Western Sahara My Home

Mulay Smara on left side and Selamou Mohamed Ahmed on right  side (White Darraa)

By Selamou Mohamed Ahmed

I am one of two students at Wartburg College from Western Sahara.

Western Sahara is an African-Arab nation, a member of the African Union, and Africa’s last colony. It was formally known as the Spanish Sahara and it spans over 102,000 square miles, or about twice the size of Iowa. It was colonized by Spain in 1884 after the Berlin Conference in 1884-1885 that divided Africa between the powers of Europe. Spain administrated Western Sahara for one century.

Western Sahara still today represents one of the longest, most complicated, and blocked-end conflicts in the world. Before Spain left the territory, it under pressure signed an agreement (Madrid Agreement 1975) that gave the administration of the territory over to Morocco and Mauritania, denying the indigenous people of Western Sahara their legitimate right to decide their political, social, and economical future through self-determination in accordance with the international law.

In that same year, an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice was released, finding no ties between Western Sahara, Morocco and Mauritania. Consequently, and in response to the invasion by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania, a terrible war took place from 1973 between the Polisario Front against Spain, and in 1975, against Morocco and Mauritania. Mauritania lost the war to the Polisario Front and recognized Western Sahara as a free nation in 1979, Spain left in 1975, and Morocco continued in the war to 1991, which put it on the edge of bankruptcy and at a major human cost.

After 18 years, a cease-fire was accomplished with the United Nations’ intervention and the two remaining fighting parties (The Polisario Front and Morocco) agreed to stop the war under the condition that a free-and-fair referendum that includes independence from Morocco or integration within it, was to be carried out under the United Nations Watch, establishing the MINURSO (The United Nation Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara).

The referendum was never carried out and the war left hundreds of thousands of Saharawis living in refugee camps inside the southwest of Algeria, the Moroccans built a wall (or berm) from 1980-1988 which stretches over 1677 miles and has nine million landmines (making it one of the most concentrated area with landmines on Earth).

This berm splits Western Sahara into two parts, a liberated territory (administered by the Polisario Front) and an occupied territory (administered by Morocco). The berm separates thousands of families, most of them destined to die before they see each other.

Today, Morocco uses several ways to pressure the international community to stay silent (e.g lobbyists for American members of Congress and a long lasting friendship with France). The Polisario Front is the only representative in the United Nations for Western Sahara and is the negotiator for Western Saharans and the seeker for their right to self-determination.

There is a growing fear of human rights violations inside the occupied parts of Western Sahara. Morocco has to be pressured to comply with the international law and the efforts taken towards resolving the conflict, starting by agreeing for a free and fair referendum run by the MINURSO.

For more information on the issue of Western Sahara, please refer to the UN database and MineAction, the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara (1975), and James Baker’s Proposals for resolving Western Sahara dispute.

Source: http://wartburgcircuit.org/western-sahara-my-home/