The high court in Port Elizabeth, South Africa has pronounced today its verdict regarding the Moroccan phosphate cargo that was detained on the 1st of May in the African country. According to Western Sahara Resource Watch, a network close to the separatist front, the latter has won the first round of the court case claiming that «the detention of NM Cherry Blossom on 1 May 2017 was correct». The Sahrawi people according to the same source «has thus passed the first hurdle in the legal process to win ownership over the cargo of phosphate rock that Morocco has tried to export from the territory that it holds under occupation», write WSRW indicating that the court has decided that the sherrif is «directed and authorized to remove the ship's registration documents and trading certificates». «We hope the final judgment will contribute to the protection of our natural resources», the representative of the Polisario Front in Australia, Kamal Fadel told the pro-Polisarion website. On Thursday 8th of June, a Panama court has rejected a claim issued by the Polisario Front to block a Danish vessel that was carrying OCP phosphate rocks stating that «there was no evidence the cargo belonged to the group». For the record, on the 1st of May a 50,000-tons Moroccan phosphate vessel destined towards New Zealand was stopped in Port Elizabeth.
