Terrains of legality and sovereignty: adjudicating the ownership of Western Sahara’s phosphate in South Africa

Title: Terrains of legality and sovereignty: adjudicating the ownership of Western Sahara’s phosphate in South Africa
Creator: Irwin, Randi L.
Relation: Journal of North African Studies Vol. -, Issue 23 April 2021, p. 1-23
Publisher Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2021.1917121
Publisher: Routledge
Resource Type: journal article
Date: 2021
Description: This article considers the case of the NM Cherry Blossom, a bulk carrier that docked in South Africa loaded with phosphate cargo from Western Sahara. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic argued that the phosphate cargo was pillaged from the non-self-governing territory, and a South African court set out to determine ownership. This article analyses South Africa’s recognition of the Sahrawi state’s sovereignty as it pertains to determining the ownership of the phosphate in question. This recognition subsequently creates legal and political possibilities based on sovereignty that is not mediated through or reliant upon the United Nations. I argue that we must attend to jurisdictional histories and contexts in order to consider the scope of new political possibilities for decolonisation struggles.
Subject: Western Sahara; natural resources; decolonisation; sovereignty; jurisdiction
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1449706
Identifier: uon:43744
Identifier: ISSN:1362-9387
Language: eng
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