Cherry Blossom vessel, carrying a 50,000-ton phosphate cargo, has finally left Port Elizabeth in South Africa, reports French-language online newspaper Telquel Tuesday. The cargo, captured by the South African authorities since the 1st of May, 2017, has been bought by its operator. It was sold for «one symbolic Dollar», after it was put up for auction in South Africa, 10 months after being seized. The information was announced later by OCP group in the person of its executive vice president Othmane Bennani Smiress : «Today, OCP is pleased that its rightful ownership has been restored. The refusal of all potential buyers to bid constitutes clear and irrefutable evidence of the illegitimacy of the ownership granted to the Polisario by the court in Port Elizabeth». «In order to free the vessel, the ship operator covered the auctioneer's costs and were awarded the cargo, which they then returned to its legitimate owner, OCP Group, for symbolic 1 USD dollar», said the Phosboocra in a communiqué issued Tuesday. For the record, the Port Elizabeth court ruled on Friday, 23rd of February, in the absence of the Moroccan party involved, that the Moroccan phosphate cargo belongs to the Polisario Front. After being out in auction for months, no one has tried to buy the shipment which pushed South Africa to reach a settlement with the vessel's operator and get them pay for the judicial fees only. On the 1st of May, following a request submitted by the Polisario, a South African judge ordered the seizure of a Cherry Blossom which was loaded by a shipment of phosphate owned by Phosboucraa, resulting in the vessel being immobilized in Port Elizabeth. This request was based on purely political allegations, said Moroccan authorities. Article modifié le 09/05/2018 à 14h27
