The War In The Sahara (original) (raw)

background briefing by Donald MacDonald, CWU President

This is a slightly updated version of an article first published by TUCND in "Peace & Society" in November, 1993.

Polisario Camp Patrol in the Sahara

For more than twenty years the indigenous people of the Western Sahara have been bravely struggling for their very survival against the armies of three different invading nations.

Combatants and civilians alike have been bombed, strafed, jailed, tortured, principally by the occupying Moroccan forces. Yet despite their fighting forces being outnumbered, Polisario has destroyed a third of wealthy Morocco's air strength as well as taking over two thousand prisoners of war.

The origins of the war lie in the 19th century grab for Africa by the European powers.

From a power base on the coastal strip, Spain occupied and controlled the area, which became known as the Spanish Sahara until 1976. Liberation struggles had been ruthlessly suppressed in 1957-58 and 1967-70, but by the early 70s it was becoming clear that none of the European powers would be able to hold on to "their" African possessions by brute force.

Following the Portuguese revolution in April 1974, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau were soon recognised as independent states. It was inconceivable that in neighbouring Spain, the ailing General Franco and his decaying fascist Falangist regime would survive in that country let alone in its last African territory.

The liberation forces in Spanish Sahara came together and formed Polisario in May 1973. This signalled the renewal of the struggle for independence. Within two and a half years the colonial power was on its knees and the Spanish were preparing to withdraw. But rather than prepare for the nation's independence, Spain (who had previously done little in terms of building up health, education, civil and administrative structures), went into cynical and secret negotiations with Mauritania to the south and Morocco to the north.

Events moved quickly; on 6th November 1975, King Hassan of Morocco led the "Green March" of 350,000 unarmed "volunteers" through the desert to commence the occupation of most of the Western Sahara. Simultaneously, Mauritania occupied the southern third of the territory. Without reference to the inhabitants of the Western Sahara, Spain legitimised the land grabbing operations in the secret Madrid Accords of 14th November, 1975.

General Francisco Franco, the last of Europe's dictators from the 1930s died before that week was out. Spain formally withdrew on 28th February 1976, but was immediately replaced by the armed forces of Morocco and Mauritania. Polisario then took up fighting against the two new invading powers, scoring notable successes principally against Mauritania, a very poor country (per capita GNP of $480 pa, 50% unemployment and 17% literacy) where the war was deeply unpopular. Following two coups d'etat and military victories for Polisario, Mauritania withdrew from the war, signed a peace treaty with Polisario on the 5th August 1979, and subsequently recognised Polisario's Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1984.

Children - Victims of the war in the Sahara

However the war with Morocco has continued for almost the 20 years since 1976, with both sides suffering heavy loses. Despite the usual United Nations pronouncements about the right of self determination, Morocco was able to occupy much of the country with the covert, and sometimes overt, support of the western powers. At an estimated cost of $3m per day (in 1993), Morocco maintains an occupying army of 120,000 soldiers behind the "wall of sand", three meters high and 2,300km in length, protected by minefields and US supplied listening devices..

Huge numbers of Saharawi had to flee and an estimated 165,000 are currently living in refugee camps in an area near Tindouf in south western Algeria. This constitutes the centre of Polisario's administration of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic which was declared on the 27th February, 1976. SADR is a full member of the Organisation of African Unity and is currently recognised by over 70 countries, but not by the UK. Polisario's SADR administration undertakes all the normal functions of government in an abnormal situation, as well as running the camps, providing basic but universal health and education systems, developing agriculture in the desert and maintaining its armed forces in the liberated zones over the border in the Western Sahara. Since September 1991, there has been an uneasy UN supervised truce, agreed by both sides, which is supposed to lead to a free referendum to decide the country's future. However, Perez de Cuellar's last report to the UN Security Council recommended a Moroccan plan to include their settlers in the referendum. This remains a major and quite unacceptable sticking point for Polisario who naturally argue that only citizens who can prove registration in the last Spanish census in 1974 should be allowed to vote. Current UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali recently visited the region and is expected to make his report soon, but even if Polisario agree to a degree of eligibility beyond the Spanish census, there still remains the problem of validation - will the UN accept mere oral proof of identity as Morocco wants? It has to be said that the UN's record in the region has not been good; Perez de Cuellar was long suspected of having a cosy relationship with King Hassan of Morocco. One UN envoy resigned when he discovered that his assistant had passed a computer disk of Polisario's registered voters (from the 1974 Spanish census) to the Americans, who copied it for the Moroccans. Morocco then arranged for its settlers to impersonate the respective Saharawi citizens.

In October 1992, Saharawi protesters sought refuge in the UN MINURSO mission in the city of Smara in the occupied Zone. They were instructed to leave the offices the following day whereupon they were arrested and probably deported to Moroccan prisons. In June 1993, Morocco held elections to its impotent assembly. Blatantly disregarding the UN referendum plan, polling was conducted in the occupied zone right under the noses of the UN's MINURSO forces. However, in an effort to avoid continuing heavy losses for both sides, the Polisario leadership has tried to ensure the maximum progress for the UN peace process. They have taken a major gamble; they feel that this is necessary in order to avoid more deaths in a protracted struggle against an occupying power with vastly greater military might.

Most current wars in the world are basically civil wars involving cultural, religious or national chauvinism. There are two glaring exceptions; the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara. In both cases a wealthy and powerful country has attempted to annexe a weaker neighbour, in both cases overcoming resistance with the utmost ferocity.

Unlike other current wars, there are no "difficult" issues involved, this is a simple struggle for national liberation and self determination. Polisario are urging trade unionists in the UK and the western powers to support the drive for humanitarian aid, and, above all to put diplomatic and political pressure on the Security Council members, especially Britain and France, to ensure that the referendum is conducted in a fair manner.

Specifically they are asking for western trade unions to work for three principle objectives;

1 International TU support for the Saharawi right of self determination and a fair referendum;

2 TU input into fund raising for their diplomatic and political work; and,

3 Organising visits of western trade unionists to the camps in order to publicise the need for a

fair referendum process.

Polisario is seeking the maximum support for the Western Saharan solidarity movements, and calls upon the UK trade unions to support the work of the Western Saharan Campaign, address below.

Since my visit to the camps in June 1993, the political stalemate has dragged on, "disappearances" of Saharawi citizens have continued, and the refugee camps have been devastated by flooding. But this has only strengthened the resolve of the Saharawi people who show no sign of giving up their fight for survival. UPDATE: On 5th August, 1995, Morocco submitted a new list of 271,000 names who they claim may be entitled to vote in the referendum. This is another crude tactic to destabilise the right of the Saharawi to determine their own future

Copyright Donald MacDonald

For further information contact;

Or, write to the Western Sahara Campaign WSC Office Oxford Chambers Oxford Place LEEDS United Kingdom LS1 3AX

Telephone/Fax: 0113 245 4786 International: +44 113 245 4786

Copies of Donald MacDonald's 1993 report "The Sahara's Forgotten War" can be obtained free from;

Roger Darlington, Head of Research Communication Workers Union Greystoke House 150 Brunswick Road Ealing LONDON United Kingdom W5 1AW

Tel: 0181 998 2981 (+44 181 998 2981) Fax: 0181 991 1410 (+44 181 991 1410)