Friday, April 18, 2025
Western Sahara - A Nation in Exile, the last European Colony in Africa, Still Grapples with Human Rights Violations, Exploitation by Islamic and European Countries
By Sultan Shahin, Founder-Editor, New age Islam
18 April 2025
Palais des Nations, Geneva: 6 March 2025
Attending a Side-Event in Palace des Nations, Geneva, during the current 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, revived for me memories of my visit to the besieged nation, almost an entire nation living in exile, almost 40 years ago. As a roving correspondent, I had gone to Tindouf, an Algerian military outpost, where the Western Saharawi nation was living in exile in ragtag camps with very little amenities of daily life. That year the POLISARIO (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), the Western Saharawi resistance organisation, recognised by the UN, was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its armed struggle.
I found in the camps in 1984, mostly women and children, as men had either been martyred in the struggle against occupation by Morocco and Mauritania, or were on the borders fighting, after Spain divested itself of its colony in 1975.
I was most impressed by the bravery, camaraderie and hospitality of the Western Saharawi people. Living in exile for ten years then, I found they had not weakened at all in their resolve to regain their lost territory one bit. But I was most impressed by their vision of future, determination to succeed, and imagination. This can be exemplified most easily by one thing that I saw there. The one thing in shortest supply there was water, not even available for ablution or toilet management. But while touring the camps I came across a lake full of fresh water. Surprised, I asked my guides, how and why do you people manage this when water is in such short supply. Their reply astounded me. I still remember the respect I felt for their determination to achieve self-determination and independence, their imagination and their faith in their future. They told them that when they would be free, they will have to manage a vast coast on the Mediterranean, and so they would need at least some people who knew how to swim. Forty years have passed since then, Polisario celebrated the 50th anniversary of their armed struggle recently, but their dream is still not realised.
I was saddened to read a 2008 report by Zineddine al Saad of Sahara Occidental which said: “To this date, most of Western Sahara is controlled by Morocco. Some 250,000 Saharawi refugees lead a miserable life in the Algerian desert. A 1,700-kilometer wall separates 130,000 Moroccan troops from Polisario forces that have nominal control over a swath of land bordering Algeria and Mauritania. UN military observers monitor the 1991 cease-fire. Through the years, Morocco has strengthened its hold over Western Sahara. Moroccan settlers now constitute the majority of the population. The natural resources of the territory, which under the UN Charter should be used for the sole benefit of the Saharawi people, are being exploited by Morocco.”
Background in brief:
1. Spain occupied Western Sahara until 1975.
2. Morocco and Mauritania occupied it in 1975.
3. Mauritania withdrew from Western Sahara in 1979.
4. Morocco has occupied it since 1975.
5. Morocco has committed human rights violations against Sahrawi people.
6. UN has recognised the right to self-determination of Sahrawi people.
Western Sahara, a poor and sparsely populated north African territory and the last colony of Africa has been grappling with human rights violations and exploitation by both Islamic countries and imperialist forces of the West for the last five decades. The Sahrawi people have been subjected to massacres, displacement, exploitation and repression by the US, France, Spain, Mauritania and Morocco. Western Sahara is called the last colony of Africa as it is still occupied by Morocco with tacit support of the US, France and Israel though the UN has recognised the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people and considers Polisario Front the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. The Polisario Front has been fighting for self-rule of the Sahrawi people and they have paid a heavy price for it.
Western Sahara was administered by Spain as its colony until 1975. When the wind of nationalism started blowing in the region, Spain withdrew from Western Sahara in 1975 but Morocco and Mauritania occupied the territory. A war of independence was fought by the Polisario Front, a nationalist group against the occupation of Morocco and Mauritania from 1975 to 1991. Mauritania was forced to withdraw from Western Sahara in 1979 but Morocco stuck to power with tacit support from the US and France. Morocco still occupies it and considers it as a colony. Some leaders of Morocco have presented the vision of Great Morocco together with Western Sahara as its provinces.
The conflict resulted in severe human rights violations. In 1976, Napalm and white phosphorous bombs were dropped on refugee camps of Sahrawis resulting in death of thousands of civilians.
After a long battle Polisario Front and Morocco agreed on a ceasefire in 1991, and Morocco agreed on a referendum but the referendum was never held by Morocco. Worse, during his first tenure, Donald Trump rejected the UN-sponsored process for self-determination of Sahrawi people by recognising the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara in 2020. Morocco agreed on normalising relations with Israel in 2020 in return for the favour. Israel also recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in 2023, the year Gaza war started to get Morocco's support in the genocide.
Unfortunately, The Arab League and some Islamic countries have also supported Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara while Polisario Front has won the support of 46 members of the UN. The US and Israel have been the biggest hurdles in the holding of referendum in Western Sahara and its independence from Morocco.
Today 30 per cent of Western Sahara is under the Polisario Front and it is administered by its political wing SADR and the rest is under the occupation of Morocco.
Morocco has been occupying Western Sahara not because it is a powerful country but because of the support of the Islamic countries that are under the influence of the US and France and of the overt support of the US, particularly, of President Donald Trump. Since, Trump has once again come to power in the US, its policy towards Western Sahara is unlikely to change, leaving the Sahrawi people to the mercy of Morocco’s monarchy and its army. Morocco's army has committed grave human rights violations against the Sahrawi people. Many mass graves of Saharawis were unearthed from. Western Sahara. Many civilians were launched from space from helicopters or buried alive for protesting Moroccan occupation and demanding independence. Moroccan army forces Sahrawi youth under 18 years to join the army. Refusing to do so is a grave crime.
Journalists, political activists and human rights defenders have been regularly detained, falsely implicated in various cases and imprisoned for long years. Many civilians and activists have disappeared and nothing is known about them. In 2010 alone, 520 Sahrawi civilians disappeared and the total number of forced disappearances may be 1500.
In 2005, a Moroccan court conducted a mass trial of 14 Sahrawi people and they were sentenced to imprisonment. Moroccan forces refuse to have the disappeared people but in 1991 ceasefire, they released 200 disappeared people. They were all detained for supporting Polisario Front and opposing Moroccan occupation.
The war for independence of the Sahrawi people continues under the leadership of Polisario Front while Morocco calls it a separatist movement. The freedom fighters, activists and Sahrawi civilians continue to be harassed, tortured and imprisoned by the Moroccan monarchy on false charges.
In 2023 alone, a Casablanca court convicted activist Said Boukioud to three years imprisonment and a fine for his Facebook post criticising the government's relations with Israel. Another human rights defender Rida Benotmane was sentenced to 18 months of imprisonment for his alleged criticism of the government, demand of release of detainees and his protest against repression of free speech.
Journalist Omar Radi, Souleiman Raissouni and Toufik Bouchrine were imprisoned for protesting human rights violations and the occupation. There is a pattern in framing charges against the freedom.fighters. The activists, journalists and human rights defenders are charged with sexual crimes.
The Human Rights Watch also documented the case of dozens of journalists and social media activists convicted by Moroccan courts on charges of libel, spreading false news, defaming local officials, state bodies and foreign heads of states and causing threat to the institution of the monarchy.
According to the Human Rights Watch, in October 2023, the enforcement officers of Morocco prevented the Sahrawi human rights organisation CODESA from holding its first conference in Layoune.
As of now, there seems no end to the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara though the UN has recognised Western Sahara's right to self-determination because the self-proclaimed champion of human rights of the world, United States has been defending Morocco at the cost of the sufferings of the Saharawi people only because Morocco has agreed to normalise relations with Israel and maintain silence on Israel's genocide of Gaza. Secondly, the US and France have eyes on the huge deposits of gold and other mineral resources in the region. Morocco holds the key to the US interests in Western Sahara. Therefore, Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama fuelled strife and civil war in the region for their own political and economic interests. In 2014, Obama administration announced a $5 billion fund for war on global terrorism and established military bases in African countries under the garb of fighting terrorism.
Today almost the entire Africa is going through civil wars and most of the militant Muslim groups get funds and arms indirectly from the US. The ISIS, the Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and other Muslim militant groups serve the political and military interests of the US and the NATO. Therefore, the human rights violations in Western Sahara or elsewhere don't matter to the US as long as its interests are protected by the oppressive regimes. The Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, World Organisation Against Torture, International Red Cross, UN High Commission of Human Rights, Defend International, Arabic Network of Human Rights Information have criticised human rights abuses in Western Sahara by Morocco but the United States headed by Donald Trump shamelessly defends Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara and its human rights abuses just because it has normalised relations with Israel and protects the American interests in the region.
The UN, therefore, should expedite the holding of referendum in Western Sahara and ensure the protection of human rights of the Sahrawi people as soon as possible.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-human-rights/western-sahara-exile-colony-africa-human-rights-islamic/d/135207
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