Portal:Western Sahara
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Western Sahara is the name of a disputed region in northwest Africa. The legal status of the territory and the issue of sovereignty are unresolved; the territory is contested by Morocco and the Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which in February 1976 formally proclaimed a government-in-exile as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). At present it is largely controlled and entirely claimed by Morocco as an integral part of its territory. The Polisario Front's SADR claims to control the remainder of the territory describing it as the free zone. Western Sahara was appropriated by Spain at the Berlin Conference in 1884 along with other provinces that were returned to Morocco (Sidi Ifni and Tarfaya). After the colonial era the Polisario Front has fought guerrilla war against Morocco, and Mauritania for independence of Western Sahara. The war ended in a 1991 UN-brokered cease-fire; a UN-organized referendum on final status has been repeatedly postponed. Today, 43 governments, mainly from Africa and Latin America, recognize the SADR as the legitimate government in Western Sahara. It is a member of the African Union, but not the United Nations nor the Arab League. Morocco is considered by the UN and many other countries as the administrative power of Western Sahara, though they don't recognize its sovereignty over it. Several thousand Sahrawis live in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria.
The history of Western Sahara took a new turn in the 14th century, when Arab tribes, the Beni Hassan, first travelled to this region. The society of the Western Sahara survived the invasion. Both Berber and Arab features persist today. The region was still largely organised in tribes when the Spanish arrived in Río de Oro in the late 19th century. Resistance was organised by Morocco and led by the caid of sultan Hassan I Ma al-'Aynayn, but the territory would be cut off from Morocco by Spain and France for colonization at the Berlin Conference in 1884.
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- ...the Sahrawis in the Tindouf refugee camps are the most literate people in Africa, with the exception of the Boers of South Africa?
- ...that hundreds of Sahrawis remain "disappeared" after years of violent conflict and repression?
- ...the music of Western Sahara has been imported into the United States with a boxed set and an album by the world music record label Nubenegra?
- ...while the president of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Mohamed Abdelaziz seeks independence for Western Sahara, his father is a member of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, and is defending the Moroccan position?
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- Category:Western Sahara
- Category:Morocco
- Category:Western Sahara stubs
- Category:History of Western Sahara
- Category:Politics of Western Sahara
- Category:Sahrawi music
- Category:Sahrawi tribes
- Category:Africa
- Category:Maghreb
- Category:North Africa
- Category:Western Africa
- Category:Disputed territories
- Category:Former Spanish colonies
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- AFAPREDESA - An association of family and friends of imprisoned and Disappeared Sahrawis.
- A clearing-house of SADR-related information in English, French, and Spanish, including several UN and SADR documents (pro-polisario).
- The Western Sahara Archaeology Project
- A Flickr photo group.
- Forced Migration's photos of the refugee camps
- A news group about Western Sahara.
- A gallery of Sahrawi artwork.
- The Kingdom of Morocco's official page on the Western Sahara.
- The SADR's official page promoting oil and gas licenses.
- Sandblast, a group promoting Sahrawi art.
- A Sahara Marathon.
- Sahara Press Service, the official press service of the SADR.
- The United Nations page for MINURSO.
- A general information sympathetic to the Polisario's struggle for independence.
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- May 7, 2006 - South Korea announces that it will end staffing MINURSO. At the time, it had 20 military personnel in the territory and has sent hundreds of medical professionals.[1]
- May 2, 2006 - Kerr-McGee, the last oil company drilling off the coast of the Sahara, has indicated it will not renew its contracts with the Moroccan government, amid protests. [2]
- April 28, 2006 - The United Nations extends its mandate in the Sahara again.[3]
- March 20, 2006 - King Mohammed VI of Morocco makes his third visit to the Sahara amid protests.[4]
- March 3, 2006 - The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic destroys all of the landmines in its controlled territory[5].
- February 27, 2006 - Thirtieth anniversary of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- February 12-13, 2006 - Torrential rains flood the refugee camps in Tindouf[6]. Massive aid comes from Algeria [7] and the UNHCR.
- January 18, 2006 - Oil firms from the United Kingdom enter negotiations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for exploration off of the Saharan coast. [8], [9], [10], [11]
- January 01, 2006 - Dozens of Sahrawis stage a protest in Touizgui, requesting the "immediate and unconditional release of the Saharawi political detainees." [12]
- December 28, 2005 - Uruguay recognizes the SADR as the legitimate government in Western Sahara[13].
- December 27, 2005 - Sudan [14] recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
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El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed (c. 1950-1976) was the founder of the Polisario Front, a nationalist group that fought both Spanish rule and Mauritanian/Moroccan annexation. Born into a simple nomadic family, Mustapha became interested in politics when he met other Sahrawi youth at law school in Morocco. He originally organized the Polisario as the "Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro" in 1971, and became its charismatic leader. In addition to being the Secretary-General of the Polisario, he became the first President of Western Sahara in 1976. On June 9 of that year, he was killed in combat in Nouakchott.
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"Whoever is afraid of the referendum, is afraid of the truth" - Xanana Gusmão, first President of East Timor [15]
- List of Western Sahara-related topics
- List of active autonomist and secessionist movements
- List of cities in Morocco and Western Sahara
- List of conflicts in the Maghreb
- List of disputed or occupied territories
- List of political parties in Western Sahara
- List of stateless ethnic groups
- United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories
Help expand this list on the Western Sahara WikiProject
