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Morocco: Imider Amazigh movement decides to dismantle protest camp after 8 years

Organization denounced plundering of natural resources, says fight will go on by other “peaceful” means

 
A 2018 photo of a meeting in the mount Alebban camp.
A 2018 photo of a meeting in the mount Alebban camp. Author: Amussu :Xf ubrid n 96
The 96 Road Movement, in Imider (Morocco), has dismantled the camp it held on the Alebban mountain uninterruptedly since 2011. The Amazigh organization denounced contamination and plundering of the natural resources of the area —especially water— on the part of a neighbouring silver mine.

In a statement on Facebook, the 96 Road Movement says it has been impossible to reach any tangible results from contacts that the organization has maintained with local and national politicians and with the direction of the mine. The Moroccan royal family owns, through Managem and Al Mada societies, the firm that exploits the mine (SMI), which denies the movement’s allegations.

Talking to Yabiladi, Omar Moujane, a member of the movement’s organization committee, explained that men, women and children have held a local assembly —an agraw, a traditional meeting of the Amazigh people— where the decision to lift the camp was approved. Moujane stated that “the fight is not over,” but other “peaceful” protest means will be organized, which will also be decided “collectively.”

In this article on the Amazigh people in Morocco, Nationalia explained in more detail the Imider protest, on which a film has been produced.