Concern is mounting for a Western Saharan activist on hunger strike at a Spanish airport. Aminou Haidar has been drinking nothing more than sugared water since 16 November, when Moroccan authorities denied her entry to the disputed Western Sahara region. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon yesterday appealed to Spain and Morocco "to consider any measure that could facilitate a resolution of the issue and end the current impasse."
 
When Ms Haidar (pictured in lead photo at Lanzarote airport] refused to define herself as Moroccan on an official form - listing herself instead as coming from Western Sahara -  the Moroccan authorities confiscated her passport and put her on a plane to Spain's Canary Islands.
 
Disputed region
Western Sahara is a disputed region in North Africa (see map below), bordering Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. Most of the region was annexed by Morocco in 1991, under a United Nations sponsored ceasefire agreement.

Audio interview with Guillermo Toledo

 
"Her physical condition is extreme right now. The doctor says from now on - in maybe hours or a few days - she could suffer a collapse. We're very worried about that. She's still saying that she will go all the way through. She's ready to die here in the airport and we are really, really very scared. And even though in her mind and conviction, and her struggle, she is very clear and that's why it's so dangerous because it's a matter of a few days."
 
Return home
Spain has offered to grant the 42-year-old mother of two Spanish citizenship or refugee status, but she says she'll continue her hunger strike until the Moroccan authorities allow her to return home.
 
Spanish courts are currently looking at the situation to see what they can do to bring Ms Haidar's hunger strike to an end. Francisco Rey Marcos is Co-director of the Madrid Institute for Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Support.
 
"It's not clear that for a person who is not a citizen of our country that Spanish authorities have the right to feed her if she doesn't want to. She has spoken very clearly, it seems that she's in very good mental health now, she has spoken even on TV, and she doesn't want to be fed."
 
Guillermo Toledo explains why Ms Haidar is determined to continue her hunger strike:
 
"It's important for the protection of human rights all over the world, this is a struggle for everyone in the world who thinks that human rights are the first rights that have to be protected. It's an example of how the citizens can fight against the government [which is] only concerned about the political and economic benefits for the international corporations who are making lots and lots of money from countries like Morocco who are violating human rights every day in the occupied territories of the Western Sahara."
 
On Monday, Morocco's foreign minister accused the award-winning peace activist of political blackmail, saying she was acting for the Sahrawi separatist movement the Polisario Front that fought a 15-year war with Morocco over Western Sahara.