"Given that war has flared up again in Western Sahara, as a direct consequence of Morocco's plunder of the territory, we call on Russia to suspend this new agreement, and refrain from engaging in any activity in Western Sahara until the conflict has been settled in … Tensions between Morocco and the Polisario Front deepened in mid-October 2020 when Saharawi peaceful protesters blocked a controversial road connecting Morocco to sub-Saharan Africa (the Moroccan border with Algeria is closed). At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies as a potential voter; the Polisario has insisted on only allowing those found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below) to vote, while Morocco has insisted that the census was flawed by evasion and sought the inclusion of members of Sahrawi tribes which escape from Spanish invasion to the north of Morocco by the 19th century. Algeria has refused to qualify itself as a "stakeholder" and has defined itself as an "observer". Tony Hodges (1983), Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill Books (, Anthony G. Pazzanita and Tony Hodges (1994), Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, Scarecrow Press (, This page was last edited on 24 March 2021, at 00:25. The Western Sahara conflict has proven to be one of the most protracted and intractable struggles facing the international community. Ma al-Aynayn died in October 1910, and his son El Hiba succeeded him. At present, these borders are largely unchanged. [73], On 30 April 2021, Morocco granted Carles Puigdemont asylum. When Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew from the territory in 1975, Morocco took it over. [54] Although the Polisario Front was not involved in the negotiations, the SFPA explicitly allows for European Vessels to fish in the disputed coast of the Western Sahara territory. The cease fire ending hostilities was officially signed in 1991. "[20], The Western Sahara Berm, also known as the Moroccan Wall, is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure consisting primarily of sand running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco. Western Sahara was forcibly occupied by Morocco, whose claims to the territory are largely unrecognised internationally, pitting Morocco against the Algerian-backed Polisario Front – the political arm of the Western Saharan independence movement, that seeks statehood in the region. The Western Sahara conflict is both one of the world’s oldest and one of its most neglected. At a crossroads between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, the Saharan desert has long been misconstrued in colonial discourses as a largely unpeopled geography deemed culturally marginal and largely assimilable to Maghrebi post-colonial nation-states. Western Sahara: war looms in Africa's contested desert land. Beginning in 1975, the Polisario Front, backed and supported by Algeria, waged a 16-year-long war for independence against Mauritania and Morocco. Approximately 6,500 tents Sahrawis had erected in early October to protest their social and economic conditions in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. [59], In April 2013, the United States proposed that MINURSO monitored human rights (as all the other UN mission since 1991) in Western Sahara, a move that Morocco strongly opposed, cancelling the annual African Lion military exercises with U.S. Army troops. As rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, the Moroccan government insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. [44] According to Sahrawi sources, the Moroccan forces violated the ceasefire by penetrating the demilitarized zone,[45] crossing the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall in three different directions. Another series of protests began on 26 February 2011, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara; protests soon spread throughout the territory. and extended the MINURSO mission until 31 October 2007. - Yahia H. Zoubir and Daniel Volman (eds), ‘International Dimensions of the Western Sahara Conflict’, Westport, Praeger, 1993. [57] This move galvanized Morocco who then passed a law in January 2020 extending its recognized borders across Western Saharan waters. The first roundtable was held on 5 and 6 December, while a new roundtable was scheduled for 21 and 22 March. [69] Despite that, the NGO media outlet Équipe Media reported that the Moroccan government was exercising a strong police force, and had arrested several activists. The questions of mutual recognition, establishment of a possible Sahrawi state and the large numbers of Sahrawi refugees displaced by the conflict are among the key issues of the ongoing Western Sahara peace process. Media in category "Western Sahara War" The following 10 files are in this category, out of 10 total. [53], On 18 November, MINURSO reported harassing fire at points along the security wall. [78] The secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Yousef Al-Othaimeen, and the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Nayef bin Falah Al-Hajraf, stated that they support Morocco's efforts to what they called "securing freedom of civil and commercial movement. [71], On 14 November, some Sahrawi tribal leaders issued a joint statement in support of the Moroccan intervention to restore free movement in Guerguerat. [53], Members of European Parliament passed the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) in February 2019 which established an agreement for European Fishing vessels to fish in Moroccan territory and laid out plans for a transition towards a sustainable fishing model. Along with intense bombardment in Um Dagan region, Al-Bagari sector; Ajbeilat Lajdar region, Guelta sector; and Lagseibiyin region, Farsía Sector. It was intended to replace the Settlement Plan of 1991 and the Houston Agreement of 1997, which had effectively failed to make any lasting improvement. [50], On 15 November, more skirmishing was reported between SADR and Moroccan forces along the security wall,[16] especially near Al Mahbes where Moroccan forces claimed to have destroyed an SPLA armoured vehicle. [61] Sahrawi Ministry of Defense reported the military commander’s “martyrdom,” confirming his death to AFP. The Polisario Front accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused. Since early 2005, the UN Secretary-General has not referred to the plan in his reports, and by now it seems largely dead. However, unrest lingered among the region's population, and in 1967 the Harakat Tahrir arose to challenge Spanish rule peacefully. [65] By 2001, the process had reached a stalemate, and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other solutions. In 2011, new protests erupted again on 26 February, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting and rioting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara, and blossomed into protests across the territory. [35] The Polisario Front considers the road illegal since they say it was built in violation of the ceasefire. [83], As early as 1979, the idea of a defensive wall has been an obvious one for the Moroccan authorities. Morocco claims to have captured "dozens of Algerian officers and non-commissioned officers and soldiers" during these confrontations, but has released them to Algerian authorities.[31]. The Polisario gradually gained control over large swaths of the Western Saharan desert, and its power grew steadily after early 1975 when the Tropas Nomadas began deserting en masse to the Polisario Front, bringing their weapons and training with them. The territory remained disputed between Morocco and local forces well into the … More than 30 years after the war began, the displacement of large numbers of people and a ceasefire in 1991 that froze military positions, its end remains remote. [19] Morocco, claiming Tindouf and Béchar provinces, invaded Algeria in 1963, resulting in the brief Sand War, which ended in a military stalemate. [58], The Obama administration disassociated itself from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009, however, reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan, and returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara is on the table again. Revista Internacional de la Cruz Roja, 1, pp 83–83 (1976), "Women on Frontline in Struggle for Western Sahara", "Saharawi Liberation Army | SADR Permanent Mission in Ethiopia and African Union", "Sahrawis campaign for independence in the second intifada, Western Sahara, 2005–2008", "Western Sahara Between Autonomy and Intifada – Middle East Research and Information Project", "Western Sahara: Beatings, Abuse by Moroccan Security Forces", "Polisario leader says Western Sahara ceasefire with Morocco is over", "Western Sahara independence leader declares the end of a 29-year-old ceasefire with Morocco", "United Nations General Assembly A/55/997", "Memorandum of the Kingdom of Morocco on the regional dispute on the Sahara September 24, 2004", "United Nations – Security Council. Efforts to gain support in the Arab World for the idea of a Greater Morocco did not receive much support despite efforts in the early 1960s to enlist the Arab League for its cause. RABAT/ALGIERS (Reuters) - The Western Sahara’s Polisario Front group said on Friday that Morocco had broken their ceasefire and “ignited war”, but … In late 2010, the protests re-erupted in the Gdeim Izik refugee camp in Western Sahara. Constructed in six stages, from 1980 to 1987, five 'breaches' along the wall allow Moroccan troops the right of pursuit. Issued on: 13/11/2020 - 20:46. A war was fought until 1991, when the UN brokered a ceasefire and installed a peacekeeping force – the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known by its French acronym, MINURSO. [72] More than fifty riders from the Moroccan Bikers Club and the Royal Petanque Club organized on 27 December until 3 January 2021 a trip from Casablanca to the Guerguerat border crossing in a way to express their support for the Moroccan army's move to secure the crossing. (s/2001/613 Paragraph 54)", "Sahara Marathon: Host Interview Transcript", "US Ambassador urges dialogue between Morocco and Algeria", "The Polisario Front – Credible Negotiations Partner or After Effect of the Cold War and Obstacle to a Political Solution in Western Sahara? Lahcen Haddad - Lahcen Haddad is a Strategic Studies Expert. “War and Peace” in Western Sahara: Restoring Cross-Border Trade with Africa. El Hiba's forces were defeated during a failed campaign to conquer Marrakesh, and in retaliation French colonial forces destroyed the holy city of Smara in 1913. Issued on: 13/11/2020 - 20:46. [82], Azerbaijan,[83] Bahrain,[84] the Central African Republic,[85] Comoros,[85] the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[86] Chad,[87][88] Djibouti,[89] Equatorial Guinea,[90] Gabon,[91][89] the Gambia,[92] Guinea-Bissau,[93] Haiti,[94] Jordan,[95] Kuwait,[96] Liberia,[97] Oman,[98] Qatar,[99] Sao Tome and Principe,[85] Saudi Arabia,[100] Senegal,[101] Somalia,[102] Turkey,[103] Yemen (Hadi government),[104] the United Arab Emirates[105] and the United States[106] voiced their support for Morocco, while Guyana withdrew its recognition of the SADR.[107]. - Tony Hodges, ‘Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War’, Westport, Lawrence Hill, 1983. United Nations Visiting Mission to Spanish Sahara, 1975, General Assembly, 30th Session, Supplement 23, UN DocumentA/10023/Rev. The Western Sahara War was an armed conflict, lasting from 1975 to 1991, fought primarily between the Polisario Front and Morocco. By. Polisario disingenuously claims that Sahrawis were simply engaging in peaceful protest in the Guerguerat buffer zone close to the southern border with Mauritania.… Algeria sees itself as an "important actor" in the conflict,[30] and officially supports the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination. [30] In early November, around 200 Moroccan truck drivers appealed to Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities for help, saying they were stranded on the Mauritanian side of the border near Guerguerat, and adding that they didn't have access to drinking water, food, shelter, or medicine, with some suffering from chronic illnesses. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the Tindouf refugee camps, Mauritania and other locations throughout the world. [50], On 13 November, the Authenticity and Modernity Party, the Party of Progress and Socialism, the Popular Movement Party, and the Independence Party voiced their support for the Moroccan military intervention. [citation needed]. [28] After the war, on 6 September 1991, an UN-brokered ceasefire was signed,[29] promising a referendum on self-determination to the Sahrawis. Article 381 restricts citizens from claiming a profession without meeting the necessary qualifications. The first round of talks took place on 18–19 June 2007,[69] during which both parties agreed to resume talks on 10–11 August. War-torn countries seldom make for attractive tourist destinations, and that is exactly what Morocco will become in the event of its continued illegal occupation of the Western Sahara. [71] The negotiations were supervised by Peter van Walsum, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's personal envoy for Western Sahara. Western Sahara, the resumption of war between Morocco and Saharawi people would be a disaster “The resumption of a war between Morocco and the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army would be a disaster: about 100,000 people live in the liberated territories, who would be forced to leave their homes and goods to become refugees in Mauritania or the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. According to Pascal Bongard, program director at Geneva Call, between five and ten million land mines have been laid in the areas around the wall.