Western Sahara

الصحراء الغربية Al-Ṣaḥrā' al-Ġarbiyyah Sáhara Occidental Western Sahara
Capital	N/A
Largest city	El Aaiún (Laâyoune)
Official languages	N/A
Government
Disputed sovereignty1
- Relinquished by Spain	November 14 1975
Area
- Total	266,000 km² (77th) 102,703 sq mi
- Water (%)	negligible
Population
- July 2005 estimate	341,000
- Density	1.3/km² 3.4/sq mi
Currency	Moroccan dirham (MAD)
Time zone	UTC (UTC+0)
Internet TLD	.ma (.eh is reserved but not used[citation needed])
Calling code	+2122
1 Mostly administrated by Morocco as its Southern Provinces. The Polisario Front claims to control the area behind the border wall as the Free Zone on behalf of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. 2 Code for Morocco; no code specific to Western Sahara has been issued by the ITU.

Western Sahara, located in northwestern Africa, is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands.

Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement dispute control of the territory, with Morocco having de facto control over most of the territory. Morocco bases its claims on historical proclamations by tribal chiefs of allegiance to Moroccan sultans. The Polisario Front was formed with Algerian and Soviet bloc backing as an independence movement when Spain still controlled the area as a colony. Today, geopolitical ambitions, hopes of exploiting natural resources, and concerns about the spread of terrorism in the region play a role in the failure to achieve an acceptable political settlement.

Geography

NASA photo of El Aaiún.

Western Sahara is bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The land is some of the most arid and inhospitable on the planet, but is rich in phosphates in Bou Craa. The largest city is El Aaiún (Laâyoune), which is home to over half of the population.

Saguia el Hamra is the northern third with the city Laayoune. Río de Oro is the southern two-thirds (south of Cape Bojador), with the city Dakhla. The peninsula in the extreme southwest, with the city of Lagouira, is called Ras Nouadhibou, Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco. The eastern side is part of Mauritania.

The climate is hot, dry desert; rain is rare; cold offshore air currents produce fog and heavy dew. Hot, dry, dust/sand-laden sirocco winds can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60 percent of the time, often severely restricting visibility.

The terrain is mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in the south and northeast. Along the coast, steep cliffs line the shore, and shipwrecks are visible. The lowest point is Sebjet Tah (-55 m) and the highest point (unnamed) is 463 m. Natural resources are phosphates and iron ore. Water and arable land are scarce.

Plant and animal life is restricted to those species adapted to desert conditions, such as fennec foxes, jerboas and other rodents, and hyenas. Reptiles include lizards and snakes.

History

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Western Sahara in historical times were agriculturalists called Bafour. The Bafour were later replaced or absorbed by Berber-language speaking populations that eventually merged in turn with migrating Arab tribes, although the Arabic-speaking majority in the Western Sahara clearly by the historical record descend from Berber tribes that adopted Arabic over time. There may have been some Phoenician contacts in antiquity, but such contacts left few if any long-term traces.

The arrival of Islam in the eighth century played a major role in the development of relationships between the Saharan regions that later became the modern territories of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Algeria, and neighboring regions. Trade developed further and the region became a passage for caravans, especially between Marrakesh and Timbuktu in Mali. In the Middle Ages, the Almohad and Almoravid movements and dynasties both originated from the Saharan regions and were able to control the area.

Towards the late Middle Ages, the Beni Hassan Arab Bedouin tribes invaded the Maghreb, reaching the northern border area of the Sahara in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Over roughly five centuries, through a complex process of acculturation and mixing seen elsewhere in the Maghreb and North Africa, the indigenous Berber tribes adopted Hassaniya Arabic and a mixed Arab-Berber nomadic culture.

Spanish Province

During the first decade of the twentieth century, after an agreement among the European colonial powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884 on the division of spheres of influence in Africa, Spain seized control of the Western Sahara and declared it to be a Spanish protectorate in a series of wars against the local tribes reminiscent of similar European colonial adventures of the period, in the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere.

Spanish colonial rule began to unravel with the general wave of decolonizations after World War II, which saw Europeans lose control of North African and sub-Saharan Africa possessions and protectorates. Spanish decolonization began rather late, as internal political and social pressures for it in mainland Spain built up toward the end of Francisco Franco's rule, and in combination with the global trend toward complete decolonization. Spain began rapidly and even chaotically divesting itself of most of its remaining colonial possessions. After initially being violently opposed to decolonization, Spain began to give in and by 1974-1975 issued promises of a referendum on independence. The nascent Polisario Front, a nationalist organization that had begun fighting the Spanish in 1973, had been demanding such a move.

At the same time, Morocco and Mauritania, which had historical claims of sovereignty over the territory based on competing traditional claims, argued that the territory was artificially separated from their territories by the European colonial powers. The third neighbor of Spanish Sahara, Algeria, viewed these demands with suspicion, influenced by its long-running rivalry with Morocco. After arguing for a process of decolonization guided by the United Nations, the government of Houari Boumédiènne committed itself in 1975 to assisting the Polisario Front, which opposed both Moroccan and Mauritanian claims and demanded full independence.

The UN attempted to settle these disputes through a visiting mission in late 1975, as well as a verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared that the Western Sahara possessed the right of self-determination. On November 6, 1975, 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged on the city of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and waited for a signal from King Hassan II to cross into Western Sahara, known as the Green March.

Demands for Independence

In the waning days of General Franco's rule in November 1975, the Spanish government secretly signed on November 14, 1975, mere days before Franco's death, a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania as it moved to abandon the territory. Although the accords foresaw a tripartite administration, Morocco and Mauritania each moved to annex the territory, with Morocco taking control of the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces, and Mauritania taking control the southern third as Tiris al-Gharbiyya. Spain terminated its presence in Spanish Sahara within three months, repatriating even Spanish corpses from its cemeteries. The Moroccan and Mauritanian moves, however, met staunch opposition from the Polisario, which had by now gained backing from Algeria. In 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal due to pressures from Polisario, Morocco extended its control to the rest of the territory, and gradually contained the guerrillas through setting up an extensive sand berm in the desert to exclude guerrilla fighters. Hostilities ceased in a 1991 cease-fire, overseen by the peacekeeping mission MINURSO, under the terms of the UN's Settlement Plan.

The Referendum Stalls

The referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, foresaw giving the local population the option between independence or affirming integration with Morocco, but it quickly stalled. As of 2007, negotiations over terms had not resulted in any substantive action. At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies to be registered to participate in the referendum, and, since about 2000, Morocco's refusal to accept independence as an option on the ballot while the Polisario insists on its inclusion.

Both sides blame each other for the lack of action. The Polisario has insisted that only the persons found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below) be allowed to vote, while Morocco asserts the census was flawed and seeks to include members of Sahrawi tribes with recent historical presence in the Spanish Sahara.

By 2001, the process had effectively stalemated and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other solutions. Morocco has offered autonomy as an option.

Baker Plan

As personal envoy of the Secretary-General, James Baker visited all sides and produced the document known as the "Baker Plan". This envisioned an autonomous Western Sahara Authority (WSA), to be followed after five years by the referendum. Every person present in the territory would be allowed to vote, regardless of birthplace and with no regard to the Spanish census. It was rejected by both sides, although it was initially derived from a Moroccan proposal. According to Baker's draft, tens of thousands of post-annexation immigrants from Morocco proper (viewed by Polisario as settlers but by Morocco as legitimate inhabitants of the area) would be granted the vote in the Sahrawi independence referendum, and the ballot would be split three ways by the inclusion of an unspecified "autonomy", further undermining the independence camp. Also, Morocco would be allowed to keep its army in the area and to retain control over security during both the autonomy years and the election.

In 2003, a new version of the plan was made official, with some additions spelling out the powers of the WSA, making it less reliant on Moroccan devolution. It also provided further detail on the referendum process to make it harder to stall or subvert. This second draft, commonly known as Baker II, was accepted by the Polisario as a "basis of negotiations," to the surprise of many. After that, the draft quickly garnered widespread international support, culminating in the UN Security Council's unanimous endorsement of the plan in the summer of 2003.

Western Sahara today

Today the Baker II document appears politically redundant, since Baker resigned his post in 2004 following several months of failed attempts to get Morocco to enter into formal negotiations on the plan. The new king, Mohammed VI, opposes any referendum on independence and has said Morocco will never agree to one. Instead, he proposes a self-governing Western Sahara as an autonomous community within Morocco, through an appointed advisory body.

The UN has put forth no replacement strategy after the breakdown of Baker II. In 2005, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported increased military activity on both sides of the front and breaches of several cease-fire provisions against strengthening military fortifications.

Morocco has repeatedly tried to get Algeria into bilateral negotiations that would define the exact limits of Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan rule, but only after Morocco's "inalienable right" to the territory was recognized as a precondition to the talks. The Algerian government has consistently refused, claiming it has neither the will nor the right to negotiate on the behalf of the Polisario.

Demonstrations and riots by supporters of independence and/or a referendum broke out in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara in May 2005, and in parts of southern Morocco (notably the town of Assa). They were met by police force. Several international human rights organizations have expressed concern at what they termed abuse by Moroccan security forces, and a number of Sahrawi activists have been jailed. Pro-independence Sahrawi sources, including the Polisario, have given these demonstrations the name "Independence Intifada", while sources supporting the Moroccan claims have attempted to minimize the events as being of limited importance. International press and other media coverage has been sparse, and reporting is complicated by the Moroccan government's policy of strictly controlling independent media coverage within the territory.

Morocco declared in February 2006 that it was contemplating a plan for devolving a limited variant of autonomy to the territory but still refused any referendum on independence. The Polisario Front has intermittently threatened to resume fighting, referring to the Moroccan refusal of a referendum as a breach of the cease-fire terms, but most observers seem to consider armed conflict unlikely without a green light from Algeria, which houses the Sahrawis' refugee camps and has been the main military sponsor of the movement.

In April 2007 the government of Morocco suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the UN Security Council in mid-April 2007. The stalemate led the UN in its recent "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution. On April 10, U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns called the initiative Morocco presented "a serious and credible proposal to provide real autonomy for the Western Sahara." The State Department said the United States hopes Morocco's presentation of its initiative to the United Nations will spur discussion and create an opportunity for Morocco and the Polisario to engage in direct negotiations, without preconditions, to resolve the Western Sahara dispute.

NEW YORK (AP) - Morocco and the Polisario Front independence group agreed to more talks on the fate of Western Sahara but didn't budge on their separate demands during a second set of U.N.-led meetings that ended Saturday, a diplomat said.

Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario's U.N. representative, also said that the U.N. introduced two ``confidence-building proposals to promote an end to the 32-year dispute over the sparsely populated region in northwest Africa, but that they were rejected by Morocco.

The first, he said, involved eliminating land mines in Western Sahara and the second dealt with human rights. ``We regret that Morocco rejected the proposals on the table yesterday to discuss ways to create confidence building, Boukhari said.

Boukhari characterized the two-day talks, held at the secluded Greentree Estate in Manhasset, about 25 miles east of New York City, as a repeat of round one in June, when the parties held their first direct negotiations in seven years.

In the run-up to the latest talks, neither side indicated it would change its position. Morocco has proposed limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. The Polisario Front has demanded a referendum with a choice of autonomy or independence for the Saharawi people who live there and are now outnumbered by Moroccan settlers, two to one.

Morocco's U.N. mission did not immediately return calls or an e-mail seeking comment about the confidence-building measures Saturday. However, at a news conference Saturday evening, Moroccan Interior Minister Chakib Benmussa criticized Polisario for having ``the same position as before.

Polisario seeks to implement ``previous plans that the international community realized ... cannot be applied as they have been set, so we have an initiative that is open to negotiation and such (an) initiative could be the basis for a final solution, Benmussa said.

A statement released by U.N. mediator Peter van Walsum on Saturday evening acknowledged that the latest discussions included confidence-building measures but did not specify them.

The negotiating parties also received presentations on the topics of natural resources and the local administration of the region, the U.N. statement said.

``I am pleased that we were able to hold substantive talks in which the parties interacted with one another and expressed their views, it said. ``The parties acknowledge that the current status quo is unacceptable and they have committed to continue these negotiations in good faith.

A date and venue for a third session of talks have yet to be determined, the statement said.

Boukhari said it was important to continue the negotiations. ``We would like the U.N. to remain engaged and encourage all parties to remain engaged, Boukhari said.

Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to meet after the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on April 30 urging talks over the phosphate-rich region.

Morocco, whose occupation of the former Spanish colony in 1975 sparked a 16-year war with the Polisario guerrillas, has insisted that its autonomy plan, unveiled in early April, offers ``the only realistic solution.

The Polisario Front, an indigenous independence movement backed by Algeria, maintains that its April proposal for a referendum with independence as an option is crucial to achieving self-determination for the Saharawis and to complete the territory's decolonization.

Politics

Police checkpoint at suburbs of Laayoune.

The legal status of the territory and the question of its sovereignty remains unresolved; the territory is contested between Morocco and Polisario Front. It is considered a non self-governed territory by the United Nations.

The government of Morocco is a formally constitutional monarchy under Mohammed VI with a bicameral parliament. The last elections to the lower house were deemed reasonably free and fair by international observers. Certain powers such as the capacity to appoint the government and to dissolve parliament remain in the hands of the monarch. The Morocco-controlled parts of Western Sahara are divided into several provinces treated as integral parts of the kingdom. The Moroccan government heavily subsidizes the Saharan provinces under its control with cut-rate fuel and related subsidies, to appease nationalist dissent and attract immigrants - or settlers - from loyalist Sahrawi and other communities in Morocco proper.

The exiled government of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a form of single-party parliamentary and presidential system, but according to its constitution, this will be changed into a multi-party system at the achievement of independence. It is presently based at the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which it controls. It also claims to control the part of Western Sahara to the east of the Moroccan Wall, as the Free Zone. This area is more or less unpopulated and the Moroccan government views it as a no-man's land patrolled by UN troops.

Human rights

The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human rights abuses, most notably the displacement of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, the expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria, and numerous casualties of war and repression.

During the war years (1975-1991), both sides accused each other of targeting civilians. Moroccan claims of Polisario terrorism has generally little to no support abroad, with the USA, EU and UN all refusing to include the group on their lists of terrorist organizations. Polisario leaders maintain that they are ideologically opposed to terrorism, and insist that collective punishment and forced disappearances among Sahrawi civilians should be considered state terrorism on the part of Morocco. Both Morocco and the Polisario additionally accuse each other of violating the human rights of the populations under their control, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, respectively. Morocco and organizations such as France Libertés consider Algeria to be directly responsible for any crimes committed on its territory, and accuse the country of having been directly involved in such violations.

• Morocco has been repeatedly criticized by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International [1] [2] [3], Human Rights Watch [4] [5] and the World Organization Against Torture [6] [7] [8], Freedom House [9], Reporters Without Borders [10], the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [11] for its actions in Western Sahara.

• Polisario has received criticism from the French organization France Libertes on its treatment of Moroccan prisoners-of-war, and on its general behavior in the Tindouf refugee camps in reports by the Belgian organization ESISC, or European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. A number of former Polisario officials who have defected to Morocco accuse the organization of abuse of human rights and sequestration of the population in Tindouf.

According to the Moroccan American Center for Policy, Today, Algeria is the primary financial, political and military supporter of the Polisario Front. Though Libya and countries of the former Soviet Bloc historically backed the Polisario Front in the past, their support has decreased since the end of the Cold War.

Sahrawi refugees in the Tindouf Camps depend on humanitarian aid donated by several United Nations organizations as well as international Non-Governmental Organizations. It is widely believed that much of this humanitarian aid never reaches those it is intended to assist because it is often sold on the black market in neighboring countries by the Polisario Front. While many in the international community have called for the implementation of a census and an audit system to insure the transparent management of the humanitarian aid, to date, the Polisario Front has not allowed a census of the Sahrawi refugee camps, nor does it permit independent oversight of its management of humanitarian assistance.

Fidel Castro’s regime in Cuba also supports the Polisario Front and Algeria in their attempt to create a communist, anti-imperialist rogue state in the Sahara. Cuba has also been the primary destination for Sahrawi youth who have been kidnapped from the refugee camps and sent to Castro’s Island of Youth for brainwashing and indoctrination. In Cuba, Sahrawi children are taught to believe that Morocco and the United States are their “enemy” and that they should always be prepared for the impending “War.” Kidnapped Sahrawi youth are also inundated with anti-Western, Marxist and Leninist teachings. The Polisario Front’s objective for the deportation of Sahrawi children is two-fold: 1) to separate families and destroy the most basic element of a society and 2) to keep pressure on family members to remain in the camps and be complicit with the Polisario Front leadership in order to not endanger their children’s welfare.

Administrative division

The Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania in April 1976, with Morocco acquiring the northern two-thirds of the territory. When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control over the whole territory. The official Moroccan government name for Western Sahara is the "Southern Provinces", which indicates Río de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra.

Not under control of the Moroccan government is the area that lies between the border wall and the actual border with Algeria. The Polisario Front claims to run this as the Free Zone on behalf of the SADR. The area is patrolled by Polisario forces, and access is restricted, even among Sahrawis, due to the harsh climate of the Sahara, the military conflict and the abundance of land mines.

The Polisario forces (of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army, SPLA) in the area are divided into seven "military regions", each controlled by a top commander reporting to the President of the Polisario proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Tifariti

Economy

Aside from its rich phosphate deposits and fishing waters, Western Sahara has few natural resources and lacks sufficient rainfall for most agricultural activities. There is speculation that there may be rich off-shore oil and natural gas fields, but the debate persists as to whether these resources can be profitably exploited, and if this would be legally permitted due to the non-decolonized status of Western Sahara.

Western Sahara's economy is centered around nomadic herding, fishing, and phosphate mining. Most food for the urban population is imported. All trade and other economic activities are controlled by the Moroccan government. The government has encouraged citizens to relocate to the territory by giving subsidies and price controls on basic goods. These heavy subsidies have created a state-dominated economy in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara, with the Moroccan government as the single biggest employer.

Exploitation debate

After reasonably exploitable oil fields were located in neighboring Mauritania, speculation intensified on the possibility of major oil resources being located off the coast of Western Sahara. Despite the fact that findings remain inconclusive, both Morocco and the Polisario have made deals with oil and gas exploration companies. U.S. and French companies began prospecting on behalf of Morocco.

File:Western Sahara sat.png

Satellite image of Western Sahara, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map Library

In 2002, Hans Corell, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and head of its Office of Legal Affairs issued a legal opinion on the matter. This opinion stated that while exploration of the area was permitted, exploitation was not, on the basis that Morocco is not a recognized administrative power of the territory, and thus lacks the capacity to issue such licenses.

In May 2006 the remaining company Kerr-McGee also left following sales of numerous share holders like the National Norwegian Oil Fund, due to continued pressure from NGOs and corporate groups.

Despite the UN report and the development regarding the exploration of oil, the European Union wants to exploit fishing resources in waters outside Western Sahara and has signed a fishing treaty with Morocco.

Demographics

The indigenous population of Western Sahara is known as Sahrawis. These are Hassaniya-speaking tribes of mixed Arab-Berber heritage, effectively continuations of the tribal groupings of Hassaniya speaking Moorish tribes extending south into Mauritania and north into Morocco as well as east into Algeria. The Sahrawis are traditionally nomadic bedouins, and can be found in all surrounding countries. War and conflict has led to major displacements of the population.

As of July 2004, an estimated 267,405 people (excluding the Moroccan army of some 160,000) live in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara. Morocco has engaged in "Moroccanization" of the area, bringing in large numbers of settlers in anticipation of a UN-administered referendum on independence. While many of them are from Sahrawi tribal groups extending into southern Morocco, some are also non-Sahrawi Moroccans from other regions. The settler population is today thought to outnumber the indigenous Western Sahara Sahrawis. The precise size and composition of the population is subject to political controversy.

The Polisario-controlled parts of Western Sahara are barren and have no resident population, but they are traveled by small numbers of Sahrawis herding camels, going back and forth between the Tindouf area and Mauritania. However, the presence of mines scattered throughout the territory by both the Polisario and the Moroccan army makes it a dangerous way of life.

The Spanish census and MINURSO

A 1974 Spanish census claimed there were some 74,000 Sahrawis in the area at the time (in addition to approximately 20,000 Spanish residents), but this number is likely to be on the low side, due to the difficulty in counting a nomad people, even if Sahrawis were by the mid-1970s mostly urbanized. Despite these possible inaccuracies, Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed on using the Spanish census as the basis for voter registration when striking a cease-fire argeement in the late 1980s, contingent on the holding of a referendum on independence or integration into Morocco.

In December of 1999 the United Nations' MINURSO mission announced that it had identified 86,425 eligible voters for the referendum that was supposed to be held under the 1991 Settlement plan and the 1997 Houston accords. By "eligible voter" the UN referred to any Sahrawi over 18 years of age that was part of the Spanish census or could prove his/her descent from someone who was. These 86,425 Sahrawis were dispersed between Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara and the refugee camps in Algeria, with smaller numbers in Mauritania and other places of exile. These numbers cover only Sahrawis 'indigenous' to the Western Sahara during the Spanish colonial period, not the total number of "ethnic" Sahrawis (i.e, members of Sahrawi tribal groupings), who also extend into Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria. The number was highly politically significant due to the expected organization of a referendum on self-determination.

The Polisario has its home base in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, and declares the number of Sahrawi population in the camps to be approximately 155,000. Morocco disputes this number, saying it is exaggerated for political reasons and for attracting more foreign aid. The UN uses a number of 90,000 "most vulnerable" refugees as basis for its food aid program.

Status of Refugees

GENEVA, September 4 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday it feared that a lack of funding could bring a halt to confidence-building measures connecting Sahrawi refugees in Algeria and their relatives in the Western Sahara Territory.

In January, UNHCR appealed for nearly US$3.5 million to continue the family visits and telephone services initiated in 2004 between refugees in western Algeria's Tindouf camps and their kinfolk across the border.

"But with only a little over half of the appeal funded so far, the whole operation risks being stopped next month [October]," UNHCR's chief spokesman, Ron Redmond, told reporters in Geneva, adding that the agency was "very concerned."

Sahrawi refugees started arriving in Algeria in 1976 after Spain withdrew from the Western Sahara and fighting broke out over its control. Most of the Sahrawi refugees have been living for 32 years in the desert regions of Tindouf. However, a part of the Sahrawis stayed in the Western Sahara and today families remain separated.

UNHCR introduced several measures to build confidence between the two groups and to re-establish contact between families. The refugee agency gives Sahrawis the possibility of five-day visits with relatives and loved ones, reuniting many of them after 32 years of separation. The visits contribute significantly to relieving the trauma and suffering of the Sahrawi people.

Since they started in March 2004, a total of 154 visits have taken place involving 4,255 people – mainly women. An additional 14,726 people have registered and are waiting to take part in the programme, which is funded by UNHCR.

The agency hopes to cut costs by running reunion convoys between Tindouf and Smara City in Western Sahara, a proposal that will cut costs and allow more people to benefit. The idea has been positively received but awaits a green light.

The telephone services are also highly popular – almost 80,000 calls have been placed in four refugee camps in Algeria with telephone centres since 2004. A fifth centre will be opened in October in Dakhla, which is the most remote refugee camp.

In recent weeks, UNHCR has also received suggestions from Moroccan authorities that Sahrawi refugees and their relatives be allowed to attend funerals and weddings. A small number of Sahrawis on both sides may also be allowed to undertake pilgrimages to Mecca, pending the availability of funds.

Culture

The major ethnic group of the Western Sahara are the Sahrawis, a nomadic or Bedouin tribal or ethnic group speaking Ḥassānīya dialect of Arabic, also spoken in much of Mauritania. They are of mixed Arab-Berber descent, but claim descent from the Beni Hassan, a Yemeni tribe supposed to have migrated across the desert in the eleventh century.

Physically indistinguishable from the Hassaniya speaking Moors of Mauritania, the Sahrawi people differ from their neighbors partly due to different tribal affiliations (as tribal confederations cut across present modern boundaries) and partly as a consequence of their exposure to Spanish colonial domination. Surrounding territories were generally under French colonial rule.

Like other neighboring Saharan Bedouin and Hassaniya groups, the Sahrawis are Muslims of the Sunni sect and the Maliki law school. Local religious custom is, like other Saharan groups, heavily influenced by pre-Islamic Berber and African practices, and differs substantially from urban practices. For example, Sahrawi Islam has traditionally functioned without mosques in the normal sense of the word, in an adaptation to nomadic life.

The originally clan- and tribe-based society underwent a massive social upheaval in 1975, when a part of the population was forced into exile and settled in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria. Families were broken up by the fight.

The Moroccan government considerably invested in the social and economic development of the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara with special emphasis on education, modernization and infrastructure. El-Aaiun in particular has been the target of heavy government investment, and has grown rapidly. Several thousand Sahrawis study in Moroccan universities. Literacy rates are appreciated at some 50% of the population.

To date, there have been few thorough studies of the culture due in part to the political situation. Some language and culture studies, mainly by French researchers, have been performed on Sahrawi communities in northern Mauritania.

References and further reading

• Radu, Michael. 2007. "Struggle in the Sandbox: Western Sahara and the 'International Community'" [12] Foreign Policy Research Institute.
• Hodges, Tony. 1983. Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War. Lawrence Hill Books ISBN 0882081527
• Pazzanita, Anthony G. and Tony Hodges. 1994. Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara. Scarecrow Press ISBN 0810826615
• Shelley, Toby. 2004. Endgame in the Western Sahara: What Future for Africa's Last Colony?. Zed Books. ISBN 1842773410
• Jensen, Erik. 2005. Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate, International Peace Studies. ISBN 1588263053

External links

Overviews

• BBC - Country profile: Western Sahara
• CIA World Factbook - Western Sahara
• Open Directory Project - Western Sahara directory category

News

• allAfrica.com - Western Sahara news headline links
• The Yahoo! Sahara Update group

Special topics

• Western Sahara, Landmine Monitor Report 2003
• Jacob Mundy - "Seized of the Matter". The UN and the Western Sahara Dispute.PDF On the Baker Plan debate
• Western Sahara Project: archaeology and past environmental change in Western Sahara

Maps

• http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/dpko/minurso.pdf Minurso Deployment as of October 2006, Map No. 3691 Rev. 53 United Nations, October 2006 (Colour), Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Cartographic Section

Other

• Association de soutien à un référendum libre et régulier au Sahara Occidental, a multilingual resource
• Western Sahara Online (pro-Polisario)
• Western Sahara Online (pro-Morocco)
• Western Sahara - A Forgotten Country!
• Moroccan American Center for Policy

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