By Mohamed
Cheij Saleh, Saharawi Ambassador to Zimbabwe
The people
of Western Sahara are waiting for self-determination and independence since
1963 when the UN General Assembly included this territory in the list of
non-self-governing Territories. The inability of the UN to resolve the question
is due to the double standards of some of the UN Security Council members who
put their interests above anything else. This attitude has encouraged Morocco
in its illegal occupation to Western Sahara despite the clear UN resolutions
and the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice of 1975, leading
to the current stalemate in the process of the referendum on self-determination.
In the meantime and in the light of increasing suffering of the Saharawi
People, the UN has not yet been able to take firm procedures toward Morocco’s
grave violations of human rights and the illegal exploitation of the natural
resources of the territory despite of the voices calling for putting the
territory under international control.
Background
The rich-phosphate
-and-fish Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa, located on the
continent’s Atlantic coast to the south of Morocco, to the north of Mauritania
and to the east of Algeria. In the late 19th century, this vast
territory of 286.000 square kilometers was inhabited by indigenous population
known as the Saharawis. Since 1963, the Territory has been inscribed on the list of
non-self-governing territories to which UN General Assembly resolution 1514(XV)
of 14 December 1960 on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and
Peoples applies. To this day, the Territory is on the UN list of the remaining
17 dependent territories yet to exercise their right to self-determination, and
the only one on the African continent. The case of Western Sahara is
thus a relic of Africa’s colonial history, with the Territory having fallen
into the hands of Spain during the colonial scramble for Africa, over a century
ago. Spanish domination of the Territory continued until the mid-1970’s
by which time the UN General Assembly had been calling on Spain, as the
Administering Power, to organize a referendum to enable the people of Western
Sahara to exercise their right to self-determination. In violation of the relevant UN resolutions
and in contradiction with the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of
Justice of 16 October 1975, which rejected Moroccan claims over the territory, Spain
signed an illegal agreement on 14 November 1975 to transfer the Territory to
temporary tripartite administration of Spain, Morocco and Mauritania. Spain
withdrew by the end of February 1976 in a notorious precedent that remains a stain
on Spanish government. Immediately after
Spanish withdrawal, The Polisario front proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic
Republic (SADR) on 27 February 1976, which was admitted by the Organization of
Africa Unity (OAU) as a Member State in 1982 and now is a full founding member
of the African Union. It has been recognized by more than 84 UN Member States
and has established diplomatic relations with dozens of countries
worldwide
The
Polisario Front, the sole and legitimate representative of the Saharawi people
which is a result of a long resistance movement, launched the armed struggle on
20 May 1973 against Spanish colonization to be continued against Morocco and Mauritania;
the later withdrew after having been defeated by the Saharawi Army in 1979.
After sixteen year of unbalanced fierce war, the UN and the OAU managed to broker
a ceasefire in the context of the settlement plan of 1991 for a referendum of
self-determination for the Saharawi people.
The protracted referendum on self-determination
The OAU engaged in a mediation process, which culminated in the adoption by
the 19th Ordinary Session of the Summit of Heads of State and Government, held
in Addis Ababa from 6 to 12 June 1983, of an OAU Peace Plan, through resolution
AHG/Res.104(XIX). In the resolution, the Summit urged the parties to the
conflict, Morocco and the Polisario Front, to undertake direct negotiations
with a view to bringing about a ceasefire to create the necessary conditions
for a peaceful and fair referendum for self-determination for the people of
Western Sahara, without any administrative or military constraints, under the
auspices of the OAU and the UN. The Summit requested the UN, in conjunction
with the OAU, to provide a peacekeeping force to be stationed in Western Sahara,
to ensure peace and security during the organization and conduct of the
referendum. In resolution 658 (1990), the
Security Council approved the report of the Secretary-General of 18 June 1990,
which contained the full text of the Settlement Proposals, as accepted by the
two parties as well as an outline of the plan provided by Secretary-General in
order to implement these proposals. On 29 April 1991, the Security Council, in
resolution 690 (1991), decided to establish the United Nations Mission for the Referendum
in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to supervise a ceasefire between the Moroccan and
the Polisario Front Forces and to conduct the referendum on self-determination
within six months . To this day, the Settlement Plan remains the only agreement
ever accepted by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front towards
the peaceful resolution of the dispute over Western Sahara. While the ceasefire
component of the Plan, agreed to by the two sides on 6 September 1991, still holds,
no progress was made regarding the holding of the envisaged referendum of self-determination
despite of UN-approved voter list in 1999 which was rejected by Morocco.
The UN inaction
The status of Western Sahara has never constituted a problem. For the UN
General Assembly and Security Council it is a clear-cut question of
decolonization, but the major obstacle to reaching a solution is the interests
of some of the UN Security Council members that consider Morocco an important
ally. The double standards of some of the members have often prevented the
Council from taking a decisive decision to enable the Saharawi people to
exercise their right to self-determination. All attempts initiated by the UN
Secretary-General until now have failed due to the intransigence of Morocco and
the absence of pressure from the UN Security Council members on it to comply
with its obligations towards the implementation of the international legitimacy. No progress is expected as long as there is no
good will within the members of the UN Security Council to empower the UN mission
on ground, MINURSO, by expanding its mandate to include monitoring of human
rights and the exploitation of natural resources, given that MINURSO is the
only UN mission, established since 1978, which does not have any human right mandate. The role of France as a permanent member of
the UN Security Council has always been negative; it has remained supportive of
Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara and has objected to all attempts aimed
to extending the mandate of MINURSO to protect the Saharawi population and
their natural resources.
Increasing the suffering of
Saharawi people
The Territory of Western Sahara is divided into two parts by a 2700
kilometers berm constructed by Moroccan army during the early 1980s to tighten its
grip on the occupied territories where the Moroccan authorities have been
committing crimes against humanity. Grave violations of human rights have been
documented by UN and AU different mechanisms of Human rights, non-government
organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a number of
international human rights activists and media. The occupied territories of
Western Sahara have been under total siege for 40 years. The overwhelming
presence of security forces, the violations of the right to life, liberty, and
personal integrity, freedom of expression, assembly and association create a
situation of fear and intimidation that violates the rule of international law.
In the other part, more than 150.000 Saharawis are forced to live in very
insecure humanitarian conditions in refugees camps in the South-west of
Algeria. However, the long duration of the conflict and the effects of the
global changes are making the situation more unbearable.
There is still hope against all odds; neither the daily oppression by
Moroccan security forces nor the extreme humanitarian situation could smother
the aspirations of the Saharawi people to achieve their goals in self-determination
and independence.
Africa scaling
up efforts
Following
concerns expressed during successive meetings of the relevant AU policy organs
at the lack of progress in the search for a solution to the conflict in Western
Sahara, the Executive Council, at its 22nd Ordinary Session held in
Addis Ababa from 24 to 25 January 2013, adopted decision EX.CL/Dec.758(XXII) in
which it requested that all necessary measures be taken for the organization of
a referendum for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, in
compliance with the relevant decisions of the Organization of African
Unity(OAU) and United Nations(UN) resolutions. To reinforce its implication in
the Western Sahara issue, the AU appointed in June 2014 the former President of
Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, as special envoy for the Chairperson of AU
Commission for Western Sahara.
The issue of Western Sahara resurfaced
on the agenda of the January AU summit in Addis Ababa. In his first speech as
the new AU chairperson, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe stressed that
‘Africa’s failure to decolonize Western Sahara would be a negation of the
African ideals and principles’ of the founding fathers of the continental organization.
President Mugabe, who was warmly applauded for this statement, further called
for the implementation of all relevant UN resolutions requiring that a
referendum on self-determination for the Saharawi people be held, and emphasized
that Africa would not be completely free ‘as long as our brothers and sisters
in Western Sahara remain under Moroccan occupation’. The AU’s Executive Council
meeting on 28 January 2015 showed solidarity with the struggle for an
independent Saharawi Republic. The chair of the Council, Zimbabwe Minister of
Foreign Affairs Honorable Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, also announced that Western
Sahara would be one of the top priorities of Zimbabwe’s AU presidency in 2015.
For its part, the AU
Peace and Security Council, at its 496th meeting held on 27 March
2015, appealed for an enhanced and coordinated international action towards the
early organization of a referendum for the self-determination of the people of
Western Sahara. The PSC also decided to: reactivate the ad hoc Committee
of Heads of State and Government on the conflict in Western Sahara, established
by the 15th Ordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of Heads of State
and Government, held in Khartoum, in July 1978; and to establish an
International Contact Group for Western Sahara (ICG-WS).
In the latest 25th
Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, the AU Assembly, recalling that the
AU is a co-guarantor of the 1991 settlement plan for referendum, called on the
UN Assembly General to determine a date for the holding of the
self-determination referendum for the people of Western Sahara and to protect
the integrity of the Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory from any
act which may undermine. It also urged the Security Council to fully assume its
responsibilities and to effectively address the issues of the respect for human
rights and the illegal exploitation of the Territory’s natural resources.
Conclusion
UN settlement efforts
regarding Western Sahara have reached a crisis point. The attempts by the UN
Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Ambassador Christopher
Ross, to pursue ‘talks’ between the Parties or to conduct shuttle diplomacy have
been unproductive. The UNSC has failed to provide any direction or purpose for
Ross’s efforts, and MINURSO’s core mandate to organize a referendum remains
suspended as a result of Morocco’s refusal to countenance a vote that includes
independence as an option, despite this being a requirement in the joint OAU-UN
Settlement Plan. In the meantime, a generation of Saharawi people has been
divided by an illegal Moroccan occupation that brutalizes the Saharawi
population in the occupied part of the Territory, and has forced more than 150,000
Saharawi people to live in exile. In the absence of the will of international
community to enable the Saharawi people to exercise their right to
self-determination and independence, the only option left for the Saharawi
people is to take up arms once again.
