Globalaffairs

Issue 6/ December-January 2008
By Aluat Hamudi

The Western Sahara conflict has been going for thirty two years now. The Legal status of the territory is disputed and its sovereignty is unresolved. The territory is contested by Morocco and the Polisario Front, which in Feb. 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. The issue has been on the UN agenda since 1963, yet the international community has failed to find a suitable solution between the two concerned parties. The reasons for this failure are the lack of interest from the International community and the western powers competition for the strategic region of North Africa. Nevertheless, recently the kingdom of Morocco has proposed the Autonomy Plan in which “the people of Western Sahara will have local control over their affairs through legislative, executive and judicial institutions under the aegis of the Moroccan sovereignty.” I attempt to look at this debated issue and affecting factors that may lead to or completely submerge the new Autonomy Plan of Morocco.

Western Sahara is located in the northern Africa on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Algeria to the east, Morocco to the north, and Mauritania to the south. About the size of Colorado, it is mostly low, flat desert with some small mountains in the south and northeast. The ethnicity in Western Sahara is Arabs most of whom are the followers of Islam. The estimated population is about 341,000 and 266,000 of them are refugees in Southern Algeria. The official languages are Arabic and Spanish. Western Sahara’s main natural resources are phosphate and fish. Furthermore, recently some European companies have discovered oil-reserves in the region.

Given its strategic and vital location, Western Sahara has always been a disputed area whereupon several powers of the world have fought to gain control over. Spain took control of the region in 1884 under the rule of Captain Emilio Bonelli Hernando. In 1900, a convention between France and Spain was signed determining the southern border of Spain’s Sahara. Two years later, Spain and France signed another convention that demarcated the borders of Western Sahara. Spain faced unsuccessful military resistance from the leaders of the Sahrawi. However, another structured Saharawi movement – the Harakat Tahrir Saguia El Hamra wa Uad Ed-Dahab – was formed by Mohammed Baseeri in 1969. In 1970, Bassiri’s movement organized a large, peaceful demonstration at Zemla (El Aaiun), demanding the right of independence. It ended with the massacre of civilians and the arrest of hundreds of citizens.

The failure of this movement led to the establishment of a more united and organized movement that included all the Sahrawi groups. The movement was called the Polisario led by Al-Wali Mustafa in 1973. The aim was to obliterate Spanish rule from Western Sahara.

Two years later, the Madrid Agreement among Spain, Morocco and Mauritania divided Western Sahara between Morocco and Mauritania whilst keeping the economical gain to Spain. The agreement also signalled the end of Spanish rule over the territories. Moreover, the treaty led to a march of more than 300,000 people under the leadership of Hassan II and his army. The march, appropriately known as The Green March, featured Moroccan flags, portraits of the king and copies of the Koran (Islam’s holy book). The purpose of the march was to pressurize Spain to hand over the territory to Morocco.

As a result, thousands of Saharawi refugees escaped their land and settled in the southern Algerian desert near the city of Tindouf.

United Nations rule in Western Sahara Dispute

The Western Sahara is one of the few areas of the world that is officially recognized by the United Nations as not being a self-governing territory. Since the end of the Spanish colonial rule in 1975, multiple groups including Morocco, Mauritania and the Polisario independence movement have claimed it.

The UN declared Western Sahara as a “Spanish province” in 1961 and two years later it was listed as a country to be decolonized. The General Assembly affirmed citizen’s inalienable right of self-determination in the Saharan region in 1965 thereby requesting Spain to end its colonial rule over the disputed region. In spite of this understanding, the UN did not intervene in the war (1975) between the Polisario movement and Morocco on the North and South ends. Debris of the gruesome war later pressured both the UN and the African Union to intervene effectively in the 1991 conflict. The UN monitored the ceasefire between the combatants and organized and conducted a referendum which would allow the people of Western Sahara to decide the Territory’s future status. It also founded the Mission of MINURSO: the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

In 1997, the UN supervised a talk in Houston (Houston Agreement) between Morocco and the Polisario movement chaired by James Baker, former US Secretary of State and the in Aug. 2003, a UN Security Council resolution adopted a new peace plan that would turn Western Sahara into a semiautonomous region of Morocco for five years, after which a referendum would be held to determine independence, autonomy, or integration into Morocco. The Polisario agreed to the plan; Morocco refused to consider it. In June 2004, James Baker resigned after seven years as UN envoy. His successor has vowed to achieve a resolution.

Moroccan Autonomy Plan

After thirty-two years of conflict and rejection of previous UN proposals, the Moroccan government put forth a proposal outlying the conditions that Western Saharan’s can have local control over their affairs. The proposal also allows, under the aegis of Moroccan sovereignty, legislative, executive and judicial institutions in the disputed region. But why Morocco is proposing this plan now?

A quick look at the happenings around the world politics gives the hint that US geopolitical and economic interests have grown increasingly in bettering its relationship with Morocco. The US-Morocco free trade agreement, the Trans-Saharan Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI), and the naming of Morocco as a major non-NATO ally) will attest to suffice this development. The success of these initiatives also depends on economic cooperation and regional integration in the Maghreb, and clearly the greatest obstacle to this is the unresolved Western Sahara situation. Thus, Morocco’s Autonomy Plan couldn’t have come at any better time.

Furthermore, Morocco is taking the opportunity of War on Terrorism to convince the international community that Polisario movement is simply a terrorist activity aimed at disturbing the pre-established peace in the region. Morocco experienced a terrorist suicide bombing before announcing its plan. It thus sounds logical that to create another state would only forge paths for terrorists activities over which Morocco could have no control. Nowadays, Morocco is undergoing economical challenges because of corruption and illegal immigration which further hinders its relationship with European countries. As I stated earlier, possibility of new oil-reserves in Western Sahara could be a great plus for Moroccan economy. By the same standards, giving full independence to Western Sahara is costly and irrational action. Thus, Autonomy Plan guarantees the Kingdom of Morocco a huge economical benefit from Western Sahara’s oil-reserves.

Polisario reaction to the Autonomy Plan

It seems logical that Polisario movement had all the reasons to reject this plan. Polisario had already been declared a country (the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic) which is a full member of the African Union and recognized by more than 85 sovereign countries. In addition, Polisario is backed by the majority of the people of Western Sahara. It might also be beneficial to add that the UN, in 1965, had already agreed to a right of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. There is a line of thought that pin-point that, perhaps, the definition of the word “self-determination” is being played around. Security Council has coined the term. Where on one hand Polisario (and the international law) view self-determination as a right of the people to decide their own political status, Morocco understands that the term/right lies within their Autonomy Plan.

As I near the conclusion, let me reiterate that I lived through and I am still surviving through this conflict. It is my sincere belief that this mysterious road will be opened only when the UN and all concerned parties truly understand the basic fact which implements that the sovereignty over the region of Western Sahara is neither the property of Morocco nor the property of the Polisario. It is the earnest right of the Sahrawi people. They must be given the right to decide what they want in free, fair, and democratic referendum.

Furthermore, given the fact that Morocco has no sovereignty over the region and the conflict is considered an issue of decolonization under the international law since 1965, the international community should fulfill its commitment of promoting peace, justice and respect of human rights in Western Sahara. Otherwise, we are going to face the very gloomy reality that no one wishes to happen. The breaking out of war again between the two conflicting parties: the Polisario Front and Morocco.

”What is sure that we will not stay here. I have spent 25 years in the desert. I have 3 daughters and they will not grow up in the desert. We are not condemned for the rest of our lives to be refugees, especially when we can make a change. And we can make a change” One of the Sahrawi refugees.

Aluat Hamudi
Journalist

Global Affairs is not liable for author’s opinion