A survey of the global presence of the green energy company GreenGo Energy shows that the company has opened an office in Morocco. However, when you look closely at the survey, you see that the office is located in Dakhla, and according to the UN, the EU and Denmark, it is not in Morocco, but in Western Sahara.
This puts GreenGo Energy in one of Africa's longest and most sensitive conflicts. This is reported by the investigative media Danwatch.
Since 1976, Western Sahara – populated by the nomadic Sahrawi people – has been occupied by Morocco, which has been repeatedly accused of serious human rights abuses. But neither the UN, the EU nor Denmark recognise Rabat's sovereignty over the area.
Former diplomat: Great diplomatic value for Morocco
Former UN officer Kurt Mosgaard, who was head of MINURSO, the UN mission in Western Sahara, from 2005 to 2007, calls GreenGo Energy's opening of an office in Dakhla an "indirect recognition" of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara.
- They undermine the UN's ability to negotiate a peaceful and fair solution to the conflict. This is equivalent to a Danish company opening an office in one of the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, he says.
GreenGo Energy opened its Dakhla office earlier this year, and in an email to Danwatch, communications manager Christina Bregndahl Jørgensen explains that Dakhla “is known for its extremely conducive environment of both wind and solar resources, which makes the region ideal for the production of hydrogen and other green fuels such as e-menthanol and green ammonia”
According to Kurt Mosgaard, it is of great diplomatic value for Morocco that GreenGo Energy has now opened an office in Dakhla.
- Morocco is trying to attract foreign investment to Western Sahara in order to mark its control over the area and gain international legitimacy, he says.
GreenGo Energy: We follow local rules
Already in 2002, UN lawyers determined that all commercial activities in Western Sahara require the acceptance and consent of the local population. should be for their benefit.
And in 2016, the Danish Parliament decided that Danish companies must “exercise particular care” when engaging in Western Sahara and ensure that their commercial activities do not harm the local population.
Most recently, the European Court of Justice declared the union’s trade agreement with Morocco invalid because the agreement violates Western Sahara’s right to self-determination.
“We follow the local rules for stakeholder involvement. As a private company, we are not allowed to engage in or intervene in any peace negotiations. We note that the Danish Parliament has expressed support for a peace process in the region,” says GreenGo Energy’s communications director Christina Bregndahl Jørgensen.
What local rules are we talking about?
“The sentence should be understood in general terms. It is a prerequisite for our commercial activities that we follow the applicable rules in the countries in which we operate,” writes Christina Bregndahl Jørgensen.
Two members of the Færch family – Annemette Færch and Merethe Christine Færch – are co-owners of GreenGo Energy with 17 and 22 percent of the shares, respectively. The third main shareholder is businessman Jan Henrik Christiansen.
amp
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
