By Aleksander Jess. Follow me on Twitter.

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Introduction

Over 266 000 square kilometers of Africa, spans the disputed land, that is nowadays being referred to as “Western Sahara”. In the past, other names were used as well, “Spanish Sahara”, or “Rio de Oro”, just to mention the two of them. In the past, it used to be populated, almost entirely, by the nomadic Sahrawi tribes. Nowadays, more than 80% of region’s population lives in cities. It is an effect of both Spanish, and later Moroccan policies. In 2007, GDP of the disputed land equaled around 900 million dollars, which is a very poor result. Half of the labor force is employed in the agriculture sector, which tells us that the former Spanish Sahara is largely an undeveloped region (CIA Factbook, 2017).

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The Issue of Western Sahara

The Conference held in Berlin in 1884, that in German is referred to as “Kongokonferenz”, not only determined that the Congo River basin was neutral, but also allowed Spain to establish their protectorate over the territory of Spanish Sahara (Berlin West) in accordance to agreements with chiefs of the local tribes (Western Sahara. Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975).

In 1956, the French lost their control over Morocco (also referred to as "The Western Kingdom"). Having gained the independence, the newly created country, turned their eyes to the Spanish Sahara. They have even “demanded the ‘liberation’ of Western Sahara, considering that that territory belonged to it.” (Front Polisario v Council of the European Union). The Western Kingdom’s aspirations resulted in the so-called Ifni War (in Spain also known as the “Forgotten War”), which started in 1957. Joint Spanish and French forces defeated the attacker with ease. The war ended with the Treaty of Angra de Cintra, which resulted in the admission of Tarfaya to Morocco. Spain however, still kept the city of Ifni and the territory of Spanish Sahara (Sahara Question). Unfortunately for Spain, not only did the General Assembly of the UN recognize the aspirations of people to end colonialism existing in any way and furtherly ensured the right of nations to self-determination, in their “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” of 14 December 1960, but also stated that we should liberate the nations under the burden of colonialism, because this process is inevitable, and failure to do so may result in a crisis. From this declaration, we can also learn that domination and/or exploitation of peoples by another nation is violating the Charter of United Nations and is an obstacle on the road to world peace and international cooperation.

Since 1963, the Western Sahara, remains on the UN’s list of non-self-governing territories. The UN’s list of NSGTs mentions every country, still subject to the process of decolonization. On December 16, 1965, the resolution 2072 was passed in the UN that called for the immediate liberation of Ifni and Spanish Sahara. One year later, in 1966, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2229, in which they urged the government of Spain to accelerate the process of decolonization of aforementioned territory in consultation with Morocco and also asks to determine the earliest possible date for a referendum for indigenous people of Western Sahara, which would determine their future. The rules of said procedure were supposed to be determined by Spain, in consultation with the governments of Mauritania and Morocco.

Front Polisario (officially “Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Río de Oro”) was created on May 10th, 1973. It was created as an insurgency, on the territory of Mauritania. From day one, their first goal was to end Spanish domination over what they perceived as the land to which they have the right (Polisario Front). On 20 August 1974, Spain informed the UN that it proposed a referendum under the UN supervision. In the meantime, on 13 December 1974, an advisory opinion of the ICJ was requested on the topic of Western Sahara. In early 1975, Mauritania and Morocco have ensured that they will respect the ruling and will abide by the opinion (Handloff). On October 16, 1975, the ICJ concluded that a) Sahara was not “terra nullis” during the Spanish colonization period, and b) there are no legal ties between Western Sahara and Morocco and Mauritania (Western Sahara. Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975). It rejected, therefore, claims of any mentioned country to this disputed piece of Earth.

Contrary to both countries’ declarations, the advisory opinion was simply ignored. The King of Morocco, then announced that a peaceful march will be held with Western Sahara as the goal. Around 350 000 people participated in that march. (Front Polisario v The Council of the European Union). As a result, as soon as in November 1975, an agreement was reached, between three countries – Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania. In accordance with the treaty, Morocco received the northern two-thirds of the land, whereas Mauritania got the rest (Handloff). In 1976, the Kingdom of Spain informed that from that date onwards it was withdrawing its forces and terminating their presence in their former colony and that it didn’t feel responsible for any actions that might take part there. After Rio de Oro got partitioned, Polisario Front relocated their base of operations to Algeria, which helped them in their struggle against their overlords. What may seem surprising for some, in 1979, Mauritania made peace with the insurgents and withdrew their army from the territory of Western Sahara. After the fact, the rest of the territory got unilateraly claimed by the Western Kingdom (Polisario Front).

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The UN responded swiftly. In their resolution 34/37, passed in 1979, the General Assembly expressed their happiness with the peace treaty between Mauritania and Polisario Front. They also urged Morocco to “join in the peace process and to terminate the occupation of the Territory of Western Sahara” (Resolution 34/37). The act didn't stop there. It also recommended, that the Polisario’s representative should take part in the peace process but also the issue of the NSGT was set as a priority one (Resolution 34/37).

Regardless, the war continued. On 30 August 1988, both parties agreed upon a proposal by the UN Secretary-General. The agreement’s main points were to a) establish the state of ceasefire between two hostile sides, and b) establish a period of a peaceful transition which goal was to organize a referendum. On 1991, the UN’s mission to Western Sahara was established and furthermore, the ceasefire took place. Aforementioned referendum still is to happen, but there were several tries to establish this procedure (Polisario Front v The Council of the EU).

Conclusion

As we can conclude, Sahrawi people should have the right to self-determination, which they were deprived of. Any Moroccan claim (it is the only country as of now claiming the area of Morocco for themselves) was dismissed in the ICJ’s advisory opinion of 16 October 1975. Claim of the Kingdom of Morocco was based on the specific type of system of establishing the area of rule. Historically the sphere of the influence of the Moroccan Kingdom was not necessarily determined by the rule over specific land, but more over having power over certain peoples, through a tangled web of connections. The state was also founded on the common ground of Islam (Sahrawis are muslims, as well). These connections were divided to, what was called “Bled Makhzen”- areas subject to Moroccan sultan but also “Bled Siba”-areas not subject to Sultan’s power. During the relevant historical period, the territory of northern Western Sahara was considered as “Bled Siba”.

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