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Refugee Camps and Exile in the Construction of the Saharawi Nation

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Refugee Camps and Exile in the Construction of the Saharawi Nation Singing like Wood-birds: Refugee Camps and Exile in the Construction of the Saharawi Nation Nicola Cozza Wolfson College Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Development Studies Refugee Studies Centre Queen Elizabeth House Faculty of Social Studies University of Oxford Trinity Term 2003 [ttf CONTENTS Acknowledgments viii Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms ix Maps x - xv I - INTRODUCTION 1 'Humanitarian emergencies': the merging of global influences and local processes 4 Saharawi refugees, Polisario camps and social change 7 Methodological considerations 12 Verbal interactions 15 Trust, tribes and bias: assessing interviewees' information 19 Fieldwork and trans-local processes 22 Outline of the following chapters 26 II - THE GENESIS OF WESTERN SAHARA AND OF ITS POST-COLONIAL CONFLICT. AN HISTORICAL ANALYSIS 31 Western Sahara: a geographical overview 32 The birth of the Moors 34 Traditional tribal hierarchies 37 Inter-tribal hierarchies 37 The 'tribe' in Western Sahara 41 The 'ghazi' and social change 43 Spanish colonisation 45 From Spanish colony to Spanish province 48 Identifying Spanish Saharawi and providing goods and services 55 Colonial plans for independence 61 The birth of the Polisario Front 63 The last years of Spanish colonisation in Western Sahara 64 Genesis and development of the armed conflict in Western Sahara 71 III - WHO ARE THE SAHARAWI? THE REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF THE PEACE-PROCESS IN WESTERN SAHARA 78 'Saharawi': blood, land and word-games 79 From the UN to the OAU, and back to the UN 82 The MINURSO and the 1991 UN plan 85 The dispute over voter eligibility 91 The 1974 Census 92 Morocco vs. Polisario: history, colonial boundaries and voter eligibility 98 The regional and international context: rivalries, vested interests and influences 103 The Western Sahara dispute and Moroccan-Algerian relations 104 Geo-strategic alliances and the dispute on Western Sahara 109 IV - THE REFUGEE CAMPS AS A PLACE OF REVOLUTION: THE HUMANITARIAN STATE 116 Destination Tindouf 117 Camps, gardens and other 'miracles' 122 A landscape for the revolution 129 The capital Rabuni and its branches 129 The exiled land 135 The Polisario's camps, 'technology of power' and 'circuits of profit' 144 The SADR as 'humanitarian state' 152 V - THE 88' AND THE RETURN OF THE TRIBES 163 Nouadhibou. Anthropological fieldwork in the economic capital of Mauritania 164 The economic capital of Mauritania 165 Days in Nouadhibou 171 Introducing Ahmed 175 'We are all Saharawi': a case of cinematic homogeneity? 178 October 1988: the awakening 187 The social construction of 'my 88': some notes 187 ' The 88': tribes, mafia and secret services 191 People's awakening and the Polisario' s tribal twist 196 The lasting consequences of 'the 88' 200 'The 88' as 'return of the tribes': a critical analysis 205 Instrumental returns 206 Tribal 'revitalisation' beyond the role of political elites 212 The secret 'return': tribes, nation and expectations 220 VI - BETWEEN THE TRADING TRIBES AND THE EGALITARIAN NATION: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE POLISARIO'S STATE 226 The desert routes of Mauritanian sardines 227 The three dimensions of 'el comer do' 237 'Polisario', 'upper' and 'lower' trade 240 Trade, trust and tribes 246 Discouraging malfeasance and improving profitability: the role of 'contacts' and 'cousins' 248 Beyond malfeasance and commercial profit: el comercio and the ' return of the tribes' 253 Aid, charity or gift? 255 Ahmed's shirt, Nicolassa's lentils and Nashua's tea 256 The Saharawi gift 259 Donors' aid... 262 ...and 'Saharawi aid' 265 Turning 'Saharawi aid' into merchandise 269 El comercio in the political economy of the SADR 272 VII - CONCLUSION: HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, GLOBAL CONNECTIONS AND LOCAL STRATEGIES 278 The refugees' state between international backing and local support 279 Aid for change. The merging of externally-sponsored institutional reforms and local strategies 284 International assistance and institutional reforms 285 Beyond institutional development: investigating innovative local responses 288 ANNEXE I - Economic and demographic statistics on Mauritania 295 ANNEXE II - 'Human right abuses by the Polisario authorities in the refugee camps in southern Algeria' 302 ANNEXE III - Tables of some top-ranking military and governmental posts of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic held by members of the Reguibat tribe at 30 March 1999 304 BIBLIOGRAPHY 307 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis has taken several years to be completed and a number of journeys across Europe and West Africa. During the different stages of this study, help and support have come from a large number of people and in many different forms, and these few lines can certainly not express my gratitude and debt to all of them. While it would be impossible to name and thank all of them here, this study would not have been possible without their direct or indirect help. I would like to thank, in particular, Elio and Giulia Cozza, my parents. They have believed in my research and have constantly supported it more than what I could have asked. I also feel a profound debt to Dawn Chatty and David Turton, who have taught me with their suggestions and corrections, as much as with their example, their patience and devotion to their work. My deep gratitude also goes to all those people in Nouadhibou and in the Saharawi refugee camps who have welcomed me in their homes and in their lives. For various reasons, their names do not appear in this thesis. Nevertheless, their words and actions, their encouragement and criticism have been essential to the development of this study. I would like to thank Pat Turton, Sean Loughna and Randa Farah for their encouragement and support, their helpful suggestions and critical insights. Also, I am grateful to Anne Deighton and to Gina Crivello, Rosemary Fennell and the staff of the Refugee Studies Centre and of Queen Elizabeth House (University of Oxford). Last but not least, I would like to thank Hikaru Izumiya, Rosa de la Puente, Andrew Mugadu, Leticia Delgado Godoy, Denis Minayev and Gerineldo Marquez. Without their company, sense of humour, support and understanding there would be a lot missing in my life. vin GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ECHO European Commission Humanitarian Office EP European Parliament EU European Union EUCOCO European Co-ordination Conference for Help to the Saharawi People FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAR Forces Armees Royales (Morocco) ICJ International Court of Justice ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ILO International Labour Organization MINURSO United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara NGO Non-governmental organization OAU Organization for African Unity Polisario (Front) Frente Popular para la Liberation de Saguia el-Hamra y Rio de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro) PUNS Partido de la Union Nacional Saharaui (Saharawi National Union Party) SADR Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic SNIM Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (Mauritania) SPLA Saharawi People's Liberation Army UMA Union du Maghreb Arabe (Arab Maghreb Union) UN United Nations UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNTAG United Nations Transition Assistance Group IX IT A BY ALGERIA LIBYA WESTER?* SAHARA MAURITANIA ©Nouakchott JOGER SENEGAL\\ s Dakar Map 1. North-western Africa and southern Europe. ©Santa Cruz 0 Las Palmas MOROCCO ALGERIA Canary Islands (Spain) Hagunia Tjndouf El Aaiufi a • Semara V Bu Craa Tifariti WESTERN S A H A m A Guelta' Zemmur Ad Dakhla « MAURITANIA Zouerate 100 Miles Map 2. Western Sahara XI X Tindouf f El Aaiun ALGERIA WESTERN SAHARA T Bir Moghrain MAURITANIA Nouadhibou r m Choum ——. Atar MALI Chinguetti Tidjikdja Nouakchott Saint Louis SENEGAL Map 3. Mauritania xn omen's "9 June" \ i f 4' ... •.,.-.*.-•- •>!:'<>,•(.•< '•v..... :?' •V',Y'•';." v •.'.-, /;"'•'" ' ^ x't ' •I pavedp road Dakhia Camp a Map 4. The Polisario's four refugee camps, the administrative centre Rabuni and the three school settlements in south-western Algeria. (Note the "mirror image" effect between the area of the camps and Western Sahara) tfomerowatt hara Industrial Port Cansado Nouadhibou-Zouerate Railwav Map 5. Nouadhibou. Map 6. Nouadhibou (three main quarters). ALGERIA Canary Islands (Spain) Refugee Camps WES SAH I Houadiiibo| MAURITANIA Tidjikdja I Nouakchott! MALI Map 7. Main commercial flows of el comercio. xv CHAPTER ONE Introduction On the twentieth of May 2003 nearly four hundred people from several countries of Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania, gathered in the barren Algerian desert, in an area which is unnamed in conventional maps of north-western Africa. Mostly members of parliament, diplomats, representatives of non-governmental organisations and journalists, they joined the celebrations for the thirtieth anniversary of the Polisario Front, the political and military organisation that has led the struggle of the Saharawi people for an independent state in Western Sahara. For the occasion, a large parade of soldiers, tanks and missiles of the Polisario's army was held in the proximity of the refugee camp of Ausserd.1 This is one of the four settlements under the control of the Polisario where Saharawi refugees have been living since late 1975, when Moroccan and Mauritanian troops began their occupation of the Spanish colony of Western Sahara. After thirty years from its foundation, nowadays the Polisario Front presides over a full-grown state (the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, SADR) which has been officially recognised by more than seventy countries across the globe. The citizenship of the SADR has been constituted by Saharawi refugees, while the territorial jurisdiction of this state has coincided with the area surrounding the Saharawi refugee camps: a small portion of the western Algerian desert which the government of Algiers has temporary ceded to the Polisario Front. 1 Cf. Sahara Press Service, press release of 20 May 2003, available at http://www.spsrasd.info/sps- 30an.html.
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