The dossier is open since 1975. Forty year later the international community still has to grant a clear status to the Sahrawi people
by Emanuele Bonini
For some people it is a state, for others it is a region; just a few recognize it as an independent, many prefer not to purchase its own sovereignty. According to the different parties, it may be the Western Sahara or Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), although the latter definition is nowadays used only by the local population after the Polisario Front - the Sahrawi national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the Western Sahara - proclaimed the SADR on February 27, 1976. Already in 1963 the United Nations included Western Sahara in the list of non-self-governing territories. The Sahrawi people self-proclaim independence immediately after the end of the Spanish colonization, but nothing has changed since than. Morocco took the control over the territory, leaving the SADR government the ruling rights over about 25% of the land claimed by the Sahrawi people. The two thirds of Western Sahara territories have been controlling by Morocco and treated by the government as part of the national kingdom. «The Southern Provinces» or «Moroccan Sahara» are the terms used by the Moroccan government for Western Sahara. Today Western Sahara is still a disputed territory with an undefined status, with a freezed provisional solution.
The Western Sahara issue comes from the Spanish withdrawal conditions foreseen in the Madrid Accords (1975), by which the administrative control of the former colony was transferred to Morocco and Mauritania, but not the sovereignty. Since the beginning the Polisario Front claimed the independence. As a result, an armed struggle broke out. From the 30th of October 1975 to the 6th of September 1991, the two opponents (Polisario Front and Morocco) fought for the sovereignty in Western Sahara. After fifteen years of war, in 1991 the United Nations finally decided to intervene to try to find a solution. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was launched with the aim of restoring peace and defining once and for all a clear political status for the Sahrawi people. But nothing happened. While the UN worked in order to get a feasible solution without producing any concrete outcomes, Morocco started working secretly to safeguard its own interests.
The Moroccan authorities granted to European countries the rights of exploitation of natural resources in return of the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony. Thus in 2001 the National Office for Oil Research and Exploitation (ONAREP, then transformed in the current ONHYM) awarded oil exploration permits for Western Sahara’s entire offshore area to TotalFinaElf (France) and Kerr-McGee Corporation (United States of America) (http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2001/momyb01.pdf). So, when in 2006 at the United Nations headquarters the Moroccan Initiative in the Western Sahara (in a nutshell: recognition of autonomy under the sovereignty of the Moroccan crown, legislative exclusivity of Morocco, and recognition of Sahrawi language and culture), the plan was backed by the international community. Of course the Polisario Front rejected the proposal, but the international community was standing with the Moroccan part. Mission MINURSO didn't kake any sense any longer, as the Sahrawi people still wait for the referendum.
Today the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is officially recognised by only 47 UN member states. None of the main countries have recognised the SADR. Amongst the emerging economies, only India was supporting the Sahrawi cause, before reconsidering its policy putting to end to the support. None of the EU member States has never supported the Polisario Front, although the European Union recognise the sovereignty of Morocco in Western Sahara.
Read also:
- The United Nations and Western Sahara: A Never-ending Affair
For some people it is a state, for others it is a region; just a few recognize it as an independent, many prefer not to purchase its own sovereignty. According to the different parties, it may be the Western Sahara or Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), although the latter definition is nowadays used only by the local population after the Polisario Front - the Sahrawi national liberation movement aiming to end Moroccan presence in the Western Sahara - proclaimed the SADR on February 27, 1976. Already in 1963 the United Nations included Western Sahara in the list of non-self-governing territories. The Sahrawi people self-proclaim independence immediately after the end of the Spanish colonization, but nothing has changed since than. Morocco took the control over the territory, leaving the SADR government the ruling rights over about 25% of the land claimed by the Sahrawi people. The two thirds of Western Sahara territories have been controlling by Morocco and treated by the government as part of the national kingdom. «The Southern Provinces» or «Moroccan Sahara» are the terms used by the Moroccan government for Western Sahara. Today Western Sahara is still a disputed territory with an undefined status, with a freezed provisional solution.
The Western Sahara issue comes from the Spanish withdrawal conditions foreseen in the Madrid Accords (1975), by which the administrative control of the former colony was transferred to Morocco and Mauritania, but not the sovereignty. Since the beginning the Polisario Front claimed the independence. As a result, an armed struggle broke out. From the 30th of October 1975 to the 6th of September 1991, the two opponents (Polisario Front and Morocco) fought for the sovereignty in Western Sahara. After fifteen years of war, in 1991 the United Nations finally decided to intervene to try to find a solution. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was launched with the aim of restoring peace and defining once and for all a clear political status for the Sahrawi people. But nothing happened. While the UN worked in order to get a feasible solution without producing any concrete outcomes, Morocco started working secretly to safeguard its own interests.
The Moroccan authorities granted to European countries the rights of exploitation of natural resources in return of the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony. Thus in 2001 the National Office for Oil Research and Exploitation (ONAREP, then transformed in the current ONHYM) awarded oil exploration permits for Western Sahara’s entire offshore area to TotalFinaElf (France) and Kerr-McGee Corporation (United States of America) (http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2001/momyb01.pdf). So, when in 2006 at the United Nations headquarters the Moroccan Initiative in the Western Sahara (in a nutshell: recognition of autonomy under the sovereignty of the Moroccan crown, legislative exclusivity of Morocco, and recognition of Sahrawi language and culture), the plan was backed by the international community. Of course the Polisario Front rejected the proposal, but the international community was standing with the Moroccan part. Mission MINURSO didn't kake any sense any longer, as the Sahrawi people still wait for the referendum.
Today the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is officially recognised by only 47 UN member states. None of the main countries have recognised the SADR. Amongst the emerging economies, only India was supporting the Sahrawi cause, before reconsidering its policy putting to end to the support. None of the EU member States has never supported the Polisario Front, although the European Union recognise the sovereignty of Morocco in Western Sahara.
Read also:
- The United Nations and Western Sahara: A Never-ending Affair
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