain held at a South African port due to a bitter dispute over who has rights to the resource, a South African court has ruled.
The NM Cherry Blossom, carrying 50,000 tonnes of phosphate, was stopped at Port Elizabeth early last month amid claims its cargo was illegally taken and sold to New Zealand fertiliser company Ballance Agri-Nutrients.
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1976 and until 1991 was embroiled in a bitter war with neighbouring Morocco, which wanted to incorporate the sparsely-populated desert territory. Morocco continues to occupy some 80 per cent of the region through some 10,000 troops and a substantial settlement programme.
Many of the Western Sahara's indigenous population, the Sahrawi, still live in refugee camps in Algeria as a result of the conflict.
The United Nations, which has been calling for a referendum on self-determination since 1966, brokered a ceasefire in 1991. No referendum has taken place.