Occidental Sahara

The Western Sahara or Western Sahara is a region of North Africa located at the western end of the Sahara desert, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the seventeen non-autonomous territories under the supervision of the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations, in order to end colonialism. It was added to the list of non-autonomous territories on December 15, 1960 through of resolution 1542 (XV) of the General Assembly of the United Nations, when it was still a Spanish province.

Its decolonization process was interrupted in 1976, when Spain left Western Sahara in the hands of Morocco and Mauritania —after the green march and in accordance with the provisions of the Madrid Agreements (1975), invalid under international law. The territory is currently occupied for the most part by Morocco, which calls it its Southern Provinces, although Moroccan sovereignty is not recognized by the United Nations. and it is rejected by the Polisario Front, which proclaimed its independence in 1976 creating the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, recognized so far by eighty-two countries, fifty-one of which have frozen or canceled their relationship with it. It administers the region to the east not controlled by Morocco, which it calls the Free Zone or Liberated Territories.

Geography

Western Sahara is located in North Africa, bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and south by Mauritania (1,570km of borders), to the north by Morocco (500km of borders) and to the northeast by Algeria (70km of borders). To the northwest of its coasts are the Canary Islands. It has approximately 266,000 km² and has a 1,100 km long coastline facing the Atlantic, which implies great geostrategic value in itself.

The Sahara lies between latitudes 27º 40' (north) and 20º 47' (south) and longitudes 4º 59' 44'' (east) and 13º 25' 44'' (west), being crossed by the Tropic of Cancer. The territory is occupied by the Sahara desert, being part erg (sandy) and part hamada (stony).

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  Western Sahara in Africa

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  Topography of Western Sahara

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  Land desolate landscape in the region of Rio de Oro, near the city of Guerguerat

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  Intermittent Lake Dait Um Saad

Climate

Although the area can experience flash flooding in the spring, there are no permanent currents. Sometimes a cold current off the coast can produce fog and heavy spray.

The interior experiences extreme heat in summer, with average highs reaching 43-45 °C (109-113 °F) in July and August; during the winter, the days remain hot or very hot, with average highs of 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F); however, in the northern part of the territory, the thermometer can drop below 0 °C (32 °F) at night and it can be freezing in December and January, although this is rare.

Ecology

The sparse vegetation is mostly limited to oases. There are some species of animals adapted to the arid desert habitat, such as the desert fox, the dama gazelle, the houbara, the runner, the Senegalese sandgrouse, the monk seal, the dromedary, various reptiles, among others. Species extinct due to the historical vicissitudes of the territory are the ostrich or the oryx.

According to WWF, almost the entire territory belongs to the desert ecoregion called the Northern Sahara steppe; except for the coast, which is divided between the Mediterranean dry forest and succulent scrub of acacias and erguenes, in the extreme north, and the Atlantic coastal desert, in the center and south, and some Saharan salt marsh enclaves in the interior.

The Italian environmental association Legambiente reported in 2001 that more than 600,000 tons of radioactive waste had been dumped on the seabed off the coast of Western Sahara. It is above all a traffic run by the Italian mafia.

Economy

Pre-Hispanic economy

The Saharan nomadic economy was based on cattle, for which good areas of pasture and water were sought, which began to be nomadic grazing.

Current Economy

Western Sahara has few natural resources and does not have enough rainfall to support most agricultural activities. Its economy is centered on nomadic herding, fishing, and phosphate mining in Bucraa, of which it constitutes the largest deposit in the world.^{[citation needed]} Most of Food for the urban population must be imported. All trade and other economic activities are controlled by the Moroccan government.

Incomes and living standards are substantially below those of Morocco.

Demographics

Demographic developments between 1961 and 2003 (source: FAO, 2005). Population in thousands of inhabitants.

Western Sahara is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, with 2.3 people per square kilometer in 2021, similar to Mongolia. By July 2004 there was an estimated population of just over 277,000 inhabitants in Western Sahara, while for the year 2021, the population of Western Sahara is 612,000 inhabitants, according to UN data. In recent years it has been due to the high birth rate and the arrival of the population encouraged by the Kingdom of Morocco with the aim of increasing the percentage of Moroccans in the territory. In addition, some 180,000 soldiers of the Moroccan Army are installed in the territory. Most of the population is located in the territory controlled by Morocco, while the territory officially controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is sparsely populated, mainly due to poor terrain conditions and anti-personnel minefields in this territory.. Estimates give a population for this territory of just over 30,000 inhabitants. A large part of the original Saharawi population (around 173,000 people) has been sheltering in camps in the Algerian city of Tindouf since 1975.

According to the last census carried out in 2014, the main cities are Laayoune with 270,000 inhabitants, Dakhla with 106,277, Cape Boujdour, Auserd and Smara. The nomadic population has largely disappeared due to military barriers (walls) and due to the danger of mines.

Most of the population of Western Sahara is of Arab origin (Arabs and Arabized Berbers) and Berbers. There is also a small minority of Spanish or European and sub-Saharan descent. Given the lack of census data, the exact percentage of the Saharawi population living in the territory is unknown, however it is estimated that, due to the immigration of Moroccans, they constitute approximately 50% of the population of Western Sahara.

The official language in both parts of the Moroccan wall is Arabic, although the dialect known as Hassania, also spoken in Mauritania, is spoken daily. Spanish is also spoken, both in the area controlled by the SADR, and in the area occupied by Morocco, where it is spoken as a second language by the original Sahrawis, particularly those who grew up during the Spanish province, and with Canarian twists and idioms., Arabic influences and sometimes archaisms from the 1950s, which has led to the formation of its own variety of the language, Saharawi Spanish.

The predominant religion in the region is Islam in the Sunni branch.

Saharawi refugees

The Saharawi population can be divided between those who live in the territory occupied by Morocco in Western Sahara, those who live in refugee camps in the Tindouf area (Algeria) controlled by the Polisario Front and those who constitute the diaspora and that they are mainly in neighboring countries or in Europe, mainly settled in Spain and France.

Culture

The main ethnic group in Western Sahara is the Sahrawis, a nomadic or Bedouin ethnic group who speak the hassānīya dialect of Arabic, also spoken in much of Mauritania. They are of mixed Arab-Berber descent, but claim descent from the Beni Hassan, an Arab tribe that migrated across the desert in the 11th century.

Physically indistinguishable from Hassanian-speaking Mauritanians, the Sahrawis differ from their neighbors partly because of their different tribal affiliations (as tribal confederations cut across today's modern borders) and partly as a consequence of their exposure to Spanish colonial rule. The surrounding territories were generally under French colonial rule.

Like other Sahrawi and Hasani Bedouin groups, the Sahrawi are mostly Muslims of the Sunni and fiqh Maliki branch. Local religious customs (Urf) are, like other Sahrawi groups, heavily influenced by pre-Islamic African and Berber practices, and differ substantially from urban practices. For example, Sahrawi Islam has traditionally functioned without mosques, as an adaptation to nomadic life.

The original society based on clans and tribes suffered a great social upheaval in 1975 when the war forced part of the population to settle in the refugee camps of Tindouf (Algeria), where they remain until now. Many families were separated by the dispute.

The Museum of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army is located in this refugee camp. This museum is dedicated to the struggle for independence of the Saharawi people. It presents weapons, vehicles and uniforms, as well as abundant historical documentation.

History

Pre-Hispanic period

The inhabitants of Western Sahara belong to the Gitul people and, according to Roman-era sources, the region was inhabited by this people, in addition to the presence of Berber tribes. The heritage of the Berbers can still be found in their characteristics and the names of their geographical locations and their tribes.

However, other sources confirm that the first inhabitants of the territory may have belonged to Alpavor and later settled in the town of Alserereon. Another hypothesis is that the Bafour settled in the region later and ended up learning the Amazig language, also merging with the region's indigenous peoples, to become, as a result of much mixing, members of the Beni Hassan Arab tribe.

The arrival of Islam in the region in the 8th century played an important role in the development of the Maghreb, especially in the commercial field. The remoteness of the caliphate facilitated the independence of the region. The Almoravids, a group of strict interpreters of the Koran, who emerged in this region, controlled (1053-1147) North Africa and even al-Andalus, on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Western Sahara region developed and became one of the main caravan routes, the most important being the route between Marrakech in Morocco and Timbuktu in Mali.

In the 11th century, the Beni Maquil (an Arab community that numbered fewer than two hundred members during that period) settled in Morocco, specifically in the Draa Valley, the Muluya River, Tafilálet and Taurirt. Until then the population, although Muslim, was still Berber; but at the beginning of the 13th century, with the end of the Almohad Empire, the Maqil Arabs emigrated from Libya to the West, and the Merinid sultan Abu Yusuf sent them south of the Draa, thus occupying Western Sahara and Mauritania, giving rise to the Hassani tribes who prevailed over the Sanhaya Berbers in the 14th century, and with them Hassanian Arabic.

The Beni Maquil built their tribes in the region and established themselves by changing their name and their system of government, among many other things. Likewise, they directly subordinated it to Al-Sous Al-Aqsa and later expanded into the Souss region, building palaces located in Moroccan cities such as Taroudant.

During the Marinid era, the Banu Hassan rebelled against the state, but were defeated by the sultan, so they fled abroad, where they were said to inhabit dry rivers. again, but this time with Lamathuna, he caused the Berbers to leave for the Sahara. Throughout almost five centuries, due to a complex process of acculturation, intermingling and homogenization between some indigenous Berber tribes and mixed Arab tribes, a unique culture was formed, especially between Morocco and Mauritania.

Sahrawi society before the colonial transformation was determined by nomadism, whose fundamental economic base was the exploitation of cattle. Precolonial society was organized in Kabyles, a social unit. A cabila constitutes a group united by ties of kinship, through the paternal line with a common ancestor of great prestige, of a holy character. The family unit of the Saharawi society extends from the great-grandparents to the great-grandchildren, and the set of these relatives materializes in the "frig" or "jaimat" meeting of the same "ahel". In addition, in the Kabyles consanguinity was linked to the next residence. Thus, the community was the uniting factor that guaranteed everyone survival in the face of the fragility of production.

The system of government in the pre-colonial Sahara was organized in relation to the chej and the yemaa. The chekh assumed personal, not institutional, authority, since he was a member of the prestigious Kabyle families, to which a higher status is attributed. He was also a person of great knowledge and experience, and his authority was manifested through general consensus in advising and arbitrating "ahel" or "fahed" conflicts. The power of the chej was limited by the yemaa, the assembly of notables gathered in council or free parliament, when conflicts arose between different families or cabils.

Spanish colonization

English map showing Spanish territorial developments in Morocco and Western Sahara between 1885 and 1912.

Map detallando la costa del entonces Río de Oro (posterior Sahara Español) en 1896.

Since the 15th century, the Spanish were attracted to the coast of the Sahara. Its first establishment on this part of the Saharan coast dates back to 1476, when Diego García de Herrera, lord of Lanzarote, had a fort built which he named Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequeña and which was later destroyed by the sultan El Wartassi in 1527..

In the year 1860, the African War ended with the victory of the Spanish in the battle of Tetuán, which allowed them to seize the city of Tetuán, and in the peace treaty they inserted an article that allowed them to settle later in the Sahara.

The region located between Cape Bojador and Cape Blanco was claimed by Spain in 1884, during the Berlin conference (establishment of a factory on the Dakhla peninsula and dependencies in Cintra Bay and Cape Blanco at the end of 1884 by Emilio Bonelli). In 1885, the construction of Villa Cisneros began and the establishment of factories in Río de Oro and Cabo Blanco. The Spanish continued their advance inland and north of Cape Bojador.

Despite the success of the negotiations with Ahmed uld Mohamed uld el Aidda, sultan of Adrar el-Tmarr and the most respected Saharawi chief in the area, who managed to sign a protectorate letter with Spain, the lack of notification The government of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta during the Berlin Conference left the agreements on paper, so the possibility of establishing Spanish sovereignty over a territory of approximately 500,000 km² was lost. Subsequently, the Iyil salt mines came under French control after the treaty of Paris that delimited the borders between the colonial territories of Spain and France both in Western Sahara and in the Gulf of Guinea.

Independence conflicts

Spanish acronym in El Aaiún in 1972.

Areas of Western Sahara under the control of Morocco (blue) and the Arab Democratic Saharawi Republic (green).

After Moroccan independence, Morocco claimed the territory of Western Sahara as part of its Greater Morocco project. In 1967, the United Nations Organization recommended the decolonization of the territory while shortly after, Mauritania also joined the Moroccan territorial claims.

Meanwhile, nationalist agitation began in the territory. In 1968, the Movimiento de Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Río de Oro was created under the leadership of Mohamed Sidi Brahim Basir. The Spanish government, to try to solve nationalist problems, established the Spanish Sahara as a Spanish province in 1958, for what ceased to be a colony and became an integral Spanish territory. A nationalist outbreak in El Aaiún ended on June 17, 1970 with four deaths and hundreds of arrests. Bassiri was arrested and never heard from again. Shortly after, on May 10, 1973, the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Río de Oro) was created, which began the armed struggle against Spain.

On August 21, 1975, the United States gave the green light to a secret CIA strategic project, financed by Saudi Arabia, to wrest the province of Spanish Sahara from Spain, the Sahara being a vital territory from a geostrategic point of view, rich in phosphates, iron, oil and gas, which the United States did not want to leave in the hands of Spain.

On October 6, the intelligence services of the Spanish Army informed Franco of the US plans for Western Sahara and asked him to act accordingly. On October 21, Juan Carlos, Prince of Spain and Franco's heir, refused to accept the leadership in Spain on an interim basis, since he sought total power to be able to act in Western Sahara, which he obtained shortly after. At the risk of a war between Spain and Morocco, Juan Carlos I asked for help from Henry Kissinger, the US secretary of state, and he accepted the mediation requested by the king, interceding with Hassan II, with which in the following hours an agreement was signed. Secret pact by which Juan Carlos promised to hand over the Spanish Sahara to Morocco in exchange for full US political support for his government as King of Spain.

Conflict with Morocco

Saharawi soldiers in 1985.

Remains of a Moroccan F-5 fighter shot down in Tifariti.

The conflict between Morocco and Mauritania was intense, as they claimed ownership of the region. Morocco claimed that European colonial powers stole some of its land during the Spanish protectorate and gave it to other countries upon independence. Subsequently, Algeria, which also borders the region, stepped in and questioned Morocco's demands and later supported that region's independence.

In October 1963, the war of the sands between Morocco and Algeria began due to a lack of agreement regarding their borders. During this war, Morocco once again claimed that some of the Algerian governorates, especially the wilaya of Tindouf and Bashar, belonged to it, which caused it to have an argument with its neighbor. The debate continued for a long time before the United Nations stepped in line to reach a final solution.

In 1975 an agreement was reached with the help of the Polisario Front, during this year the United Nations sent multiple missions, and also sought help from the International Court of Justice, finally acknowledging that Western Sahara has historical ties to Morocco and Mauritania, and Algeria have nothing to do with the issue, but this is not enough to prove any country's sovereignty over those particular lands. And that Spanish colonialism shuffled the cards. In the end, a decision was adopted giving the inhabitants of the region the right to decide for themselves.

On November 6, 1975, the green march crossed the internationally recognized border of Western Sahara. Under the Madrid Agreements, a temporary tripartite administration was established consisting of Spain, Morocco and Mauritania. On February 26, 1976, Spain abandoned the territory, after which the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria, proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and launched a war to liberate the territory against these two countries.

In 1979, defeated Mauritania signed peace with the Polisario Front, giving up its claims to the territory. At the same time Morocco materialized the occupation. During the occupation, Morocco bombarded the Saharawi population with napalm and white phosphorus, which caused many to flee into exile in the desert. Currently, the city of Tindouf along with others have more than 170,000 Saharawi refugees.

In 1991, Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a ceasefire sponsored by the UN that established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which would be held in February 1992. Against the signed agreement In 1991, the United Nations published a report confirming that two thirds of the territory (including most of the Atlantic coast, the only part of the coast outside the sand wall at the southern end, plus the island of Ras Nouadhibou) are managed by the Moroccan government that receives the tacit support of France and the United States, while the remaining third is managed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and the Rio del Oro known as the Polisario Front.

The Polisario Front accused Morocco of postponing the call for the referendum through appeals so that the non-Saharan population installed by the Moroccan government in the area in recent years (which is already a majority) has the right to vote. Morocco rejects these accusations and accuses Algeria and the Polisario of increasing the population of the SADR with the contribution of Algerian Sahrawis; For the moment, Algeria does not allow any type of census of the population of the Tindouf camps and only estimates exist.

To overcome the deadlock in the peace process, the United Nations appointed James Baker as the personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Western Sahara. Under his auspices, in 1997, Morocco and the Polisario Front signed the Houston Accords.

In January 2000, the voter identification process for the self-determination referendum was completed. 120,000 appeals were filed, but instead of processing them according to the procedures agreed to by the two parties, the UN Secretary-General froze the process. To overcome the blockade, the Secretary General proposed a plan for the division of the Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario Front, a solution that was accepted by the Front, but rejected by Morocco.

Moroccan walls in the territory of Western Sahara, during the Western Sahara War (1975-1991). In yellow, the territory under the control of the Frente Polisario.

To overcome this blockade again, James Baker proposed another plan, the so-called Baker II plan, which in 2003 was unanimously endorsed by the Security Council (Resolution 1495). Morocco, however, did not accept this plan, because according to the Moroccan officials the plan does not guarantee the participation of all Sahrawis in the self-determination referendum. Instead, Morocco proposed granting Western Sahara broad autonomy under its sovereignty, in April 2007 (the conditions for which are established, but not yet specified) and the creation of CORCAS (Royal Council for Saharan Affairs) made up of members of different Saharawi clans and tribes designated by the King of Morocco, but this solution was rejected by the Polisario Front.

Baker resigned from his post at the United Nations in 2004. After submitting his resignation, he stated: "I don't believe there is a solution to this crisis." His resignation came after several months of failed attempts to conquer Morocco for enter into formal negotiations on his plan, but was rejected by the Kingdom authorities. Especially after King Mohammed VI opposed holding any referendum on independence, saying: "We will not give up an inch of our beloved country and our desert, but we will not abandon a single grain of its sand& #34;.

Currently, the territory of Western Sahara is divided by a wall more than 2000 km long that divides Western Sahara from north to south. The area to the west of the wall, under Moroccan protection, called Moroccan Sahara, and which Morocco considers to be under its sovereignty; while the zone to the east of the wall constitutes what the Polisario calls liberated territories or defensive zone for Morocco.

Status

Commemoration of the 30th day of the independence of Spain in the liberated Territories, 2005

According to a report requested by the Security Council from the United Nations legal adviser, the Madrid Agreements did not make Morocco or Mauritania administrative powers of the territory, which is why it continues to be, for legal purposes, a territory not autonomous administered by Spain. This report (document S/2002/161) addressed to the President of the United Nations Security Council, and dated January 29, 2002, indicates in its sixth paragraph:

On 14 November 1975, Spain, Morocco and Mauritania issued in Madrid a declaration of principles on Western Sahara (the “Agreement of Madrid”), under which the powers and responsibilities of Spain, as the administering Power of the Territory, were transferred to a tripartite temporary administration. The Madrid Agreement did not transfer sovereignty over the Territory or confer on any of the signatories the status of administering Power, a condition that Spain alone could not have unilaterally transferred. The transfer of administrative authority over the Territory to Morocco and Mauritania in 1975 did not affect the international status of Western Sahara as a Non-Self-Governing Territory.

In this way Morocco would occupy the territory, although only most of the territory, because the rest is controlled by the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The CIA recently opened up access to more than 10 million pages of more than 900,000 declassified documents, several of which deal with events since March 1979.

The SADR has been recognized by the African Union and by eighty-two countries in the world, most of them African or Latin American. However, fifty-two countries have canceled their relations with the SADR. The last to resume diplomatic relations with the SADR was Panama, in 2016. The SADR is not recognized by the UN, nor by the Arab League, nor by any European country, nor by any permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

Morocco's claims to its "territorial integrity" are intermittently and oscillatingly supported by some countries and the Arab League. However, no country formally recognizes the annexation, as the UN Secretary General's report admits of April 19, 2006:

This would imply recognition of Morocco ' s sovereignty over Western Sahara, which was beyond any consideration, since no State Member of the United Nations had recognized that sovereignty.

Part positions

UN position

In 1963, Western Sahara was inscribed, at the request of Morocco, on the list of non-autonomous territories according to the UN, while it was still a Spanish colony. The territory has always retained this status ever since. The United Nations has been directly involved since 1988, when Morocco and the Polisario agreed to hold a referendum on self-determination, in order to achieve a peaceful end to the conflict. Although, in 1991, the UN obtained a ceasefire between the belligerents, according to a schedule that stipulated the holding of the referendum the following year. Following ongoing disagreements over the composition of the electoral lists, this referendum has not yet taken place.

This is a call for the acceptance of Morocco to organize a referendum for the self-determination of the Saharawi people as it promised in 1989. The main problem regarding the referendum is the composition of the electorate: according to the FAO, the population of the territory was around 80,000 in 1975. However, many of them were long-time nomads, moving freely through territories now under Algerian, Moroccan, Mauritanian and Malian sovereignty; On the other hand, the civil status of these populations was still elementary and it was very difficult to determine a fixed place of birth and residence, essential information to establish electoral lists.

Morocco's position

Morocco considers Western Sahara to be part of its southern provinces (the area of Western Sahara is 266,000 km² and that of the southern provinces is 416,474 km²), which makes up about 64% of these. Morocco claims that its power is historical and legal in this part of the Sahara. Morocco rejects the conclusions of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 1975. According to the country, the court made an error of interpretation when trying to use a Western legal framework. The bonds of loyalty expressed, in pre-colonial periods, by the Saharawi chiefs would constitute the Moroccan nation, as well as the annexation of Western Sahara in Morocco, and there would be no other historical source of sovereignty. For Rabat, the court cannot recognize the links that exist between the Moroccans and the Sahrawis, and therefore rejects the sovereignty of Morocco.

The question of Western Sahara is also an important factor of political stability in Morocco: according to the authorities, the embargo of the territory is the subject of a national consensus, and a government that acted against this consensus would immediately face strong hostility of the population. Paris and Washington are also very sensitive to this stability argument. A Moroccan official says:

"It is not only the king who dictates his decision (on Western Sahara), but also the expression of a very profound popular feeling. No Moroccan politician can doubt the issue. It is a real and unbreakable national consensus. No government would survive the questioning of this principle. It is a matter of life or death."

Far from considering the Polisario Front as an independent actor, Morocco considers it to be just a tool of Algeria (sometimes referring to it by the term Algerisario). Also according to Rabat, without Algeria's diplomatic, financial, military and logistical help, there would be no Saharawi question. Furthermore, according to the monarchy, Algiers would use the Polisario to weaken its regional rival, divert it on issues related to its borders, offer access to the Atlantic Ocean through a Saharawi state at its service and finally exploit resources, the natural resources of Western Sahara.. More recently, the Moroccans focused on a new risk. See a new state evolve in an unstable context marked by religious jihadism. Morocco also believes that there are links between the AQIM jihadists and the Saharawi leaders.

After informal contacts, Morocco agreed to deal directly and officially with the Polisario in 2007 as one of the protagonists of the conflict. Despite this, almost 8,000 Sahrawis previously settled in the Tindouf refugee camps have joined Morocco, either from the Canary Islands (Spain) or through Mauritania. Among them, Polisario executives. In 2006, Morocco decided to grant what it considers territorial autonomy to its territory, and entrusted the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) with the study of possible autonomy statutes in the region. However, the Polisario rejects any solution that does not include a referendum on self-determination.

Morocco advocates broad autonomy within the framework of the sovereignty of the Alaouite kingdom to resolve the conflict in Western Sahara. The autonomy proposal for Western Sahara is, according to Rabat, a "modernist, democratic and credible" approach, taking into account the political process that Morocco has experienced in recent years. This project has the support of several countries, such as the United States and France.

The European justice, after having canceled an agricultural agreement with Morocco, arguing that it also applies to Western Sahara, the country announced the freezing of its contacts with the European institutions.

Position of the Polisario

Saharawi National Police

For the Polisario Front, the conflict in Western Sahara is above all a question of self-determination of the peoples. He has always affirmed that his only request is the application of international law and, in particular, the right to self-determination of peoples. Furthermore, the UN has repeatedly stated that resolution 1514 (XV) applies to Western Sahara.

The referendum is a recognized means of resolving conflicts related to decolonization. If the Saharawis decide to be Moroccan, we will respect their decision, but only a referendum of self-determination can solve the problem.

Khalil Ahmed, observer for the human rights of the RASD

This solution was also accepted by Morocco, the Polisario sees no reason to change its position. He also considers that Morocco, realizing that this would harm its interests, did not keep its word by not organizing a referendum. In addition, the invocation of the so-called historical rights by Morocco would only be a cover for its ultranationalist ambitions. Therefore, Moroccan claims should be placed in a larger context, that of Greater Morocco claimed by the Istiqlal Party in the 1950s and seen by Mohammed V and his successors as the future of the Moroccan nation.

This ideology transforms the Alauita Kingdom into an expansionist state that has successively claimed rights over Mauritania, Western Algeria, Ceuta and Melilla and even part of Mali, in addition to Western Sahara. If all countries claimed territories they had at some point in history, it would be the war of all against all. It's a very particular view of history.

Khalil Ahmed, observer for the human rights of the RASD

For the Polisario, Rabat uses its nationalist ideology mainly for internal political reasons, in order to create a union around the king while maintaining a feeling of encirclement and fear. By installing such an environment, the Moroccan regime would offer itself the possibility of acting repressively and would eliminate criticism by comparing it to an attempt to break the nation. The Polisario's criticism of the Moroccan position consists of highlighting its nature, forcing it to accept one day which you reject for the simple purpose of saving time. A member of the Polisario further declares:

Morocco was one of the supporters of the referendum until it broke its word, then blocked attempts to define an electorate, to finally reject the very idea of a referendum.

Position of the African Union

For the African Union (the former Organization of African Unity), the SADR is a member state with all its prerogatives. The AU's decision to accept SADR as a member in 1982 led Morocco to leave the organization in 1984. Morocco remained the only African country not to be a member of the African Union due to its non-adherence to the principle of inviolability of borders inherited from colonization until January 30, 2017, the date of their reintegration.

The paralysis of the Peace Plan as a consequence of the Moroccan blockade has awakened the African Union from the long lethargy it has experienced. For this reason, the communiqué of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union of 27/2015 and the report of the legal adviser of the African Union, of 9 October 2015 on the legality of the export of natural resources from Western Sahara, He has unlocked the neutral position, implying that he would carry out actions to defend the rights of the Saharawi people.

Positions of other states

Algeria's position

After the withdrawal of Spain and the occupation of Morocco and Mauritania, Algeria began to support the principle of self-determination of peoples and welcomed the majority of Saharawi refugees, mainly in Tindouf. This is for the implementation of UN resolutions 1754 (2007), 1783 (2007), 1813 (2008), 1871 (2009), 1920 (2010), 1979 (2011), 2044 (2012) and 2099 (2013). on the organization of a referendum for the Saharawi people under the auspices of the same.

Algeria supports Western Sahara in the name of the rights of peoples to self-determination and the inviolability of colonial borders. His official position is "that he has no territorial claims over Western Sahara, that he is not an interested party in the conflict between the SADR and the kingdom of Morocco, and that his support for the Saharawi separatists is of his principles of aid to all the peoples who fight for the decolonization of their country throughout the world". Algeria reaffirms, with each media attack, that it is not concerned about the conflict and that it is content to support UN resolutions. However, Mohamed VI persists in his statements:

The last resolution of the Security Council places particular emphasis on the regional dimension of this dispute and stresses Algeria ' s responsibility as part of the dispute.

Mohamed VI, king of Morocco

And this, despite the fact that the UN has never considered Algeria as part of the conflict, on the Algerian side, it is considered that the Moroccan communication strategy aims to make believe that the claims come from places other than They are Western Sahara. According to Algiers, by involving Algeria, Morocco creates the illusion that the Saharawi people adhere to its project.

Position of Spain

After the abandonment of Western Sahara by Spain in 1975, the Spanish government had remained out of the dispute and had been in favor of holding a referendum on self-determination in the territory that would resolve its future, always that this was agreed by both parties. However, in March 2022, the president of the Spanish government Pedro Sánchez announced a change in his government's position regarding Western Sahara, supporting the solution of the conflict with the creation of an autonomous region dependent on Morocco, as this country had proposed in 2007 to the Polisario Front. According to the president's words in a letter sent to King Mohamed VI, this was the "most serious, credible and realistic option" for the Saharawi people. This script change occurred in a context of formalizing relations between the two states.

Position of the United States

The US national newspaper The Wall Street Journal published an article on 11 August 2019 on Western Sahara, setting out the US position on the conflict by stating that " Washington would not support a plan to create a new state in Africa".

In February 2020, Israel asked the United States to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the occupied Western Sahara if the Arab state normalized relations with Israel. Days later, the United States announced that it would not recognize Moroccan sovereignty in Saharawi territory. However, in December 2020, President Donald Trump announced that he would recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the territory.

Government and politics

The legal status of the territory and the question of sovereignty are yet to be resolved. It is largely under the control of Morocco, but the Polisario Front, which formed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976, disputes it. Since then the two sides have clashed militarily and diplomatically on several occasions and with varying degrees of intensity.

For its part, the UN has never recognized the Madrid Agreements and, therefore, only recognizes Spain as the administering power.

Four ways in which Western Sahara and Morocco are represented on the maps: [1] Morocco and Western Sahara shown separately. [2] Western Sahara shown as disputed territory. [3] Western Sahara shown separately, but covering only the areas controlled by the Arab Democratic Saharan Republic, while the rest is shown as part of Morocco. [4] Western Sahara shown as part of Morocco.

Political-administrative organization

Military post in El Aaiun.

Formerly it was divided into Saguía el Hamra (with the capital in El Aaiún) and Río de Oro (capital Dakhla, where there is an airport, formerly called Villa Cisneros). Other important populations are Esmara, Bir Lehlu, La Güera (or La Agüera, currently an unpopulated area) and Guerguerat.

Morocco divided Western Sahara into six provinces: Auserd, Río de Oro-Dajla, Boujdour, El Aaiún and Smara. After the territorial reorganization of 2015, the territory of Western Sahara is currently divided into three Moroccan regions: Dakhla-Río de Oro, El Aaiún-Saguia el-Hamra and Guelmim-Río Noun. The last two also include territory of Morocco proper (a small portion of Cape Juby the second and a large portion of southern Morocco the last).

Human Rights

In 2009, the European Parliament expressed its concern to the UN about the deterioration of the human rights situation in the region. It specifically referred to the rights of "freedom of expression, association, demonstration and communication". It added, in addition, that Moroccan justice in the area is biased by the pressure to protect the domain.

During the war years (1975-91), Morocco and the Polisario Front exchanged accusations of attacking civilians. Morocco considers the Polisario a terrorist group that receives support from abroad and tries at all times to pressure the international community to include it on the terrorism lists, but the United States, the European Union, the African Union and the United Nations refuse to include it. the group on the lists of terrorist organizations. The Polisario leaders make it clear that their ideas are inherently incompatible with terrorism, and insist that the collective punishment and enforced disappearance applied by Morocco among Sahrawi civilians is real terrorism, for which they demand the inclusion of Morocco or part of it. him in what is known as state terrorism. Both Morocco and the Polisario Front accuse each other of violating human rights and trying to control the southern provinces and the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, respectively. And Morocco, together with international organizations such as the Organization France pour la Libertés, suspected that Algeria could be directly responsible for crimes committed on its territory and accused it of being involved in such violations.

Breaking the ceasefire

Since October 21, 2020, several Saharawi civilians residing in the Tindouf Saharawi camps had blocked the access road to Mauritania. In view of this, on November 13, the Moroccan Army entered the demilitarized zone of the Guerguerat —in the south of Western Sahara, bordering Mauritania— to expel Saharawi civilians. The Polisario Front intervened and both forces exchanged fire in the south of the region, although no one was injured. This was the first direct confrontation since the signing of the ceasefire signed in 1991.

The Saharawi civilians blocked the Guerguerat highway to demand the calling of a self-determination referendum that had been established in 1991 at the signing of the ceasefire sponsored by the UN. Although it never took place, since Morocco has been postponing it due to disagreements over the composition of the electoral lists.

The Polisario warned that "the great war for the liberation of all the people" decreeing a state of war. In the days that followed, the Polisario Front reported that it had attacked various Moroccan military bases, causing fatalities. The Moroccan official sources deny having suffered any casualties, in addition, they recognize the operation carried out by their Armed Forces, describing it as "peaceful and harmless"; to guarantee the free movement of goods and people.

In view of these events, the European Union, the United Nations, and the neighboring countries, Mauritania, demanded a return to political dialogue. For its part, Spain issued a statement "appealing to responsibility and restraint" and "urging the parties to resume the negotiating process and move towards a political, fair and lasting solution and mutually acceptable according to the parameters repeatedly established by the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council”.

During the following days, confrontation continued near the security wall. On December 10, the administration of Donald Trump recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, this in exchange for the full establishment of Moroccan diplomatic relations with Israel, achieved with the mediation of Washington.

On his Twitter account, Donald Trump announced: “Today I signed a proclamation recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. A serious, credible and realistic Moroccan autonomy proposal is the ONLY basis for a just and lasting solution for lasting peace and prosperity!” The president used in his message the same vocabulary (in the words "serious, credible and realistic autonomy") that Morocco has been using since he presented his proposal to the UN in 2007.

This made the United States the only Western country to recognize the Alawite kingdom's sovereignty over Western Sahara so far. The President of the United States announced in an official statement that “USA. The US believes that an independent Sahrawi state is not a realistic option to resolve the conflict and that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only viable solution. We urge the parties to enter into talks without delay, using Morocco's autonomy plan as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution."

On the other hand, the SADR issued another statement in which it indicated that: "Trump's decision does not change the legal nature of the Saharawi question at all, since the international community does not recognize Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara (...) The Saharawi people will continue their legitimate struggle to complete their sovereignty by all means and assuming the sacrifices that this requires".