Western Sahara is a territory of northwest Africa covering approximately 25,000,000 hectares. It has been occupied by Spain and is nowadays occupied by Morocco. The Saharawi are the people who inhabit this territory or their descendants. They were nomads of different tribes before being colonized by Spain. Their identity was explained in 1886 as “the desert Arab has no other rulers than Allah and Muhammad” (Di Buono, 2018). The multiple colonizations over Western Sahara forced their tribal setting into Western European understandings of what a society is (Di Buono, 2018).

The United Nations have recognized the territory as non-self-governing and have acknowledged the right of the Saharawi people to determine the governance of Western Sahara themselves. To resolve the question of independence the UN proposed to make a referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence or integration with Morocco (MINURSO). However, this referendum has not yet materialized.

Map of Western Sahara created by the UN.

In a recent announcement, the United States recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for the country improving its relations with Israel (BBC, 2023). The move sparked controversy due to the US’s disregard for the Saharawi people's right to self-determine their own form of government. However, this would not be the first time the USA has supported the occupation of sovereign territories. Therefore, the United States' position on Western Sahara reflects a larger problem with US foreign policy. For instance, the USA supports Israel over Palestine, the first being a country that has increasingly occupied the land of the second one. However, the USA itself also occupies territories, for example, they own Puerto Rico, a land with its own people own by another nation without the right to vote or have a voice over their government.

The history of Western Sahara is complex. The territory was colonized by the Spanish in 1884 and became a Spanish province in 1958. Following the end of Spain's dictatorship, in 1975 pressure from the United Nations, Morocco, and the native Saharawi population caused Spain to relinquish control of the area. Spain's withdrawal left a power vacuum that was quickly filled by Morocco and Mauritania. Spain left Western Sahara without fixing the damage that decades of colonization and looting caused on this African territory. Moreover, when the Spanish government abandoned the territory they communicated to the UN that they would not take responsibility for anything that happened there (UN, 2023).

It is essential to mention that Western Sahara was not the only territory that Spain had in Africa. African territories like the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla are still technically Spanish-owned. However, none of these territories have suffered from such international and internal pressure to gain independence from Spain due to the large history that now links these territories and the impossibility to differentiate between natives to the land and original settlers. In this situation, to “secure” its own African borders with Morocco, Spain has also supported the continuation of the theft of Western Sahara’s land and resources, this last one can be noted with the commerce by Morocco of phosphates extracted in Western Sahara territories (Saharawis Today).

Saharawi refugees have been living outside their own territory for 40 years in Argelian refugee camps. These camps are situated in Tindouf, the southwest part of Argelia, and more than 180,000 Saharawis refugees reside there, many having never walked in their own country (Saidi, 2022). The Saharawis continue their anticolonial fight for freedom from Argelia and have not stopped organizing themselves for getting their land back. Nowadays there is a huge lack of liberty in Western Sahara. Freedom House, an organization that provides freedom indexes, gives Western Sahara a 4 out of 100 on their scale, where 100 is complete liberty and 0 is complete subjugation (“Western Sahara: Freedom in the World 2021 Country Report”).

The Polisario Front, a liberation movement for the Saharawi people, emerged in response to Morocco's claim to the territory. The Polisario Front base is situated in the refugee camps in Argelia, as are its presidency, ministries, and administration of public services (Saharawis Today). It is important to mention that after Spain left the territory, the Polisario Front proclaimed the Independence of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Delegación del Frente Polisario para España, 1975). Morocco responded with an invasion of the Western Sahara territory with violence and bombing. This event caused the escape of many Saharawies to Algerian refugee camps, where they have constituted a “State in exile” where the refugee population lives under the authority of their own leaders and their own Constitution (Saharawis Today).

Saharawi activist Tesh Sidi explains that “The Saharawi cause is political, it cannot be framed within the Western ideological demands, much less that of any party. It is an anti-colonial fight.”. She highlights the importance of educating ourselves by listening, specifically, to Saharawi's voices, and learning more about their plight and our nation’s role in creating it. Therefore, the Saharawi anticolonial fight has to be led and carried out by Saharawis, but we can contribute by recognizing our responsibility for that conflict.

References

“Western Sahara Profile.” BBC News. BBC, January 31, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14115273.

Saharawis Today [@saharawistoday]. Photo of the campaign #StopComercioConRecursosRobados. Instagram, February 1, 2023. Accessed March 3, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoHTKHZNTHL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Saidi, Sara. “En El Desierto Argelino, Los Saharauis En El Exilio Se Organizan Día a Día Para Una Vida Mejor.” Equal Times, June 20, 2022. Accessed March 2, 2023. https://www.equaltimes.org/en-el-desierto-argelino-los?lang=es#.ZAL7hOzMLfZ

“Sáhara Occidental | Las Naciones Unidas Y La Descolonización.”. Www.un.org, May 15, 2019. Accessed March 1, 2023. https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/es/nsgt/western-sahara.

Tesh Sidi [@teshsidi]. Photo explaining the Saharawi fight. Instagram, February 4, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoP5kQst-nS/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

“Western Sahara: Freedom in the World 2021 Country Report.” Freedom House. Accessed March 4, 2023.

https://freedomhouse.org/country/western-sahara/freedom-world/2021

Saharawis Today [@saharawistoday]. Photo explaining “Los 5 campos de refugiados saharauis”. Instagram, February 1, 2023. Accessed March 3, 2023.

‌https://www.instagram.com/p/CoHg4fftXbO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Saharawis Today [@saharawistoday]. Photo of Polisario Front vs RASD. Instagram, January 5, 2023. Accessed March 3, 2023. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCRfNsNzsd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Di Buono, Fabrizio. 2018. «Identidades Del Desierto. Los Efectos De La colonización española En La Identidad Saharaui». Anuario De La Escuela De Historia, n.º 30 (noviembre):129-53. https://doi.org/10.35305/aeh.v0i30.250.

Delegación del Frente Polisario para España, "Carta de proclamación de la independencia de la república árabe saharaui democrática", 1976, https://frentepolisario.es/carta-proclamacion-independencia-rasd/.

"Mandate", MINURSO, consultado el 6 de marzo de 2023, https://minurso.unmissions.org/mandate.

Western Sahara: Yet Another Occupied Territory Unsupported by the USA.