DOCSLIB.ORG

Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps Morocco/Western Sahara/Algeria Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-420-6 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org December 2008 1-56432-420-6 Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps Map Of North Africa ....................................................................................................... 1 Summary...................................................................................................................... 2 Western Sahara ....................................................................................................... 3 Refugee Camps near Tindouf, Algeria ...................................................................... 8 Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 12 To the UN Security Council ..................................................................................... 12 Recommendations to the Government of Morocco .................................................. 12 Recommendations Regarding Human Rights in the Tindouf Camps ......................... 14 To the Polisario Front ........................................................................................ 14 To the Government of Algeria ............................................................................ 15 To Third-Party Governments and Regional Bodies ................................................... 16 Recommendations to the US and France ................................................................ 17 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 18 Legal Framework Applied in this Report ...................................................................... 20 Background to the Western Sahara Conflict ................................................................. 23 Key Third Parties: The United States, France, and the European Union......................... 32 The United States .................................................................................................. 32 France ................................................................................................................... 34 The European Union ............................................................................................... 35 Human Rights in Western Sahara ............................................................................... 38 The Right to a Fair Trial ........................................................................................... 39 2007-2008 Trial of Naf’i as-Sah and Abdallah al-Boussati for “Throwing Molotov Cocktails at a Police Car” .................................................................................. 43 2007 Trial of Mohamed Tahlil for “Arson” ......................................................... 47 2007 Trial of Eight Sahrawi Students at the University of Rabat for an “Armed Demonstration” ............................................................................................... 49 2008: Trial of Activist Naâma Asfari for “Drunk Driving and Assault” ................. 52 2005 Trial of Seven Human Rights Activists in El-Ayoun ..................................... 58 Complaints of Torture, Beatings, and Arbitrary Arrests of Sahrawi Activists ............. 61 Case Studies .................................................................................................... 65 Freedom of Assembly ............................................................................................. 87 Occasional Protester Violence Cannot Justify Broad Bans on the Right of Assembly ......................................................................................................... 93 Freedom of Association for Human Rights Organizations ........................................ 97 Forum for Truth and Justice – Sahara Section ................................................... 99 The Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations ............ 102 CODESA ......................................................................................................... 104 Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) El-Ayoun Branch .................. 107 Treatment of Foreign Observers ............................................................................ 108 Morocco Expels French NGO Human Rights Delegation in April 2008 ............... 109 Morocco Blocks a Fact-Finding Mission by the European Parliament................ 110 Morocco Briefly Detains Delegation from Trade Union Consortium.................... 111 Press Freedom ...................................................................................................... 111 Human Rights in the Tindouf Camps ........................................................................... 114 Past Polisario Abuses and Accountability ..............................................................114 The Question of Political Detention in the Camps Today ........................................ 118 Freedom of Movement ......................................................................................... 122 Travel to Mauritania, Morocco, and Moroccan-Controlled Western Sahara ....... 124 Travel to Destinations other than Mauritania and Moroccan-controlled areas .. 130 Travel inside Algeria ....................................................................................... 130 Polisario Reportedly Prevents Sahrawi Dissident from Re-Entering Camps ........ 131 Freedom of Information, Expression, Association and Assembly ........................... 132 Places of Detention .............................................................................................. 137 Allegations of Slavery ........................................................................................... 142 Allegations of Slavery as it Affects Marriage .................................................... 143 Manumission Papers ...................................................................................... 146 The Case of “Saltana” .................................................................................... 148 Acknowledgments ..................................................................................................... 152 Appendices ............................................................................................................... 154 Appendix 1: Letter from Human Rights Watch to Moroccan Authorities Requesting Information on Human Rights and Western Sahara ............................................... 154 Appendix 2: Response from the Government of Morocco, dated May 30, 2008, to Letter from Human Rights Watch .......................................................................... 159 Appendix 3: Letter from Human Rights Watch to SADR Authorities ........................ 174 Appendix 4: SADR’s Response to Human Rights Watch Letter of February 8, 2008 . 179 Appendix 5: Letter from Human Rights Watch to SADR Authorities ........................ 186 Appendix 6: Response from SADR Authorities to the Letter of Human Rights Watch of April 1, 2008 ........................................................................................................ 194 Appendix 7: Letter from Human Rights Watch to Algerian authorities .................... 205 Appendix 8: Purported Manumission Document from the Tindouf Camps ............. 210 Map Of North Africa Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara. It administers the approximately 85 percent of that territory over which it exercises de facto control -- the portion west of the “Berm” -- as if it were part of Morocco. The UN does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty and considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory.” 1 Human Rights Watch December 2008 Summary This report is in two parts. Part one examines present-day human rights conditions in Western Sahara. Part two examines present-day human rights conditions in the Sahrawi refugee camps administered by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), the Sahrawi independence organization, near Tindouf, Algeria. For Western Sahara, the focus of Human Rights Watch’s investigation is the right of persons to speak, assemble, and associate on behalf of self-determination for the Sahrawi people and on behalf of their human rights. We found that Moroccan authorities repress this right through laws penalizing affronts to Morocco’s “territorial integrity,” through arbitrary arrests, unfair trials, restrictions on associations and assemblies, and through police
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Living the Legacy of Slavery Between Discourse and Reality
    Cahiers d’études africaines 179-180 | 2005 Esclavage moderne ou modernité de l’esclavage ? Living the Legacy of Slavery Between Discourse and Reality E. Ann McDougall Édition électronique URL : http://journals.openedition.org/etudesafricaines/15068 DOI : 10.4000/etudesafricaines.15068 ISSN : 1777-5353 Éditeur Éditions de l’EHESS Édition imprimée Date de publication : 19 décembre 2005 Pagination : 957-986 ISBN : 978-2-7132-2049-4 ISSN : 0008-0055 Référence électronique E. Ann McDougall, « Living the Legacy of Slavery », Cahiers d’études africaines [En ligne], 179-180 | 2005, mis en ligne le 01 janvier 2007, consulté le 16 juin 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ etudesafricaines/15068 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.15068 © Cahiers d’Études africaines Cet article est disponible en ligne à l’adresse : http://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_REVUE=CEA&ID_NUMPUBLIE=CEA_179&ID_ARTICLE=CEA_179_0957 Living the Legacy of Slavery. Between Discourse and Reality par E. Ann MCDOUGALL | Editions de l’EHESS | Cahiers d’études africaines 2005/3-4 - 179 ISSN 0008-0055 | ISBN 2713220491 | pages 957 à 986 Pour citer cet article : — McDougall E., Living the Legacy of Slavery. Between Discourse and Reality, Cahiers d’études africaines 2005/3-4, 179, p. 957-986. Distribution électronique Cairn pour Editions de l’EHESS . © Editions de l’EHESS . Tous droits réservés pour tous pays. La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France.
    [Show full text]
  • Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger a Dissertation Submitted
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Eric James Schmidt 2018 © Copyright by Eric James Schmidt 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger by Eric James Schmidt Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Timothy D. Taylor, Chair This dissertation examines how Tuareg people in Niger use music to reckon with their increasing but incomplete entanglement in global neoliberal capitalism. I argue that a variety of social actors—Tuareg musicians, fans, festival organizers, and government officials, as well as music producers from Europe and North America—have come to regard Tuareg music as a resource by which to realize economic, political, and other social ambitions. Such treatment of culture-as-resource is intimately linked to the global expansion of neoliberal capitalism, which has led individual and collective subjects around the world to take on a more entrepreneurial nature by exploiting representations of their identities for a variety of ends. While Tuareg collective identity has strongly been tied to an economy of pastoralism and caravan trade, the contemporary moment demands a reimagining of what it means to be, and to survive as, Tuareg. Since the 1970s, cycles of drought, entrenched poverty, and periodic conflicts have pushed more and more Tuaregs to pursue wage labor in cities across northwestern Africa or to work as trans- ii Saharan smugglers; meanwhile, tourism expanded from the 1980s into one of the region’s biggest industries by drawing on pastoralist skills while capitalizing on strategic essentialisms of Tuareg culture and identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps
    Morocco/Western Sahara/Algeria HUMAN Human Rights in Western Sahara RIGHTS and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps WATCH Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps Morocco/Western Sahara/Algeria Copyright © 2008 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-420-6 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org December 2008 1-56432-420-6 Human Rights in Western Sahara and in the Tindouf Refugee Camps Map Of North Africa ....................................................................................................... 1 Summary...................................................................................................................... 2 Western Sahara ....................................................................................................... 3 Refugee Camps near Tindouf, Algeria ...................................................................... 8 Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 12 To the UN Security Council ....................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Tidskriften Västsahara Får En Dag Till Att Leva 14 Det Är 142 Meter Långt Och Kan Bära Sex Missiler Aster Bidrag Av Statens 15 Och Åtta Exocet MM40
    Nr 1 2014 Pris 30 kronor Svenska försvarsmakten VÄST filmar i Marocko 6 SAHARA ROVFISKET EN HISTORIA AV VÅLD OCH SVEK Västsahara är till två tredjedelar ockuperat av Marocko sedan 1975. De västsaharier som lyckades fly bor sedan dess i flyktingläger i Algeriet. VÄST Västsahara, som var en spansk koloni, står på FN:s lista över områden som ska avkoloniseras. Sedan 1991 finns en FN-styrka SAHARA NORDENS ENDA TIDSKRIFT OM VÄSTSAHARA på plats för att genomföra en folkomröstning om Västsaharas självständighet. Vapenvila råder mellan Marocko och den Utges av västsahariska befrielserörelsen Polisario sedan dess. Någon Föreningen Västsahara folkomröstning har dock inte ägt rum på grund av Marockos och utkommer med fyra vägran att acceptera ett självständigt Västsahara. Frankrike och nummer per år. Svenska fiskefartyg på export till Västsahara 4 USA är Marockos främsta supportrar. ISSN 1652-2052 16 av 21 marockanska fiskefartyg kommer från Norden Världen År 2013 undertecknade EU ännu ett fiskeavtal med Marocko, där de västsahariska vattnen är inkluderade, vilket strider mot Ansvarig utgivare och internationell lag. redaktör: EU-parlamentet godkände fiskeavtalet med Marocko 5 Marocko är en av EU:s största mottagare av ekonomiskt stöd. Lena Thunberg blundar Sedan maj 2005 har det marockanska förtrycket mot den Redaktionsråd: I december röstade parlamentariker igenom avtalet – trots protester västsahariska befolkningen i de ockuperade delarna ökat. Ulla-Karin Karlson Arto Valtonen I april går FN-styrkan MINURSO:s mandat ut. Det kommer Monica Zak Svenska försvarets rekryteringsfilm inspelad i Marocko 6 säkert att förlängas som så många gånger tidigare, men kom- Grafisk form: Filmen är till för att locka svenska ungdomar till försvaret mer västsahariernas mänskliga rättigheter att försvaras? Tidningsform & Textfason MINURSO är den enda fredsbevarande styrka som saknar ett Layout: så kallat MR-mandat.
    [Show full text]
  • Submission on Self-Determination Under the UN Declaration on The
    Submission on Self-Determination under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples Table of Contents 1 Overview............................................................................................................................................3 1.1 Summary....................................................................................................................................3 1.2 The submitting organization......................................................................................................4 2 Self determination themes................................................................................................................4 2.1 Peace and Self-Determination...................................................................................................4 2.2 Compromised spaces.................................................................................................................7 2.3 Disenfranchisement of unrepresented peoples........................................................................8 2.4 Criminalization of self-determination movements..................................................................11 2.5 International trade and self-determination.............................................................................12 2.6 Indigenous land: commerce and climate.................................................................................13 3 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................15
    [Show full text]
  • Preliminary Program 58 Annual Meeting
    Preliminary Program 58th Annual Meeting The State and the Study of Africa November 19 - 22, 2015 San Diego, California Program Committee Chairs: Dismas A. Masolo, University of Louisville Derek R. Peterson, University of Michigan Local Arrangements Committee Chairs: Robert Cancel, University of California, San Diego Arianna Huhn, California State University, San Bernardino and San Diego State University 1 Program Theme The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is The State and the Study of Africa. The apparatus of African statecraft was assembled in haste. The entirety of Uganda’s legal code had to be pushed through the National Assembly in the space of the six weeks leading up to independence on October 1962. Prime Minister Milton Obote was tinkering with the wording of the national anthem up to the deadline set by the printers of the program for the independence celebrations. The Gold Coast politician Kwame Nkrumah was imprisoned by the colonial administration in 1950. When Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party won the general election of February 1951, Nkrumah was released from his prison cell and formed a government the following day. Guinea voted for independence on 28 September 1958, and became an independent nation four days later. Departing French administrators stripped government offices of telephones, file cabinets and other accoutrements of bureaucracy, and sternly warned the United States and other powers against granting aid to the new country. Once ex-colonies were baptized in the waters of independence, all of the contingencies were washed away. African states immediately set about building the nation. Here universities played a critically important role.
    [Show full text]
  • Minority Rights Group International : Mauritania : Haratin
    Minority Rights Group International : Mauritania : Haratin World Directory of Minorities Africa MRG Directory –> Mauritania –> Haratin Haratin Profile The black African origin of Haratins (‘Black Moors') is beyond doubt. Their language, culture and identity are, however, Arab, the product of centuries of enslavement to Beydan masters. Beydan (‘White Moors') are descended from Berber Arabs and black African groups from the Sahara. Beydan and Haritines can appear racially indistinct and both speak dialects of Hassaniyya related to Bedouin Arabic. Moor society is traditionally divided on social and descent criteria. The slave community is divided into three levels: the total subject, the part slave, and the true Haratin. The government has long described all forms of slave as ‘haratine' or ‘newly freed', thus implying the end of slavery. Historical context In post-colonial Mauritania, urbanization and migration to some extent broke down the slave system, and certain districts of the capital Nouakchott became a haven for escaped slaves. These escapees formed the basis of the emancipation movement El Hor (the free), formed in 1974. El Hor argued that emancipation was impossible without practical measures to enforce anti-slavery laws and provide former slaves with the means to gain economic independence. To this end, it called for land reform and encouraged Haratins to set up agricultural co-operatives. El Hor's emphasis on social issues and its demand for redress and justice inevitably brought it into confrontation with the government. A substantial number of the movement's leaders were arrested, tortured and many of them exiled at the end of the 1970s. In January 1980, a military coup brought President Mohamad Khouna Ould Haidallah to power, whose government embarked on a policy of undermining the El Hor movement by appearing to satisfy its demands.
    [Show full text]
  • NON EU WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Holy See, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino)
    1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Federica Mogherini...................................................................... 3 THEMATIC PART 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 5 2. The EU Human Rights Approach to Conflicts and Crises .........................11 3. Addressing the Main Human Rights and Democracy Challenges ............18 4. Human Rights throughout EU External Policies ..................................... 36 GEOGRAPHICAL PART I. Candidate countries and potential candidates ........................................ 39 II. EEA/EFTA Countries ................................................................................ 46 III. European Neighbourhood Pocy .............................................................. 49 IV. Russia and Central Asia ........................................................................... 84 V. Africa ....................................................................................................... 97 VI. Arabian Peninsula.......................... ........................................................ 172 VII. Asia .........................................................................................................182 VIII. Oceania .................................................................................................. 227 IX. The Americas ........................................................................................ 247 List of Acronyms and Initialisms ...............................................................
    [Show full text]
  • 793854.En Pe 431.366
    WRITTEN QUESTION E-5366/09 by Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) to the Council Subject: Detention of peaceful human-rights protesters in Morocco According to reports from the Coordination agency of Spanish associations supporting the Sahrawi People (CEAS-Sahara), seven Sahrawi human rights activists, including Ali Salem Tamek and Brahim Dahan, were detained at Casablanca airport in Morocco on Thursday, 8 October 2009 as they returned from visiting friends and family at the Sahrawi refugee camps. This information alleges that they were accused of ‘treason’ and ‘damaging the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Morocco in the service of another country’, accusations that the CEAS claims to be part of a disinformation and smear campaign by the Moroccan authorities to justify their detainment. These accusations thus demonstrate the Moroccan authorities’ intention to conceal the ruthless persecution of peaceful activists working to defend human rights in occupied zones of the Western Sahara and the supporters of independence and freedom for that region so as to stop the spread of information on the unremitting human rights abuse there. These events come after the activist Sukeina Idrissi, now missing, was taken into custody for several hours last week and the detainment of five activists and former political prisoners Sidi Mohammed Daddach, Ahmed Sbai, Larbi Masaud, Brahim El Ismaili and Atigu Barray. It should be added that the exchange of visits of families divided for over 30 years, a recommendation of the UN Security Council, has been accepted by both parties and is framed within a wider set of measures to foster a spirit of dialogue and mutual trust between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
    [Show full text]
  • Periodic Report of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
    PERIODIC REPORT OF THE SAHRAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC TO THE AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES RIGHTS CONTAINING ALL THE OUTSTANDING REPORTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 62 OF THE CHARTER October 2011 i Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Part I: Data on the General Framework for the Promotion of Human Rights in the Sahrawi Republic in Accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights ........................... 7 Chapter One: General Information About the Sahrawi Republic ....................................................... 7 i) The Region ...................................................................................................................................... 7 ii) Population ........................................................................................................................................ 7 iii) Language ..................................................................................................................................... 7 iv) Economy ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter Two: The Process of Democratization in Western Sahara ................................................. 8 Chapter Three: The Legal and Institutional Framework for the Promotion of Human Rights in the Sahrawi Republic ..............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sahrawi Women in the Liberation Struggle of the Sahrawi People Author(S): Anne Lippert Source: Signs, Vol
    Sahrawi Women in the Liberation Struggle of the Sahrawi People Author(s): Anne Lippert Source: Signs, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Spring, 1992), pp. 636-651 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174626 Accessed: 18/05/2010 18:01 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucpress. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Signs. http://www.jstor.org REVISIONS / REPORTS SahrawiWomen in the Liberation Struggle of the SahrawiPeople Anne Lippert Introduction - T H R O U G H T H E I R R O LE S in the currentliberation strug- gle of the Sahrawisof WesternSahara, Sahrawi women have substantiallyincreased their traditionalparticipation and im- portance in that society.
    [Show full text]
  • Suihkomilja.Pdf (1.297Mt)
    Milja Suihko SEPARATED BY A WALL – Narratives of Sahrawi Nationalism and Nation-Building Tampere Peace Research Institute, TAPRI Pro Gradu June 2019 ABSTRACT Milja Suihko: SEPARATED BY A WALL – Narratives of Sahrawi Nationalism and Nation-Building Pro Gradu Tampere University Master’s Degree Programme in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research (PEACE) June 2019 The Western Sahara conflict is one of the most prolonged ones of our time. Finding a resolution to the frozen conflict, which made the news headlines close to 50 years ago, has recently gotten new hope with the ongoing United Nations led peace talks. The Special Envoy for Western Sahara, the former President of Germany, Horst Köhler, has met with all the conflict parties several times and opened the table for a potential new peace agreement in the December of 2018. Similar to other prolonged tragedies of the humankind, the Western Sahara conflict has as many different storytellers as there are people speaking about the conflict. The situation, which is often being framed as a power rivalry between Algeria and Morocco, two neighboring regional powers in North Africa, proves itself to be another story from the perspective of the so-called Polisario Front “refugee citizens”, the Sahrawis. The Sahrawis, an indigenous nation of the former Spain governed area of the Western Sahara, was given a promise from the UN in 1991 about a referendum, where they would have a say in the destiny of their own land and the independence of the nation. Unfortunately, the UN was not able to keep that promise. Questions of who are the “real Sahrawis” and who has the right to vote in the referendum became bigger issues than that of the rights of the Sahrawis to decide about their independence.
    [Show full text]