Cyclists travel 30,000 km to raise awareness of the Sahrawi conflict on 3 continents

A couple of Swedish human rights activists are carrying out a 30,000 kilometer journey through 30 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa in order to raise awareness of the Western Sahara conflict, a journey that will soon continue through various Spanish cities and hopes to culminate in 2025 in the former colony, partially occupied by Morocco since 1975.

The two activists, Sanna Ghotbi and Benjamin Ladraa, have already traveled through 22 countries on the programmed itinerary, which began in 2022 in their native Sweden, continued through various central and eastern European countries until reaching Turkey and continued in East Asia, with stops in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea or Taiwan.

Despite being the largest colony of the 17 recognized by the UN (along with others such as Gibraltar or the Malvinas Islands), “many people don’t really know about the conflict or even where Western Sahara is on the map”commented the two activists, currently in Geneva, where they gave a talk to publicize the Sahrawi issue.

Despite its absence in the news of many countries, the conflict continues in an occupied territory and in which Morocco has built one of the largest walls in the world, 2,700 kilometers long, where the largest minefield on the planet is located. , the activists recalled.

“When we learned about everything that is happening in Western Sahara, it seemed to us that we had to do something”Ladraa said in the talk, where he added that they opted for the bicycle trip so that their campaign would be more striking and attract the media, politicians or academics with whom they have met in several countries.

At different stops they have managed to meet with national legislators, others from the European Parliament, and university professors, on a self-financed trip and during which they have created their own NGO, Solidarity Rising, in order to support their campaign.

In Spain, a country they hope to arrive in June, they will pass through multiple locations that will include Barcelona, ​​Zaragoza, the three Basque capitals, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Malaga and Valencia, before taking a ferry to Algeria in Alicante to arrive at the end of his trip to the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf.

Ghotbi, who learned to ride a bicycle shortly before starting the trip and has participated as a speaker in human rights talks at the Nobel Foundation, said that the journey has not been without problems, such as in Indonesia, where the authorities refused to allow extend their visa and “they were almost deported”.

The couple pointed out that in Spain their work will be somewhat different, since unlike other countries, the Sahrawi issue is for better known historical reasons and there is already extensive activism in society.

““We believe that in Spain it would be good for us to help mobilize this solidarity movement,” at a time when, they believed, there could be some disenchantment after the Spanish Government in 2022 issued a declaration of support for the Moroccan path to end the conflict.

“Many people who have been very active may now feel tired and hopeless, and we think our job is to encourage them.”Ladraa stressed.

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