Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية
Al-Jumhūrīyya al-`Arabīyya aṣ-Ṣaḥrāwīyya ad-Dīmuqrātīyya
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Flag of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة   (Arabic)
"Liberty, Democracy, Unity""
Anthem: Yābaniy Es-Saharā  listen
Location of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
This map indicates the territory claimed by the SADR, viz. Western Sahara (the lower half of the section shaded green). The majority of this territory is currently administered by Morocco; the remainder is named the Free Zone by SADR, it is marked in yellow.
Capital El Aaiún[1]  (under Moroccan administration)
Bir Lehlou (temporary capital)
Tindouf Camps(de facto)
Tifariti (proposed new provisional capital)[1][2]
Official languages Arabic
Demonym Sahrawi
Government Nominal republic1
 -  President Mohamed Abdelaziz
 -  Prime Minister Abdelkader Taleb Oumar
Disputed with Morocco 
 -  Western Sahara
   relinquished by Spain
November 14, 1975 
 -  SADR proclaimed February 27, 1976 
Area
 -  Total 266,0002 km2 (83rd)
102,7032 sq mi 
 -  Water (%) negligible
Population
 -  July 2004 estimate 267,405 (182nd)
 -  Density 1.3/km2 (228th)
3.4/sq mi
Time zone UTC (UTC+0)
Internet TLD .eh
1 The SADR government is situated in Tindouf, Algeria. It controls a sparsely populated area behind the Moroccan Wall in Western Sahara which it is labelled by MINURSO as the Free Zone. Bir Lehlou, which acts as the capital of this area is within this strip.

This article is part of the series:
History of Western Sahara
Wi-map.png
Western Sahara
Historical background

Western Sahara War · History of Morocco · Spanish Sahara · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic · Spanish Morocco · Colonial wars in Morocco · Moroccan Army of Liberation · Ifni War · ICJ Advisory Opinion · UN in Spanish Sahara · Madrid Accords · Green March · Berm (Western Sahara) · Human rights in Western Sahara
Disputed regions

Saguia el-Hamra · Río de Oro · Southern Provinces · Free Zone
Politics

Legal status of Western Sahara · Politics of Morocco · Politics of the SADR · Polisario Front · Former members of the Polisario Front · CORCAS · Moroccan Initiative for Western Sahara
Rebellions

Moroccan Army of Liberation · Harakat Tahrir · Polisario Front · Zemla Intifada · Independence Intifada
UN involvement

UN Security Council Resolution 1495|Resolution 1495 · Resolution 1754 · UN visiting mission · MINURSO · Settlement Plan · Houston Agreement · Baker Plan · Manhasset negotiations

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (Arabic: 'الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية‎) is a partially recognised state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976. The SADR government currently controls about 20% of the territory it claims. It calls the territories under its control the "Liberated Territories" or "Free Zone." Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The SADR government considers the Moroccan held territory "Occupied Territory" while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a "Buffer Zone."

Contents

History

Main article: History of Western Sahara

Following the Spanish evacuation of Spanish Sahara, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania signed the Madrid Accords, leading to both Morocco and Mauritania moving in to annex it. Neither state gained international recognition and war ensued with the independence-seeking Polisario Front, claiming to represent the Sahrawi people. The creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was announced in Bir Lehlou in Western Sahara on February 27, 1976, as the Polisario declared the need for a new entity to fill what they considered a political void left by the departing Spanish colonizers. Bir Lehlou remained in Polisario-held territory under the 1991 cease-fire (see Settlement Plan) and has remained the government in exile's symbolic capital of the exiled republic, while Polisario continues to claim the Moroccan held city of El Aaiún, as the capital of a would-be independent Western Sahara. Day-to-day business is, however, conducted in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which house most of the Sahrawi exile community.

Government structure

The highest office of the republic is the President of Western Sahara, now Mohammed Abdelaziz, who appoints the Prime Minister of Western Sahara, now Abdelkader Taleb Oumar. The SADR's government structure consists of a Council of Ministers (a cabinet led by the Prime Minister), a judicial branch (with judges appointed by the President) and the parliamentary Sahrawi National Council (SNC, present speaker is Mahfoud Ali Beiba). Since its inception in 1976, the various constitutional revisions has transformed the republic from an ad hoc managerial structure, into something approaching an actual governing apparatus. From the late 1980s the parliament began to take steps to institute a division of powers and disentangle the republic's structures from those of the Polisario party, although without clear effect to date.

Its various ministries are responsible for a variety of services and functions. The judiciary, complete with trial courts, appeals courts and a supreme court, operates in the same areas. As a government-in-exile, many branches of government do not fully function, and has affected the constitutional roles of the institutions. Institutions parallel to government structures also have arisen within the Polisario Front, which is fused with the SADR's governing apparatus, and with operational competences overlapping between these party and governmental institutions and offices.

The SNC is presently weak in its legislative role, having been instituted as a mainly consultative and consensus-building institution, but it has strengthened its theoretical legislative and controlling powers during later constitutional revisions. Among other things, it has added a ban on the death penalty to the constitution, and brought down the government in 1999 through a vote of no-confidence.

Current ministers

Legislative branch

[discuss] – [edit]
Composition of the Sahrawi National Council
Party Seats
Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro 101
Total 101

Area of authority

The SADR acts as a government administration in the Sahrawi refugee camps located in the Tindouf Province of western Algeria. It is headquartered in Camp Rabouni, south of Tindouf, although some official events have taken place on Western Saharan territory in the provisional capital of Bir Lehlou and Tifariti, both in Polisario controlled territories. Effective independence is unclear with Polisario and Algerian authorities claiming Algerian authorities respect the autonomy of the government in exile, and stay outside the Sahrawi refugee camps. This however is disputed by former members of Polisario and questioned by outside observers. Several foreign aid agencies, including the UNHCR, are continually active in the camps.

Constitution and characteristics

Main article: Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

A new 1999 Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic took a form similar to parliamentary constitutions of many European states, but with some paragraphs suspended until the achievement of "full independence". Among key points, the head of state is constitutionally the Secretary General of the Polisario Front during what is referred to as the "pre-independence phase," with provision in the constitution that on independence, Polisario is supposed to be dismantled or separated completely from the government structure. Provisions are detailed for a transitory phase beginning with independence, in which the present SADR is supposed to act as Western Sahara's government, ending with a constitutional reform and eventual establishment of a state along the lines specified in the constitution.

The broad guidelines laid down for an eventual Western Saharan state in the constitution include eventual multi-party democracy with a market economy. The constitution also defines Sahrawis as a Muslim, African and Arab people,[3] and the Arabic language as the official and main language of the SADR, as well as declaring a commitment to the principles of human rights, and to the concept of a Greater Maghreb, as a regional variant of Pan-Arabism.

International recognition and membership

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
  • Constitution
  • President
    • Mohamed Abdelaziz
  • Prime Minister
    • Abdelkader Taleb Oumar
  • National Council
  • Political parties
  • Elections (2008)
  • Foreign relations
  • Free Zone

Other countries · Atlas
 Politics portal

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is currently recognized as a sovereign representative of Western Sahara by forty-three states, mostly African and other governments in the developing world. Twenty-two states have withdrawn their former recognition, and twelve have "frozen" their diplomatic relations with the republic pending the outcome of the UN referendum. Sahrawi embassies exist in thirteen states. On the other hand, Moroccan territorial integrity, apparently meaning including Western Sahara, is explicitly recognized by the Arab League [3] [4] and by twenty-five states.

Although it has no representation at the United Nations, the republic has been a full member of the African Union (AU, formerly the Organization of African Unity, OAU) since 1984. Morocco withdrew from the OAU in protest and remains the only African nation not within the AU since South Africa's admittance in 1994. The SADR is also a member of the Asian-African Strategic Partnership formed at the 2005 Asian-African Conference.[4], over Moroccan objections to SADR participation.[5]

In 2006, the SADR participated in a conference of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of the Latin American and the Caribbean (COPPAL)[6].

The SADR is not a member of the Arab League, nor of the Arab Maghreb Union, both of which include Morocco as a full member.

A Western Sahara Authority?

In the most recent peace plan, the UN-endorsed Baker Plan, created by James Baker, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy to Western Sahara, the SADR would have been replaced with a five-year transitional Western Sahara Authority (WSA), a non-sovereign autonomous region supervised by Morocco, to be followed by a referendum on independence. However, as Morocco has declined to participate, the plan appears dead.

In April 2007 the government of Morocco suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007. A stalemate over the Moroccan proposal led the UN in an April 2007 "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution.Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara (13 April 2007)(ped). UN Security Council. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. )

National holidays

The Spanish actress Verónica Forqué at the Sahara Film Festival.
Date Name Original event / Notes
February 27 Independence Day Proclamation of the SADR in Bir Lehlou, 1976
May 10 Foundation of the Polisario Front Founded 1973
May 20 May 20 Revolution Start of the armed struggle against Spain in 1973
June 5 Day of the Disappeared Remembering missing Sahrawis
June 9 Day of the Martyrs Day on which El-Ouali died in 1976
June 17 Zemla Intifada Harakat Tahrir riots in El-Aaiun, 1970
October 12 Day of National Unity Celebrating the Ain Ben Tili Conference, 1975

Islamic dates

Dates kept according to the lunar Islamic calendar.

Date Name Observance
Dhul Hijja 10 Eid al-Adha Sacrifice feast
Shawwal 1 Eid al-Fitr End of Ramadan
Rabi`-ul-Awwal 12 Mawlid Birthday of Muhammad

See also

African Union (AU)

References

  1. ↑ Article 4 of the Sahrawi constitution.
  2. ↑ ARSO on the XII Polisario Congress
  3. ↑ Article 6 of the Sahrawi constitution. Article 2 prescribes that “Islam is the state religion and source of law”.
  4. ↑ South African Broadcasting Corporation (2006-09-01). "Asia-Afro partnership meeting kicked off today" (in English). South African Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  5. ↑ South African Broadcasting Corporation (2006-09-02). "Moroccan objections taint Asian-Africa meeting" (in English). South African Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2006-09-02.
  6. ↑ Prensa Latina (2006-09-11). "LatAm, Caribbean Parties in Nicaragua" (in English). Prensa Latina. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.

External links

Official SADR pages
Other