No Repose From Decades-Long Feud Over the Western Sahara

Lexington — On April 9, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on the Western Sahara Peace Process, positing yet again that roundtable negotiation is necessary if all parties are to reach a political solution. In question is the Western Sahara, a piece of land covering 96,000 square miles.

Despite a number of similar resolutions in the past, the decades-long dispute has continued to exist and sour relations between Morocco and the Polisario Front, both of whom lay claim to the territory. Algeria, though insistent on its observer status, is also a player in the dispute.

*Map courtesy of the Western Saharan Project*

The Western Sahara lies on the coast of Africa, bordering Morocco. Two-thirds of the territory is under Moroccan control, while the Polisario Front holds the other third.

The two areas are separated by a berm, or a buffer strip, comprised of landmines and fortification that span the length of the disputed territories. Like most, the center of this territorial dispute is access to resources. The Western Sahara is rich in phosphate deposits, fishing resources and potential oil reserves.

The UN has listed Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory, a territory waiting to achieve autonomy for its 603,000 Sahrawi people. Heading the fight for autonomy is the nationalist Polisario Front, whom the UN recognizes as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. To them, the Western Sahara is rightfully known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

The Polisario Front began its fight for autonomy in 1975, when Spain partitioned the territory between Morocco and Mauritania without consulting local populations. The pro-independence Polisario Front sprung into action, opposing the deal and launching an armed struggle for liberation from Morocco and Mauritania. After years of fighting, Mauritania renounced its territorial claims, giving space for Morocco to take control of the whole of Western Sahara.

Fighting continued into 1991, until the UN brokered a ceasefire and implemented a peace plan – this peace plan has not produced many tangible results. Many Sahrawis still flee to refugee camps, like the ones near Tindouf, a town in Algeria. The Tindouf camps were established in the 70s and today, shelter 90,000 Sahrawi refugees.

European Commission DG ECHO - The Sahrawi refugees – a forgotten crisis in the Algerian desert — *European Commission DG ECHO* - *The Sahrawi refugees – a forgotten crisis in the Algerian desert*

While the Human Rights Watch did not find any evidence of systemic abuse within the camps, pro-Moroccan media have often described the camps as destitute and unlivable in an effort to smear Algeria. In some ways, the Western Sahara dispute has become a proxy-war between the two countries, although Algeria staunchly stands by its role as an observer state.

Moroccan authorities assert that Algerian support is the only reason Polisario Front has been able to sustain its fight for independence for this long. Moroccan officials posit that Algeria is the main arms provider for the Polisario Front, making the nationalist movement “an offshoot of the Algerian military establishment.” Algeria sustains that it takes no sides in the conflict and only wishes for all parties to come to peaceful resolution. These wishes, however, may have to be put on hold as diplomatic negotiations have ceased due to the current coronavirus pandemic.