What's happening in Western Sahara?
Issandr El Amrani
One of the most under-reported stories in the Arab world at the moment is the camp protest taking place at Gadaym Izik, near Laayoune, in Western Sahara. Over 8,000 tents have been set up, gathering at least 10,000 people, to protest economic inequality and Morocco's control of the territory's resources (phosphates and fishing for the most part.) Interestingly, though, the protest does not seem to be Polisario-led or to be making direct requests for self-determination or independence. Talking to people familiar with the protest, it seems to be beyond the control of either pro-Moroccan or pro-Polisario Sahrawis and even local activists (who are mostly pro-independence, even if they retain a degree of independence from the Polisario).
Something has been brewing for several years in Western Sahara, reflecting the local population's dissatisfaction with economic governance, and to some extent its expectation that the government should provide jobs and redirect revenues from local resources to the population, partly due to the longstanding Moroccan practice of providing subsidies and various forms of rent to Sahrawis to secure their support. How this relates to the Polisario movement is very ambiguous — on the one hand the Polisario is recognized in international law as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawis (which even Morocco recognizes since it negotiates with it), on the other the Tindouf leadership has become relatively alienated from the Sahrawis in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. But today it seems the major new dynamic is not coming from Tindouf, which makes all of the political actors involved nervous.
Beyond its relationship to the conflict, this protest has some interesting ramifications. If Western Sahara, as Moroccan wants, is to be an autonomous province inside Morocco, should it continue to benefit from such subsidies that are not available to Moroccans elsewhere? Considering that Morocco spends a considerable amount of money on subsidies (never mind the military), what is the balance between how much is extracted from the region and how is spent? Is this question besides the point if the main question should be whether the Sahrawis want to be Moroccan or independent?
You won't find much discussion of all of this, though. This week's Economist has a story on the conflict overall ahead of the resumption of talks in New York next week, and the best coverage of the Gadaym Izik protest has been by Ignacio Cembrero of El Pais (search for "marruecos" for the latest). Most journalists have been blocked from covering the protest, and al-Jazeera was recently banned from Morocco over its coverage. There's a nice Flickr set of the camp here, that accompanied a Rue89 report. But the lack of information, and access to the camp, only serves to suggest that Morocco has something to hide.
Reader Comments (3)
The amount of propaganda in Morocco is beyond belief. There's nothing resembeling freedom of expression. The Sahara was the perfect opportunity to create a siege mentality among Moroccans and get them to unite behind the tyrannical regime of the Alaouis.
When the debate is stiffled by law, what does one expect?
The recent incidents at the Gadaym Izik camp in Laayoune city in western Sahara
The Independent Commission For The Defense Of Human Rights In Western Sahara has watched and reported the development at the Gadaym Izik camp in Laayoune city in Western Sahara from the first day, denouncing the unethical and unprofessional way by which some Spanish media treated the incidents .
Thousands of Saharawi people (people from the Western Sahara) left their homes to set up camp fifteen kilometres from El Aaaiun city, in protest against the social policy of the Moroccan government In the southern provinces kown as Western Sahara.They claimed that" While Morocco offers benefits to refugees returning from the human rights violations of Tindouf camps in Algeria , many Sahrawis who never left Morocco have not yet received anything. " The Sahrawi demonstrators wanted Morocco to ensure their right to employment, housing and a decent living. "We are not against giving privileges to our brothers returning from the camps of Tindouf. We also recognise their suffering endured in the camps, and the risks they have taken during their escape from the Algerian camps through the miles of desert to their homeland ( Morocco). However, we as indigenous residents feel the oppression because no one cares about us and the suffering of our youth from unemployment and neglect and the difficulty of living," Mohammed Salem Salek told The I.C.D.H.R. in Sahara.
However, when the Moroccan government,that has spent billions of dirhams on Western Sahara,started to solve the social problems of the protesters,some traffickers, gangs and opportunists serving the foreign agendas of the Polisario separatists and their mentor Algeria resorted to blackmail and violence to prevent people from leaving the camp.
The Moroccan security forces,who were in a difficult situation of self-defense and, which left 10 painful casualties among them, did not fire a single gunshot in their intervention. 70 elements of the security forces have been injured .
We need to remember that the Kingdom of Morocco launched an innovative and imaginative plan, in April 2007, to offer its Southern Provinces of the Sahara autonomy and self-determination within the context of Moroccan Sovereignty.Many great countries such as The United States and France reiterate that Morocco's proposal to grant substantial autonomy to its Southern provinces, known as the Sahara, is likely to help find a solution to the 35-year dispute over the former Spanish colony, with Washington dismissing as "unrealistic" the establishment of an independent state in the region as called for by the Polisario separatists and their mentor Algeria.The Moroccan proposal offers the people of the Sahara, the Sahrawis, the opportunity to run their own affairs democratically through their representative legislative, executive and judicial bodies, while benefiting from Moroccan sovereignty in matters of foreign affairs and defence.This Initiative for the Sahara region will enable the Sahrawi People to achieve self-determination through free, modern and democratic means, and accords with both international law and internationally accepted norms and standards. It is the resolution of this thirty-five-year conflict, that will facilitate the economic and democratic development of the whole Maghreb and help to promote peace, security and stability in North Africa.
The Initiative was launched to overcome the deadlock in United Nations’ mediated negotiations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Algeria and their proxy the Polisario Front. As the work of several United Nations’ Secretaries-General and their Personal Envoys to the region have failed to reach a mutually-acceptable solution, the Kingdom of Morocco drew up the Initiative for negotiated autonomy for the Sahara to reach a lasting political solution to the conflict.
http://westernsaharanews.blogspot.com/