FROM THE DESERT TO THE SEA: THE MARITIME JURISDICTION OF AN INDEPENDENT WESTERN SAHARA Thesis Master of Laws in International Law Submitted by Jeffrey J. Smith April 29, 2010 © 2010 Jeffrey J. Smith http://fletcher.tufts.edu ABSTRACT Western Sahara is the last colonial territory in Africa. Its people have been unable to realize their right of self-determination since the former colonial power, Spain, ceded the territory to Mauritania and Morocco in 1975. The presumptive maritime or ocean jurisdiction of an independent Western Sahara, formally known as the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (the SADR), is examined. The analysis begins with the history of the territory’s creation, the establishment of its land boundaries in the colonial era and its natural resources. The events relating to the territory’s stalled decolonization are then canvassed. The current maritime jurisdictional claims of States in the Saharan Atlantic region are considered, together with continuing fisheries uses in Saharan waters, as well as the results of the 2009 enactment of the author’s ocean jurisdiction legislation for the SADR. The law of maritime delimitation, which includes the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, decisions of the International Court of Justice and other tribunals, and state practice, is reviewed and applied to determine the likely or probable maritime jurisdiction of the SADR, including its territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Issues concerning a possible claim to the extended continental shelf are addressed. Conclusions about maritime jurisdictional areas (or zones) are given in a series of purpose-drawn maps showing the SADR’s likely maritime boundaries. The possibility of the SADR acceding to the Law of the Sea Convention is then addressed in the context of remedial measures to restrain the taking of ocean resources from the maritime area of the territory pending resolution of the “question” of Western Sahara and the exercise by its people of their right of self- determination. i Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................. i Table of Contents.................................................................................................................ii List of Maps ........................................................................................................................iii List of Schedules .................................................................................................................iii Notes on Usage, Geographic Coordinates and Translations ........................................... iv Technical Note: Preparation of Maps ................................................................................ v Acknowledgements and Dedication ............................................................................... viii Introduction ........................................................................................................................1 I – FROM THE DESERT ................................................................................................2 Western Sahara – The historical and colonial setting ...............................................2 Proclamation of the SADR ........................................................................................7 Toward Self-Determination? .....................................................................................10 Oil in the New Millennium ......................................................................................12 The Saharan Geographic Setting .............................................................................14 The Saharan Fishery .................................................................................................15 The Drawing of Colonial Frontiers .........................................................................20 The ICJ Advisory Opinion and Response ...............................................................27 The Impetus to Boundary Making............................................................................31 II – CURRENT MARITIME CLAIMS IN THE SAHARAN ATLANTIC...................32 Mauritania’s Maritime Claims .................................................................................40 Morocco’s Maritime Claims......................................................................................41 Spain’s Maritime Claims ..........................................................................................43 The SADR’s Maritime Claims .................................................................................44 Table 1: Summary of national maritime claims in the Saharan Atlantic region .....44 III – TO THE SEA ...........................................................................................................45 State Jurisdiction and Maritime Areas......................................................................45 Boundaries in the Sea ...............................................................................................48 An Equidistant Starting Point ..................................................................................52 The Role of Islands ...................................................................................................55 Matters of Geography................................................................................................55 Non-Geographic Preliminaries .................................................................................58 A Proportional Result ...............................................................................................59 ii Table of Contents, continued IV – THE MARITIME JURISDICTION OF AN INDEPENDENT SAHARAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ..................60 The Setting for Delimitation ....................................................................................61 Baselines to be Claimed by the SADR .....................................................................64 An Archipelagic Solution for the Canaries ..............................................................66 The SADR’s Southern Maritime Boundaries...........................................................67 The SADR’s Northern Maritime Boundaries ..........................................................69 The Saharan Extended Continental Shelf................................................................77 V – SOVEREIGNTY OVER OCEAN RESOURCES...................................................80 The Taking of Ocean Resources...............................................................................80 Permanent Sovereignty over the Resources of the Sea.............................................83 Ibi Ius, Ibi Remedium...............................................................................................86 An Unconventional Application of the Convention...............................................88 A Place at the Table – The SADR’s Accession to UNCLOS...................................93 ORDER IN THE SEAS .....................................................................................................96 Bibliography............................................................................(following Schedules 1 and 2) List of Maps MAP 1 – Northwest Africa from Senegal to the Strait of Gibraltar.................(after page 2) MAP 2 – EEZ Claims in the Western Sahara Region ...................................(after page 32) MAP 3 – Construction Lines for the SADR’s Northern Boundaries............(after page 67) MAP 4 – Provisional Maritime Boundaries of the SADR..............................(after page 69) MAP 5 – Maritime Boundaries of the SADR.................................................(after page 76) List of Schedules Schedule 1 – Law No. 3/2009 of 21 January 2009 Establishing the Maritime Zones of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic...................(after page 97) Schedule 2 – Dispositif: Boundary Coordinates of the Presumptive Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic ..................................................(after page 97) iii Notes on Usage, Dates, Geographic Coordinates and Translations Usage. The name “Sahara” is an Anglicism of the Arab noun “essah-râ” meaning, literally, plain or open desert. The generally accepted collective noun in English for the people of Western Sahara is Sahrawi and, in the plural, Sahrawis, meaning “[a person/people] of the Sahara”, with the following standard script spelling: ﺍﻝﺹﺡﺭﺍﻭﻱﻱﻥ A phonetic spelling of the word Sahrāwī compares usefully to its ordinary spellings in French (Sahraoui and also Saharaui) and Spanish (Saharaui - male gender and Saharauita - female gender). The versions “Sahrawi” and “Saharan” are used interchangeability herein and, where appropriate, the proper noun “Saharawi” is also used, notably as part of the formal name of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Dates. All dates are given in western chronology, including those of the enactment and coming into force of legislation in Morocco and Mauritania in the Islamic calendar (Anno Hirji). An example is Morocco’s Dahir portant loi n° 1.73.221 du 26 Moharram 1383, A.H. establishing limits of the territorial sea and an excusive fishing zone on the equivalent date 2 March 1973 C.E. Geographic coordinates. Colonial boundary treaties delimiting the extent of the Spanish possessions Río de Oro and Sakiet