By Mahmoud Al Abed
English News Editor
Albawaba.com - Amman
On the 25th anniversary of establishing an exile government for the Polisario - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro - the BBC radio reported that the thousands of Sahrawi refugees are in a state of despair.
The frustration is justified as all efforts to put an end to the Sahrawis’ plight have failed after 26 years of independence from Spain, only to fall under occupation from two neighbors: Mauritania from 1975-1979 and then Morocco, which has been delaying the implementation of a UN-sponsored referendum on self-determination for the 307.000 Sahrawis, of whom 120.000 living in the area occupied by Morocco and the remaining 187.000 in refugee camps, mostly in neighboring Algeria.
The story began in 1975 when Morocco launched “the Green March,” the action of the country to claim Western Sahara following the end of Spanish colonization which started in 1884. The march has resulted in unity and national pride among Moroccans.
The territory was internationally recognized as a sovereign country known as Western Sahara, but has been effectively occupied by the two neighbors.
Polisario has since 1975 been stationed in Tindouf, the westernmost town in Algeria, with about 10,000 troops fighting for independence.
The movement had so much success fighting Mauritania, which for the first years was the main enemy, that the occupation ended on this side. But despite the peace treaty between the two parties, signed August 5, 1979, the southern third of Western Sahara was passed on to the far stronger Morocco.
Morocco has since then managed to curb Polisario, seemingly now for good, as a 1,600 km long sand wall has been built along the border, making it very difficult for Polisario's army to pass. The result has been the UN peace plan of 1988, that in reality has given Morocco a carte blanche in the region, and the proposed referendum on the future of Western Sahara, has been put off time after time for the last 13 years.
The UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was established in 1991 to assist in implementing a Settlement Plan, which was meant to conclude with a referendum in which the people of the Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco.
The referendum was originally scheduled for January 1992, but the parties continue to have divergent views on some of the plan's key elements, including those on the question of criteria for eligibility to vote in the referendum.
While the Polisario wants to assure that only Sahrawis participate in the referendum, Morocco seeks to include as many voters from the newly settled Moroccans as possible. There are 200.000 Moroccan settlers in the area who would guarantee a total success of Rabat’s plans.
Morocco's claim to Western Sahara is connected to tribes of the region that had paid allegiance to Moroccan monarchs earlier. This has not been accepted by the World Court as sufficient to deny the local population the opportunity of determine the sovereignty of the region.
Among Sahrawis, there are generally strong anti-Moroccan sentiments, and many feel that there is discrimination against them. Yet, more and more Sahrawis work in Morocco and become more and more integrated in the extended state.
A Sahrawi once told Albawaba.com that the independence of West Sahara will add more to the fragmentation of the Arab World, which is badly in need for unity.
According to news reports based on Polisario sources, Moroccan demands to drain the referendum process include the conduct of the appeals process and the reversal of the identification results of some 7,000 applicants.
In Morocco's view; the repatriation of Saharan refugees, and the issue of Saharans who had reached voting age after December 1993, but had not been included in the identification process, are issues that should be taken care of before the polls are conducted.
According to Morocco, those individuals should be identified, or at least permitted to lodge appeals, in order to allow all Saharans to participate in the referendum.
Polisario sees the demands as “tactics of delay.”
UN envoy, former US Secretary of State James Baker, recommended MINURSO's mandate be extended by two months “in order to see whether the government of Morocco is prepared to offer or support some devolution of governmental authority," according to a report by AFP on February 21.
In a report to the United Nations Security Council, Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed to Baker’s proposal to extend until April 30 the mandate of the 203 military observers, 47 police officers and 27 soldiers making up the UN mission there known by its French acronym.
Baker said last year that given the length of the appeals process, it would behoove the two sides to temporarily put aside the referendum and to open political negotiations on the future status of the territory.
Morocco has expressed support for the idea, but the Polisario rejected it categorically, reaffirming its commitment to the referendum.
Baker was heavily criticized by several member countries of the Security Council (most notably Namibia) for “watering down the UN resolutions demanding a referendum in Sahara.”
To remind the world of their case, the Polisario threatened in January to break the ceasefire and disrupt the Paris-Dakar rally when it crossed from Morocco into the disputed Western Sahara. They did not, but their criticism of the UN ignorance of their people’s plight continues.
The movement said in a statement that the rally was "an insult to the Sahrawi people, a challenge to the United Nations, and therefore a violation of the ceasefire in effect since September 1991.”
“How long should they have to wait?” An Australian senator exclaimed last year, urging the UN to put more pressures on Morocco to implement the international resolutions.
But the Sahrawis living in refugee camps have to wait as many factors are involved in their cause. They have to wait for the international organization to take serious steps to implement the referendum; to wait for Morocco and Algeria to settle their dispute on the issue or to wait for the least probable: Morocco’s consent to a referendum according to the Polisario’s vision.
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