Sahrawi - Africa's "last colony"

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a partially recognised state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976 in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government currently controls about 20-25% of the territory it claims.[4] It calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the Free Zone. Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The SADR government considers the Moroccan-held territory occupied territory, while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a buffer zone.

In May, 2008 it was the 35th anniversary of the Polisario Front, Western Sahara's independence movement.

Author and journalist Jean Lamore (author of AKA - see Chimurenga 12/13) has work in and covered the region extensively. In April 2008 he presented information on the situation in Western Sahara in a presentation to the French Parliament. "I stressed on the similarities between the strategies adopted by Israel against the Palestinians and the one adopted by Morocco against the Saharawi population in the occupied territories of Western Sahara, which is illegally occupied by Morocco".

More recent the extent of France's involvement has been reveal via the Wikileak leaks: A cable from US embassy mentions 3 billion Euro deals for Sarkozy, as French Western Sahara policy leans towards Moroccan position. Among the agreements signed by Sarkozy, was the nuclear deal with Moroccan phosphate plunderer OCP. OCP carries out the illegal mining in Western Sahara, taking place in violation of the UN legal opinion from 2002.At the same time, the US embassy noted how Sarkozy annoyed the representatives of the Sahrawi people: "Sarkozy’s remarks on Sahara appeared to move France closer toward the Moroccan position, and were embraced as such by most of the Moroccan press, which characterized the president’s remarks as a breakthrough for French policy on the Sahara question. (We understand the Polisario leadership has protested Sarkozy’s remarks.)", writes the US embassy in the first confidential letter on Western Sahara published on Wikileaks.

BACKGROUND
Western Sahara is still seen by the UN as a colony, and the subjugation of its people under the present occupying power of Morocco is described as much harsher than it was under the old Spanish colonists up until 1975. For over 30 years more than half of the Sahrawis, the original population of Western Sahara, have lived in four isolated refugee camps in Algeria. Morocco has built a 2,200 kilometre-long wall that divides the country in two. It is almost impossible to get over the wall, which is flanked by one of the world’s largest minefields.

The partition of the country is the result of a 16 year war which broke out after Moroccan invasion. Morocco built up its military defences in order to cut off Polisario’s guerrilla forces. The liberation movement, based in refugee camps in Algeria, continued its armed resistance until the UN succeeded in brokering a ceasefire between the two sides in 1991. Agreement was reached on a detailed plan, which also gave draft timelines for Morocco’s withdrawal from Western Sahara and for the return of refugees. Morocco refused to accept the guidelines.

The first large Sahrawi demonstrations within the occupied territories of Western Sahara took place in 1999, and represented a new turn in the Sahrawi resistance movement. N The second wave of demonstrations and harassment began in the spring of 2005. In periods of 2005 and 2006, almost every single leading human rights activist in Western Sahara was arrested. Today the ceasefire in Western Sahara continues, but it is tenuous.

The patience of the population in the occupied territories has reached breaking point, and Polisario threatens to take up arms again if their right to choose independence is not respected. The Moroccan occupation is a barrier to development, stability and security in this region on the threshold of Europe. Algeria, Morocco’s arch enemy, is Polisario’s main supporter. The absence of cooperation and peace between Morocco and Algeria makes political and economic integration in North Africa impossible.