Letter to Kristian Jebsen

Dear Mr. Kristian Jebsen

6 October 2009

My name is Soumaia Hamoudi, 21 year old Sahrawi student living in Fjaler, Norway, where I study at the Red Cross Nordic United World Colleges. I grew up in the refugee camps in Algeria.

I have learnt from Norwegian media and the organisation SAIH that the shipping company Gearbulk is transporting phosphates from my homeland to New Zealand.

You have stated that these transports are in accordance with laws and regulations:
http://www.bt.no/nyheter/lokalt/Protesterer-mot-Jebsen-rederi-583180.html

I am not myself an expert in what is legal or not according to Norwegian law. But from what I know of international law, it is clearly not accepted. The international law was summarised by the UN lawyers in 2002: www.arso.org/Olaeng.pdf

Most of all, I know that transporting these resources is unethical.

My people were supposed to build our future on the resources that you ship away from our land. But now, we don’t benefit from it, and we want your shipments to stop.

To learn more about how my people are suffering from the continued occupation, that is caused by the phosphate plundering, I would like to invite you to come and visit my family in the refugee camps in Algeria. I am going there in December, and feel free to join me.

Looking forward to hear from you,


Sincerely yours,

Soumaia