Western Sahara

I

Introduction

Western Sahara, (formerly Spanish Sahara), north-western Africa, former overseas province of Spain partitioned in 1976 between Mauritania and Morocco, and since 1979, occupied entirely by Morocco. Western Sahara has an area of 252,120 sq km (97,344 sq mi) and is bounded on the north by Morocco, on the north-east by Algeria, on the east and south by Mauritania, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.

II

Population

Western Sahara has a population of about 382,617 (2007 estimate), predominantly of Berber or Arab descent. A significant proportion of the population is made up of recent settlers from northern Morocco, encouraged to migrate to Western Sahara by Moroccan government incentives. Most of the indigenous Saharawi population lives in exile in south-west Algeria; there are an estimated 165,000 Saharawis in refugee camps around Tindouf. The main towns of Western Sahara are El Aaiún, or Laâyoune, which was formerly the capital of Spanish Sahara, and Ad Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros).

III

Economy

With a hot, arid climate, and composed mostly of rocky and sandy soils, the region is only marginally suitable for sedentary agriculture; less than 20 per cent of the area is cultivated. Sheep, goats, and camels are raised, mainly by Bedouin and Berber nomads. Fishing is important on the coast; dried fish are exported. Western Sahara has enormous deposits of phosphates—used as fertilizers and in some detergents—found notably at Bu Craa, south-west of El Aaiún, which is linked to the coast by a conveyor belt 29 km (18 mi) long. Exploitation of the deposits began in the early 1970s, but is hampered by the shortage of water.

IV

History

Portuguese navigators visited the area near modern El Aaiún in 1434 but did not establish lasting settlements. Spain held the region from 1509 to 1524, when it was taken by Morocco, which then ruled it for more than three centuries. In 1884 Spain established a protectorate over the coast from Cape Bojador to Cape Blanc (now Ras Nouâdhibou); Franco-Spanish agreements in 1900, 1904, and 1920 extended the limits of the protectorate. Spain divided its possession into two separately administered districts, Río de Oro in the south and Saguia el-Hamra in the north. The two were amalgamated in 1958 when the overseas province of Spanish Sahara was established.

In the early 1970s Saharawi nationalists sought independence for Spanish Sahara. Algeria, Mauritania, and Morocco, meanwhile, laid claims to the area. In late 1975, King Hassan II of Morocco launched a massive non-violent invasion of Spanish Sahara, the so-called Green March. Spain agreed to relinquish the area to Mauritania and Morocco. Spain pulled out in February 1976; two-thirds of the former Spanish Sahara was then occupied by Morocco and the rest by Mauritania. Algeria protested against the partition and supported Polisario—a Western Saharan nationalist movement—in its efforts to transform the former Spanish Sahara into an independent country called the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Polisario guerrillas based in Algeria staged raids against Mauritanian and Moroccan outposts in Western Sahara during 1976-1978. When Mauritania surrendered its portion and made peace with the Polisario in 1979, Morocco annexed all of Western Sahara which it divided into the provinces of Boujdour, El Aaiún, es-Smara, and Oued ed-Dahab. Polisario guerrillas continued their raids into Western Sahara, although their range was severely curtailed by Morocco’s construction of a heavily fortified line protecting Bu Craa, El Aaiún, and es-Smara. The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic was admitted to the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity) in February 1982, by which time it had been recognized by more than 70 nations; Morocco suspended its OAU membership in 1985 in protest.

Efforts to resolve the conflict rest on a United Nations (UN) peace plan. A ceasefire began in August 1988, but Polisario resumed attacks 14 months later. The ceasefire was restored in 1991, following agreement by the UN to speed up implementation of a referendum on Western Sahara’s future. The referendum is central to the peace plan, but implementation has been delayed by disagreements over who should be eligible to participate. Initially the electorate was to have been based solely on Saharawis registered at the Spanish census of 1974—some 74,000 people. Despite opposition from Polisario, the UN subsequently agreed to widen the qualification to include Saharawis who had not been included in the census for various reasons, and those who had lived 6 years consecutively or 12 years intermittently in the territory. Estimates of the number of additional voters vary. Most put the figure at 30,000-40,000; the Moroccan government has put the figure much higher, claiming more than 100,000 Saharawis were living outside Spanish Sahara, mainly in Morocco, during the 1974 referendum.

Meetings have taken place between representatives of Polisario and the Moroccan government, such as those held in London, Geneva, and Berlin in 2000, presided over by the former US Secretary of State James Baker. However, disagreements over eligibility for voting in the proposed referendum are making progress on the issue very slow.