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6.7 Mediter En Cifras 5 balance ingles ES07:4 Dossier 13/9/07 11:11 Página 161 Mediterranean Politics | Maghreb Redefining the Sahrawi Political Identity Omar Brouksy, opposition (imprisonment, disappearances, etc.); and Professor of Political Science on the other hand, it employed cooption, the authorities Hassan I University, Settat establishing relations of favouritism with important Panorama Journalist for Le Journal Hebdomadaire Sahrawi people. But since the 90s, with the relative aperture of the The Western Sahara problem has two fundamental Moroccan political regime, the imbalances engendered dimensions: an internal one where a great deal is at by the strategy of favouritism have become more stake, considering the role this issue plays in political evident. In terms of social implications, certain indicators 2007 relations among the different actors, including the have forced Morocco to reconsider some aspects of Med. monarchy, and in terms of democratisation of its political strategy in Western Sahara. In 2006, for institutional relations; and a regional one, because instance, in El Aaiún, the capital of Western Sahara, its evolution and principle mutations involve several the unemployment level was 29% of the active Mediterranean States, in particular Algeria, Spain and population, and despite the “Plan for Saharan France. Hence my interest in this topic. In this paper Economic Development, 2004-2008” (with a budget I will explore a particular facet of this conflict: the of 650 million euros) established by the current 161 manner in which the social dynamic in Western Sahara Moroccan government, the gap between a powerful is evolving and how it attempts to redefine its identity – yet increasingly contested – elite and the rest of parameters. This raises a problematic issue: how did the population is becoming increasingly consolidated. the conflict evolve in 2006 and how do those primarily The hotbed of contention is essentially the slums, concerned, the young Sahrawis comprising the ‘new including Mâatallah, where the majority of the Sahrawi generation,’ perceive their present and future within population lives in overcrowded conditions. On his the framework of an identity that they must redefine last trip to Western Sahara in March 2006, King in light of the major mutations undergone by the Mohammed VI insisted on visiting this slum Western Sahara conflict? neighbourhood. The ‘inland’ Moroccans suddenly discovered that the Sahrawis do not all live ‘in opulence’. The Determining Factors It is important to emphasise that the relative aperture of the political regime initiated by King Hassan II in The Western Sahara dispute is one of the oldest 1994 and continued by his successor, King regional conflicts, dating back to 1975. It is also one Mohammed VI, was accompanied by a strengthening of the most complex affairs due to the imbroglio of of the role played by civil society and a section of the factors having directly or indirectly contributed to its independent press (2003 Committee to Protect evolution and destiny. This territory of 266,000 Km2, Journalist [CPJ] Press Freedom Award laureate, Le colonised and held by Spain from 1885 to 1975 Journal Hebdomadaire is the most emblematic among and thereafter annexed by Morocco, is now a territory the country’s press. In only a few years, it has managed claimed by the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. From to break a good many taboos, in particular those 1975 to 1999, the Moroccan authorities adopted a concerning the status and role of the Moroccan dual-faceted policy: on the one hand, it was arbitrary, monarchy). A reinterpretation of the Moroccan political resorting to nearly systematic repression of the Sahrawi past was then effected on various levels. The role 5 balance ingles ES07:4 Dossier 13/9/07 11:11 Página 162 played by the Justice and Reconciliation Commission On 25th March 2006, during a trip to El Aaiún, King (IER) in this process and its impact on Moroccan Mohammed VI announced the dissolution of the society and the international community cannot be Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, created by his underestimated (created by the current King in January father in 1982 and composed of members entirely 2004 and presided by Driss Benzekri, former political elected by the Sahrawi tribes. It was ‘replaced’ by a prisoner, this commission has nonetheless been greatly new organ called the Royal Advisory Council for criticised by human rights militants because it does Saharan Affairs (CORCAS). Its 141 members not authorise victims to state the names of those (important Sahrawis) are not elected but rather entirely responsible for violations). This ‘officialised’ process appointed by the Head of State. Certain observers of reconciliation of the State with society was done consider this form of constituting the council a ‘retreat’ via a reinterpretation of the recent past, including of democratic logic and believe it could weaken the the Western Sahara as a component of recent council’s representativeness. Moroccan political memory, the repression of the In his address at the inauguration of the new council, Moroccan State having likewise been deployed against the King defined the main identity traits of its members: Panorama the inhabitants of this territory. The repercussions on “We appeal to you, considering the virtues of patriotism Sahrawi political identity, which is constantly being and fidelity to consecrated constants and values, to ‘reconstructed,’ are considerable. be the best interprets for expressing your brothers’ positions before organizations and other international bodies, with a view to bringing out the justice of our 2007 The New Order cause for territorial integrity.” Action by CORCAS would thereafter be deployed Med. The young Sahrawi generation born in the 70s and within the framework of the ‘official’ policy culture of having studied at Moroccan universities seems to have the State of Morocco, which perceives the Western conceived and redefined the essence of their political Sahara issue from an authoritarian and stilted identity on the basis of this recent history. The perspective of the Nation: a presupposed and quite structuring of collective memory, built upon decades vague ‘unanimity’with regard to a ‘just and consecrated 162 of contention, struggle, resistance and repression, cause.’ The expressions used in the royal address of has given rise to a construction of identity now seeking 25th March 2006 recall certain ‘principles’ expressed to go beyond the specificities of Sahrawi society in Article 19 of the current Moroccan constitution: and its conceptual mutations. The third-world ideology, ‘the consecrated values of the kingdom’, ‘territorial integrity’, ‘fidelity to constants’, ‘national unity and The young Sahrawi generation territorial integrity’, etc. seems to have conceived and redefined the essence of their A Dual-Faceted Dynamic political identity on the basis of this recent history It is in the context of these ‘traits,’ falling under the official line of political identity, that the Moroccan State the weight of the cold war context and decolonisation, intends to implement its new strategy in Western the basic principles from which the combat for “the Sahara by involving a Sahrawi political elite which it liberation of the Sahrawi people” drew its ideological scrupulously selects and whose missions it establishes. and identity-building foundations are thus being Hence, in this same address, the CORCAS, whose replaced by new legitimising concepts: human rights faculties are strictly consultative, is entrusted by the culture, universal principles governing individual and King to engage in “serene, in-depth reflection… (on)… political rights and liberties, international legality, the autonomy plan within the framework of the etc. All of these concepts, both precise and generous, sovereignty of the Kingdom and its national unity and are in turn being grafted on a fundamental principle territorial integrity.” based on dissidence, protest and a legitimizing capacity The concept of an autonomy plan for Western Sahara, – the principle of self-determination for the Sahrawi launched unilaterally by the King of Morocco in March nation, to be attained through a referendum supervised of 2006, aims in reality to replace the Baker III Plan by the United Nations. (April 2003). Considered ‘obsolete’ and ‘outdated’ by 5 balance ingles ES07:4 Dossier 13/9/07 11:11 Página 163 This official will for rupture, dynamic to the level of two actors, each referring to taking the form of a re- a different legal and political situation: on the one hand, an ‘authoritarian’ State (lacking legitimacy, definition of official concepts, is primarily due to its acknowledged repressive past and deployed in parallel to the controversial present); and on the other hand, a emergence of a new Sahrawi ‘colonised’peoples (who claim their rights on the basis elite, which is trying to assert its of international law). visibility and political identity via new mechanisms Conceptual Mutations and Legitimising Discourses Moroccan diplomats, the Baker III Plan called for a referendum after five years of autonomy for Western The eminent ‘personalities’of this power struggle have Sahara. Nonetheless, no longer certain of the favourable moreover gained a certain degree of militant and results of the referendum, Morocco intends to make political legitimacy because of their condition as former Panorama this ‘new’ autonomy plan its diplomatic hobby-horse. prisoners of conscience. The cases of Aminatou
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