NB: Well done, Michael Palin (not at all boaty)

[Telo]

I missed the original broadcasts of Palin's "Sahara", so, having watched part one on BBC4 tonight, he deserves a belated "Well done!" for being a well known mainstream travel journalist who has fairly examined the continuing occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco.

Following the collapse of the Spanish occupation, the majority of the Saharawi people did not accept the Moroccan occupation of their country. Having been napalmed and strafed from their homeland, over two hundred thousand of them are living in refugee camps near Tindouf, in south west Algeria. This has gone on for over thirty years.

They are a remarkable people whose endeavour puts most of us to shame. Even facing such adversity, they have universal free education, one of the highest literacy rates in the whole of Africa, and a free, but limited, healthcare programme. The UN has been thwarted repeatedly by Morocco who have consistently obstructed every effort to run the agreed referendum on the country's future.

Anyway, well done, Michael Palin. Sorry I missed it when originally shown.