Summary

Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa and is the subject of a territorial dispute between Morocco, which annexed the territory in 1975 and claims sovereignty there, and the Polisario Front, the national liberation movement representing the Saharawis, which calls for an independent state in the territory. Currently, Western Sahara is divided politically, militarily, and geographically by a 2,200 km-long Moroccan-built defensive berm. About a fifth of the territory, lying east of the berm, is controlled by the Polisario Front.

The sixteen-year war that broke out in 1975, when Morocco and Mauritania jointly invaded Western Sahara upon Spain’s rapid exit from its former colony, is undoubtedly the single most important cause behind the large-scale displacement of the Saharawi population. Nearly thirty years later, most of them are still refugees in the barren and remote desert of south-west Algeria. They live in camps run by the Polisario Front. The government-in-exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also operates from the camps.

Exact figures for the size of the refugee population are difficult to obtain, and have been a source of contention. The most consistent figure quoted by numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Algerian authorities is 165,000. Outside of Western Sahara, the refugees are the largest Saharawi community. Significant but much smaller ones exist in Mauritania, mainland Spain, and the Canary Islands.

Morocco’s ongoing occupation of Western Sahara (Mauritania withdrew in 1979) is a violation of international law and has resulted in systematic human rights abuses over the years. These have been documented extensively by internationally respected human rights organizations. So far, all efforts by the United Nations (UN) to achieve a long-lasting and peaceful solution to the conflict have been thwarted. The Organization of African Unity–United Nations (OAU–UN) sponsored a Settlement Plan intended to culminate in a referendum for Saharawi self-determination in early 1992, but this has been repeatedly postponed. Morocco, meanwhile, has strengthened its de facto annexation of Western Sahara in the period since the UN brokered a cease-fire and deployed its forces in 1991. Roughly 200,000 Moroccan settlers have been moved into the so-called Southern Province, and active steps have been taken to develop the territory and exploit its natural resources.

Initiatives pursued outside the framework of the UN Peace Plan since 2000 to overcome the impasse have yielded few results. In the first half of 2004, however, the Polisario has made progress in releasing a significant number of long-term Moroccan prisoners-of-war (POWs); and in early 2004, both parties agreed to allow close Saharawi family members, from either side of the berm, to have contact, after three decades of separation. Any future resolution will need to address the repatriation and security of the Saharawi refugees and the demining of the area along the Moroccan berm, believed to harbour between 1 million and 2 million landmines.

Obtaining accurate or reliable information about the situation in Western Sahara is hampered by highly restricted access to the occupied zone. Although Morocco has allowed a limited number of journalists, NGOs, and independent observers to visit the territory since 1998, movement is curtailed and closely monitored, and contact with local Saharawis may put them at risk.