the Spanish census). In 2013, the festival screened over 15 films from around the world including comedies, short films, animations, and documentaries. In a previously confidential legal opinion (published in February 2010, although it was forwarded in July 2009), the European Parliament's Legal Service opined that fishing by European vessels under a current EU – Morocco fishing agreement covering Western Sahara's waters is in violation of international law. [98] Most food for the urban population comes from Morocco. Polisario leaders maintain that they are ideologically opposed to terrorism, and insist that collective punishment and forced disappearances among Sahrawi civilians[54] should be considered state terrorism on the part of Morocco. Escudo de Villa Cisneros.svg 776 × 923; 103 KB. 1. This second draft, commonly known as Baker II, was accepted by the Polisario as a "basis of negotiations" to the surprise of many. (2007 est.) Among the responsibilities women had were setting up, repairing, and moving the tents of the camp, and participating in major tribal decisions. [122] His canvases of choice were destroyed walls, which he brought back to life through his art. After arguing for a process of decolonization to be guided by the United Nations, the Algerian government under Houari Boumédiènne in 1975 committed to assisting the Polisario Front, which opposed both Moroccan and Mauritanian claims and demanded full independence of Western Sahara. Berber heritage is still evident from regional and place-name toponymy, as well as from tribal names. Subsequently, the Spanish government claimed a protectorate over the coastal zone. Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara (HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES OF AFRICA, Band 96) | Pazzanita, Anthony G. | ISBN: 9780810855403 | Kostenloser Versand für … [44] The Moroccan government views it as a no-man's land patrolled by UN troops. [115] In more official ways, women were consistently part of the Polisario Front, which in 1994 created the National Union of Sahrawi Women (NUSW). 15 DT-2004. The Moroccan and Mauritanian annexations were resisted by the Polisario Front, which had gained backing from Algeria. These actions are closely monitored by the UN. The United Nations considers the Polisario Front to be the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, and maintains that the Sahrawis have a right to self-determination.[8][9]. In November 2010 Moroccan security forces entered Gadaym Izik camp in the early hours of the morning, using helicopters and water cannon to force people to leave. [118] The NUSW was structured at the local, regional, and national levels and concentrated on four areas: the occupied territories and emigration, information and culture, political and professional development, and foreign affairs. The Saharawi people who live in the Western Sahara are largely descended from Arab tribes who moved into the area in the fifteenth century, and established themselves definitively with victory over the indigenous Sanhaja Berbers in the 1644–74 Char Bouba war. This area has a very small population, estimated to be approximately 30,000 nomads. Many of the websites below refer to the exile government. 43 (April 2012), p.22", "Sahrawi Refugee Children in a Spanish Host Program", "Local Human Development in contexts of permanent crisis: Women's experiences in Western Sahara", "A Desert Film Festival Complete with Camels", "These artists are transforming the dreary environment of the Saharawi refugee camps", "Voices of a lost homeland: The poetry of Western Sahara", "Poetics of diaspora: Sahrawi poets and postcolonial transformations of a trans-Saharan genre in northwest Africa", Learn how and when to remove this template message, The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), The Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State (ASVDH), Association for the Families of Sahrawi Prisoners and the Disappeared (AFAPREDESA), Western Sahara, Landmine Monitor Report 2008, "Jacob Mundy – "Seized of the Matter". Spanish troops succeeded in repelling Moroccan military incursions into the territory, and in 1958 Spain formally united Río de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra into a Spanish province known as Spanish Sahara. The Romans also had some contact with the Saharan peoples. Trade developed further, and the territory may have been one of the routes for caravans, especially between Marrakesh and Tombouctou in Mali. Sahrawi women could inherit property, and subsist independently from their fathers, brothers, husbands, and other male relatives. The Bafour were later replaced or absorbed by Berber-speaking populations, which eventually merged in turn with the migrating Beni Ḥassān Arab tribes. A number of links below will only refer to organizations … Part of the territory (striped) is governed by Morocco. After the United States insisted in 2018 that the continued presence of UN peacekeeping forces be contingent on progress made toward settling the long-running dispute, Morocco and the Polisario Front met in December of that year to renew discussion over the situation. [36], On 15 November 2010, the Moroccan government accused the Algerian secret services of orchestrating and financing the Gadaym Izik camp with the intent to destabilize the region. The project was presented to the UN Security Council in mid-April 2007. These negotiations would define the exact limits of a Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan rule but only after Morocco's "inalienable right" to the territory was recognized as a precondition to the talks. It became a protectorate of Spain in the 19th century and was later claimed by Morocco, Mauritania, and local inhabitants. Despite these possible inaccuracies, Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed on using the Spanish census as the basis for voter registration when striking a cease-fire agreement in the late 1980s, contingent on the holding of a referendum on independence or integration into Morocco. [11] In both instances, recognitions have, over the past two decades, been extended and withdrawn back and forth, depending on the development of relations with Morocco. In 1957 the territory was claimed by Morocco, which itself had just reached independence the previous year. They are of mixed Arab-Berber descent, but claim descent from the Beni Hassan, an Arab tribe that migrated across the desert in the 11th century. [6] In 1975, Spain relinquished the administrative control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco (which had formally claimed the territory since 1957)[7] and Mauritania. There are also berms in the Moroccan-controlled zone, around Dakhla and stretching from Boujdour, including Smara on the Moroccan border. Casa del gobierno La Agüera 1.928-1.935.jpg 480 × 307; 36 KB. The principal city is Laayoune, the old colonial capital. According to Baker's draft, tens of thousands of post-annexation immigrants from Morocco proper (viewed by Polisario as settlers but by Morocco as legitimate inhabitants of the area) would be granted the vote in the Sahrawi independence referendum, and the ballot would be split three ways by the inclusion of an unspecified "autonomy", further undermining the independence camp. The disputed Western Sahara region: part of the contested area (shaded) lies under the control of the Polisario Front. Western Sahara is regarded by the UN as the last colony in Africa. [citation needed] Certain powers, such as the capacity to appoint the government and to dissolve parliament, remain in the hands of the monarch. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/place/Western-Sahara, University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center - Western Sahara, Western Sahara - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Western Sahara: former headquarters of the Spanish Foreign Legion. Demonstrations and protests still occur, even after Morocco declared in February 2006 that it was contemplating a plan for devolving a limited variant of autonomy to the territory but still explicitly refused any referendum on independence. Western Saharan history. Polisario accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused and, as rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. Both parties have been accused of such violations by the UN, but to date there has been no serious hostile action from either side since 1991. Western Sahara's economy is based almost entirely on fishing, which employs two-thirds of its workforce, with mining, agriculture and tourism providing modest additional income. [29] This was discussed by the United Nations Security Council in 2000, and envisioned an autonomous Western Sahara Authority (WSA), which would be followed after five years by the referendum. Erik Jensen, who played an administrative role in MINURSO, wrote that neither side would agree to a voter registration in which they were destined to lose (see Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate). Western Sahara, territory occupying an extensive desert Atlantic-coastal area of northwest Africa. Political leadership of trade agreement signatories such as the United States (US-Morocco Free Trade Agreement) and Norway (European Free Trade Association trade accord) have made statements as to these agreements' non-applicability – although practical policy application is ambiguous. History of Ibn Khaldun Volume 6, pp80-90 by, Tomás Bárbulo, "La historia prohibida del Sáhara Español,", Jacob Mundy – Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University. [90] These forces are dug into permanent positions, such as gun emplacements, defensive trenches and underground military bases, as well as conducting mobile patrols of the territory. Jacob Mundi. This event led to the introduction of graffiti art to the camps, and popular graffiti artists have come to the workshop to work with refugees. Third, you will find a list of readings about the conflict. The latest attack in the "Guerguerat Gap" was the trigger that led Western Sahara to declare a state of war, in violation of the UN-sponsored ceasefire. Among the most arid and inhospitable on the planet, the land along the coast is low flat desert and rises, especially in the north, to small mountains reaching up to 600 metres (2,000 ft) on the eastern side. The exiled government of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a form of single-party parliamentary and presidential system, but according to its constitution, this will be changed into a multi-party system at the achievement of independence. Western Sahara is a sparsely-populated area of mostly desert situated on the northwest coast of Africa. [26][27] Hostilities ceased in a 1991 cease-fire, overseen by the peacekeeping mission MINURSO, under the terms of a UN Settlement Plan. The UN has put forth no replacement strategy after the breakdown of Baker II, and renewed fighting has been raised as a possibility. As of 2010[update], negotiations over terms have not resulted in any substantive action. Phosphate extraction, however, presents problems because of the shortage of water. Instead, the African Union participates with the United Nations mission, in order to maintain a ceasefire and reach a peace agreement between its two members. Morocco fortified the vital triangle formed by the Bu Craa mines, Laayoune, and Semara while the Polisario Front guerrillas continued their raids. [10] Internationally, countries such as Russia have taken a generally ambiguous and neutral position on each side's claims, and have pressed both parties to agree on a peaceful resolution. The Algerian government has consistently refused, claiming it has neither the will nor the right to negotiate on the behalf of the Polisario Front. A Spanish stamp representing the Western Sahara as a Spanish province. As personal envoy of the Secretary-General, James Baker visited all sides and produced the document known as the "Baker Plan". Morocco reasserted its sovereignty over the territory after Spain withdrew its colonial interests from the area in 1975. Latest Religion News. [95][failed verification], UN sponsored peace talks, the first in six years between Morocco and Polisario, were held in Geneva on 5 December 2018, with both sides agreeing to meet again in a few months for further talks.[96][97]. The precise size and composition of the population is subject to political controversy. It's known that the inhabitants of Western Saharabelong to the people of the Gitol, and depending on the sources reported in the Roman era, the region was inhabited by the people of the Gitol in addition to the presence of tribes inhabited by Amazighs; however, other sources confirm that the first inhabitants of W… Aside from its rich fishing waters and phosphate reserves, Western Sahara has few natural resources and lacks sufficient rainfall and freshwater resources for most agricultural activities. [89], The Polisario forces (of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA)) in the area are divided into seven "military regions", each controlled by a top commander reporting to the President of the Polisario proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. [98] Fuel is sold at half the price, and basic goods are heavily subsidized;[98] businesses operating in the territory do not pay taxes. Source: The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050. Mines were laid in zigzags up to one meter apart, and in some parts of the berms, there are three rows of mines. 1978 p.90, 4th ed. Some of the films were made by the refugees themselves. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. No major powers have expressed interest in forcing the issue, however, and Morocco has shown little interest in a real referendum. Western Sahara, which was officially known as País del Oro (the golden land), was a successor state to Spain. It also controls the part of Western Sahara to the east of the Moroccan Wall, known as the liberated territories. Three Moroccan regions are within or partly within Western Sahara: Morocco controls territory to the west of the berm (border wall) while the Sahrawi Republic controls territory to the east (see map on right). El Aaiún 1973 Tropas.png 629 × 437; 252 KB. At times, a cool off-shore current can produce fog and heavy dew. The Sahrawis are traditionally nomadic Bedouins with a lifestyle very similar to that of the Tuareg Berbers from whom Sahrawis most likely have descended, and they can be found in all surrounding countries. WESTERN SAHARA : pre 1060 flags Phoenicia : ±1060 - 1147 : Morocco. A guerrilla insurgency by the Spanish Sahara’s indigenous inhabitants, the nomadic Sahrawis, sprang up in the early 1970s, calling itself the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Polisario Front). Archeology Project Westsahara . It gradually contained the guerrillas by setting up the extensive sand-berm in the desert (known as the Border Wall or Moroccan Wall) to exclude guerrilla fighters. In 1346 the Portuguese discovered a bay that they mistakenly identified with a more southerly Río de Oro, probably the Sénégal River. [86] When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control over the whole territory. Motorable tracks abound in the country’s extremely flat terrain, but there are few paved roads. [99] The cable concluded that the territory is unlikely ever to be of any economic benefit for Morocco, even if offshore oil fields were to be discovered and exploited. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and northwest, by Morocco on the north, by Algeria for a few miles in the northeast, and by Mauritania on the east and south. [113] These types of exchange programs that successfully create cross-border and cross-cultural relationships reinforce the usage of the Spanish language throughout subsequent generations of Sahrawi children. A 1974 Spanish census claimed there were some 74,000 Sahrawis in the area at the time (in addition to approximately 20,000 Spanish residents), but this number is likely to be on the low side, due to the difficulty in counting a nomad people, even if Sahrawis were by the mid-1970s mostly urbanized. The major ethnic group of Western Sahara are the Sahrawis, a nomadic or Bedouin ethnic group speaking the Hassānīya dialect of Arabic, also spoken in much of Mauritania. It is the Both areas are monitored by UN peacekeepers. The arrival of Islam in the 8th century played a major role in the development of the Maghreb region. Its territory consisted of the Spanish Canary Islands, the former colony of Western Sahara, the Balearic Islands and the city of Melilla on the North African coast. In the 11th century, the Maqil Arabs (fewer than 200 individuals) settled in Morocco (mainly in the Draa River valley, between the Moulouya River, Tafilalt and Taourirt). In 2005, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported increased military activity on both sides of the front and breaches of several cease-fire provisions against strengthening military fortifications. Among the challenges were defections from the organization and a reduction in support by its primary backer, Algeria, as that country was forced to concentrate on its own internal problems. The festival provides entertainment and educational opportunities for Sahrawi refugees alongside cultural celebrations for visitors and spectators. The area is patrolled by Polisario forces,[87] and access is restricted, even among Sahrawis, due to the harsh climate of the Sahara, the military conflict and the abundance of land mines. Western Sahara online.net (Western Sahara Online) Sahara Marocain; ポリサリオ戦線支持サイト ARSO; New Internationalist magazine (a campaigning activist communications cooperative) その他 Infoplease introduction; History of Western Sahara; USA State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2001 - Western Sahara It is presently based at the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which it controls. The last elections to the parliament's lower house were deemed reasonably free and fair by international observers. The history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in the 5th century BC. History of Western Sahara von Frederic P. Miller und eine große Auswahl ähnlicher Bücher, Kunst und Sammlerstücke erhältlich auf AbeBooks.de. The Moroccan government heavily subsidizes the Saharan provinces under its control with cut-rate fuel and related subsidies, to appease nationalist dissent and attract immigrants from Sahrawis and other communities in Morocco proper.[43]. In 2003 it proposed autonomy for the territory for five years, followed by a referendum, but Morocco rejected the proposal. ein Territorium an der Atlantikküste Nordwestafrikas, das nach dem Abzug der ehemaligen Kolonialmacht Spanien 1975 von Marokko beansprucht und größtenteils annektiert wurde. Sporadic fighting developed between the Polisario Front, which was supported by and based in Algeria, and the Moroccan forces. Annual demonstrations against the Moroccan Wall are staged in the region by Sahrawis and international activists from Spain, Italy, and other mainly European countries. The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human-rights abuses, constantly reported by external reporters and HR activists,[52] most notably the displacement of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, the expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria,[53] and numerous casualties of war and repression. In 1997, the Houston Agreement attempted to revive the proposal for a referendum but likewise has hitherto not had success. This again brought the process to a halt. A former Spanish colony, it was annexed by Morocco in 1975. The contemporary history of the territory has experienced long-term international presence and occupation that has deeply influenced the cultural practices of the people, such as languages spoken throughout the territory and its institutions. The Polisario has its home base in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, and declares the number of Sahrawi population in the camps to be approximately 155,000. [37] The protest coincided with a fresh round of negotiations at the UN. It acknowledged that Western Sahara had historical links with Morocco and Mauritania, but not sufficient to prove the sovereignty of either State over the territory at the time of the Spanish colonization. Until their conflict is resolved, the African Union has not issued any formal statement about the border separating the sovereign territories of Morocco and the SADR in Western Sahara. [32] His resignation followed several months of failed attempts to get Morocco to enter into formal negotiations on the plan, but he met with rejection. Over roughly five centuries, through a complex process of acculturation and mixing seen elsewhere in the Maghreb and North Africa, some of the indigenous Berber tribes mixed with the Maqil Arab tribes and formed a culture unique to Morocco and Mauritania. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the Tindouf refugee camps, Mauritania and other places of exile. After the death of Moroccan King Hassan II, Muḥammad VI took the throne and announced in 2001 that Morocco would no longer agree to hold a referendum in Western Sahara. Local religious custom (Urf) is, like other Saharan groups, heavily influenced by pre-Islamic Berber and African practices, and differs substantially from urban practices. ", This page was last edited on 6 May 2021, at 23:53. [79][80] Social anthropologist of the Sahara Desert, Konstantina Isidoros, said that in both 2005 and 2008, ESISC issued two near-identical reports proclaiming distorted truths that Polisario is evolving to new fears terrorism,[clarification needed] radical Islamism or international crime. Berber heritage is still evident from regional and place-name toponymy, as well as from tribal names. After that, the draft quickly garnered widespread international support, culminating in the UN Security Council's unanimous endorsement of the plan in the summer of 2003. However, the situation was further complicated by newly independent Mauritania’s claims to the province in 1960, and in 1963 huge phosphate deposits were discovered at Bu Craa in the northern portion of the Spanish Sahara, which made the province a potentially economically valuable prize for any country that could firmly establish possession of it. According to a NATO delegation, MINURSO election observers stated in 1999, as the deadlock continued, that "if the number of voters does not rise significantly the odds were slightly on the SADR side". While the area can experience flash flooding in the spring, there are no permanent streams. The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Western Sahara in historical times were agriculturalists called Bafour. Many people from parts of Morocco have come to live in the territory, and these latest arrivals are today thought to outnumber the indigenous Western Sahara Sahrawis. [6] A war erupted between those countries and a Sahrawi nationalist movement, the Polisario Front, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government in exile in Tindouf, Algeria. US and French companies (notably Total and Kerr-McGee) began prospecting on behalf of the Moroccan Office National de Recherches et d'Exploitations Petrolières (ONAREP). [103] The opinion was rendered following an analysis of relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the United Nations General Assembly resolutions, the case law of the International Court of Justice and the practice of sovereign states. Physically indistinguishable from the Hassaniya speaking Moors of Mauritania, the Sahrawi people differ from their neighbours partly because of different tribal affiliations (as tribal confederations cut across present modern boundaries) and partly as a consequence of their exposure to Spanish colonial domination. Pro-independence Sahrawi sources, including the Polisario, have given these demonstrations the name "Independence Intifada", while most sources have tended to see the events as being of limited importance. However, there was little European contact with the region until the 19th cent. The number was highly politically significant due to the expected organization of a referendum on self-determination. The African Union provides peacekeeping contingent to the UN mission which is deployed to control a buffer zone near the de facto border of walls built by Morocco within Western Sahara. By medieval times this part of the Sahara was occupied by Ṣanhajāh Amazigh (Berber) peoples who were later dominated by Arabic-speaking Muslim Bedouins from about 1000 ce. Restrictions on Religion. Several international human rights organizations expressed concern at what they termed abuse by Moroccan security forces, and a number of Sahrawi activists have been jailed. [44] The population is primarily made up of nomads who engage in herding camels back and forth between the Tindouf area and Mauritania. [19] Towards the end of the Almohad Caliphate, the Beni Hassan, a sub-tribe of the Maqil, were called by the local ruler of the Sous to quell a rebellion; they settled in the Sous Ksours and controlled such cities as Taroudant. In 2005, MINURSO lodged a complaint to the Security Council of the United Nations for "military maneuvers with real fire which extends to restricted areas" by Morocco. [87][90] The total size of the Polisario's guerrilla army present in this area is unknown, but it is believed to number a few thousand men, despite many combatants being demobilized due to the cease-fire. A United Nations (UN) peace proposal in 1988 specified a referendum for the indigenous Sahrawis to decide whether they wanted an independent Western Sahara under Polisario Front leadership or whether the territory would officially become part of Morocco. [22] After 1939 and the outbreak of World War II, this area was administered by Spanish Morocco. History of the western Sahara. 1984 pp.89 [G] This page is part of World History at KMLA First posted on … [88], Despite this, the area is traveled and inhabited by many Sahrawi nomads from the Tindouf refugee camps of Algeria and the Sahrawi communities in Mauritania. "[103] After pressures from corporate ethics-groups, Total S.A. pulled out in late 2004.
Solutions 30 : Muddy Waters, Robinson Stévenin Vie Privée, Annulation Mariage Combien De Temps, Scopelec Numéro Téléphone, Grands Espaces Définition, Lundi De Pâques 2021 Luxembourg, Marmonner Synonyme En Arabe, Meditation Positive Music, Prix Nobel De Chimie, Cathédrale Notre‑dame De Chartres, Qui Est Jérusalem, Dans La Bible, Red Bull Romaniac, Distance Alger Medina Par Avion,