Western Sahara

The Western Sahara conflict has proven to be one of the most protracted and intractable struggles facing the international community. Pitting local nationalist determination against Moroccan territorial ambitions, the dispute is further complicated by regional tensions with Algeria and the geo-strategic concerns of major global players, including the United States, France, and the territory s former colonial ruler, Spain. For over twenty years, the UN Security Council has failed to find a formula that will delicately balance these interests against Western Sahara s long-denied right to a self-determination referendum as one of the last UN-recognized colonies.

In the first book-length treatment of the issue in over two decades, Zunes and Mundy examine the origins, evolution, and resilience of the Western Sahara conflict, deploying a diverse array of sources and firsthand knowledge of the region gained from multiple research visits. Shifting geographical frames local, regional, and international provide for a robust analysis of the stakes involved.

This week in Western Saharan, delegations are arriving for the 13th Conference of the Polisario Front, the U. N.-recognized group that has fought since the 1970s for Western Sahara's independence from Morocco. The gathering will draw some 1,500 people to discuss a topic that has otherwise gone largely overlooked in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings: Western Sahara's sovereignty and autonomous status.

Since the 1970s, Morocco and the independence-seeking Popular Front for the Liberation of Saqiat al Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario) have vied, at times violently, for control of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. In 1991, the United Nations (U.N.) arranged a cease- fire and proposed a settlement plan that called for a referendum to allow the people of the Western Sahara to choose between independence and integration into Morocco. A long deadlock on determining the electorate for a referendum ensued. The U.N. then unsuccessfully suggested alternatives to the unfulfilled settlement plan and later called on the parties to negotiate. In April 2007, Morocco offered a plan for increased regional autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. The Moroccan government and the Polisario have repeatedly met under U.N. auspices since 2007, but have made no progress on a settlement due to their unwillingness to compromise. Informal talks are currently being mediated by U.N. Special Envoy Christopher Ross, a U.S. diplomat.

Today, Morocco controls roughly 80% of the disputed territory and considers the whole region part of its sovereign territory. In line with his autonomy initiative, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has pursued policies of decentralization or regionalization that he says are intended to empower residents of his Saharan provinces. The Polisario has a government in exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which is backed by neighboring Algeria. The Western Sahara issue has stymied Moroccan- Algerian bilateral relations, Moroccan relations with the African Union, and regional cooperation on economic and security issues.

The United States has not recognized the SADR or Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. The United States has supported the U.N. mediation effort, has welcomed the Moroccan autonomy proposal, and has urged the parties to focus on negotiations toward a mutually acceptable solution—an outcome that would not destabilize its ally, Morocco. Some Members of Congress support a referendum and are frustrated by delays, while others support Morocco’s position and the autonomy initiative. The FY2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 112-74) requires the State Department to report on freedom of expression and the ability of diplomats and independent human rights groups to freely investigate conditions in the Western Sahara, prior to obligating Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds for Morocco. It has been U.S. policy that bilateral assistance funds for Morocco may not be used for programming in Western Sahara, as this would tacitly accept Moroccan sovereignty. The conference report on P.L. 112-74 states that bilateral economic assistance provided to Morocco “may be used in regions and territories administered by Morocco,” an apparent reference to the Western Sahara; however, the report language appears unlikely to alter U.S. policy in practice. The United States contributes funds, but no manpower, to the U.N. Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO). MINURSO was initially focused on organizing a referendum, but its current mandate emphasizes monitoring the 1991 cease-fire.

See also CRS Report RS21579, Morocco: Current Issues, by Alexis Arieff, and CRS Report RS21532, Algeria: Current Issues, by Alexis Arieff.

The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub. On 28 August 1815, the US brig Commerce was dashed against Mauritania's Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety. What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, hunger, dehydration and despair, as the crew were captured, robbed and enslaved. They were reduced to drinking urine (their own and the camels'), flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand. And, over time, James Riley and Sidi Hamet, slave and captor, came to recognize in each other men worthy of respect and the ransom not only of Riley himself but also of a handful of his crew suddenly seemed possible. But, Sidi Hamet had enemies of his own, and to reach safety the sailors had to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity.

A comprehensive economic, political, and social portrait of the key constituents in the conflict over the Western Sahara.