Western Sahara

Abstract

The Western Sahara (WS) is a 266,000 square kilometer area between North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. In a conventional way, it is divided into two main regions: the northern Saguiat al-Hamra and the southern Wadi al-Dhahab (Río de Oro). Its borders (with Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east, and Mauritania to the east and south) were established by the colonial powers’ endorsement of French-Spanish agreements signed in the first decade of the 20th century. Its inhabitants, an Arabic-Berbers mélange, had a tribe-structure social organization, driven by a hierarchical principle (the warriors, the religious men, the artisans, etc.). They practiced nomadism throughout the entire western Saharan region. Currenty, Sahrawi people are divided into three main groups: those living in the refugee camps near the Algerian town of Tindouf (approximately 170,000 persons), those living in the territories occupied by Moroccan forces (approximately 65,000 persons), and the Sahrawi diaspora. The Western Sahara is the bigger African territory inscribed in the Non-Self-Governing Territories list recognized by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the UN General Assembly. It is actually disputed by both the Polisario Front, the nationalist movement of Sahrawi people created in May 1973 to fight against the Spanish domination, which declared its independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in February 1976 and today is established in 20 percent of the territory, and Morocco, occupying the Western Sahara from 1975. After the long lasting Spanish domination (1884–1976), in 1975 the Madrid Treaty was signed by the Spanish, Moroccan, and Mauritanian governments. This agreement divided WS into two parts, a solution opposed by the Polisario Front, who then started fighting against both Mauritania (until 1979) and Morocco (until 1991), supported by the Algerian and (for a time) Libyan governments. At present, Morocco occupies the 80 percent of the area it defines as “Southern Provinces.” The two parties are separated in a longitudinal sense by a military berm of some 2,700 kilometers from southern Morocco to the southern border with Mauritania. The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara has never been recognized by any other national government. Instead, almost 80 countries have recognized the SADR since 1975. A self-determination referendum for the Sahrawi people has been endorsed by the UN since 1965 and was foreseen in the armistice treaty of 1991, but it remains unimplemented. The UN mission MINURSO monitors the observance of the cease-fire but its task is also to organize the referendum on self-determination.