The Unspoken Conflict of Western Sahara

This paper discusses the right to self-determination of the indigenous people of Western Sahara. It studies their post-colonial struggle for self-determination, which has been denied owing to Morocco's occupation and forcible annexation of their territory in 1975. It also looks into the process by which the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination has been institutionalized within the United Nations (UN) system as well as the ongoing UN peace efforts to implement this right and the prospects to which they may lead. Overall, the paper seeks to demonstrate that the continuation of the conflict in Western Sahara is a strong reminder of an enduring violation of a fundamental norm of international law, and the responsibility of the UN and the international community as a whole to redress this aberrant situation.

THE BARDWELL PRESS, Oxford, 2015

The paper will discuss the legal basis for the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and decolonisation. More precisely, it will look into the process by which that right has been institutionalised by the United Nations and its relevant subsidiary organs. The paper will also examine how this right has been violated by Morocco’s 1975 occupation and illegal annexation of Western Sahara. The United Nations’ successive efforts to tackle this situation will be discussed briefly with special emphasis on the current United Nations-led peace process in the territory. Overall, the paper will seek to demonstrate that the question of Western Sahara is, in essence, a decolonisation issue, and hence the exercise by the Saharawi people of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence constitutes the only legal and political basis for achieving a just, viable and lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.

Cal. W. Int'l LJ, 1995

THE WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT I. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT After the Namibian issue was successfully resolved in Spring 1990, the Western Sahara dispute, dating back to 1975, became one of the longest running regional conflicts, and the last unresolved decolonization issue in Africa. The necessary ingredients for solving the conflict have been present for many years and some "ripe moments" for resolution have been missed. 5 Because scholars are divided over the conflict in Western Sahara, depending on their sympathy or lack thereof for the Sahrawi national liberation movement, my description of the genesis of the conflict will rest primarily on those questions that, whatever their rationality, find their support in international law. 6 The origin of the Western Sahara conflict lies in the fact that Spain, the colonial power since 1884, failed to abide by its commitment to hold a referendum on self-determination in the Spanish Sahara. Such a referendum was first demanded by the United Nations in 1965' and by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1972.8 Spain's attempt to hold the referendum in 1974 was interrupted when Mauritania and Morocco-the latter of which had "historic" claims over the entire territory-persuaded the U.N. General Assembly to adopt a resolution on December 13, 1974' which solicited the International Court of Justice (ICJ), without prejudice to the application of the 5. See I. WILLIAM ZARTMAN, RIPE FOR RESOLUTION: CONFLICT AND INTERVENTION IN AFRICA (1985). For other detailed accounts of the origins of the conflict and its evolution, see INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS OF THE WESTERN SAHARA CONFLICT (Yahia Zoubir & Daniel Volman eds., 1993) [hereinafter INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS]; TONY HODGES, WESTERN SAHARA: THE ROOTS OF A DESERT WAR (1983), updated and published in French as SAHARA OCCIDENTAL: ORIGINES ET ENJEUX D'UNE GUERRE DU DESERT (1987) [hereinafter SAHARA OCCIDENTAL]. 6. Hodges, Zoubir, and Volman are favorable to the right of the Sahrawi people to selfdetermination as expressed in resolutions of the United Nations and the Organization of African Unity. See HODGES, supra note 5; INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS, supra note 5. Zartman supports Moroccan territorial claims to Western Sahara, or at least a compromise between Algeria and Morocco. He believes that "there is little interest in seeing additional states carved out of the Sahara, for they can only be further cases of African balkanization, needing financial and development assistance, open to competing influences from neighbors, and a rising temptation to outside powers' interference." ZARTMAN, supra note 5, at 26. It is questionable-especially in the post Cold-War era-how valid such arguments are. Can a people really be denied selfdetermination only because they may later need foreign assistance? In fact, Western Sahara has much more wealth (phosphates, fisheries, natural gas, many valuable minerals, and a vast potential for tourism) than many newly recognized states. Damis is also sympathetic to Morocco's claims.

Katlyn Thomas, Clive Symmons y Pedro Pinto Leite (eds.), Justice on Trial: Law, Politics and Western Sahara, IPJET, Leiden, 2022, , 2022

This work argues that Western Sahara independence is the most reasonable solution to the present conflict considering the occupier’s refusal to allow the referendum to be held. In addition, it shall be argued that if a referendum were to be held, there are compelling reasons to support independence amongst the various possible options. This reasoning is based on the following considerations: first, Western Sahara independence is the only solution which would achieve stability in North Africa, indisputably strengthening the inalterability of the boundaries inherited from colonialism and penalizing their alteration by force; second, Western Sahara independence will provide Europe with a reliable ally in North Africa; third, Western Sahara independence is the only solution which would provide peace and stability within Western Sahara itself; fourth, Western Sahara independence is a crucial outcome for Spain, as it not only guarantees its borders at Ceuta and Melilla and the North African Spanish islets, but it also prevents Morocco’s claims to the Canary Islands; fifth, Western Sahara independence would eliminate the migratory threat that pressures Spain (and hence Europe) through the Canary Islands; sixth, Western Sahara independence, if rooted in a referendum, a democratic instrument par excellence, would not only spark Morocco’s democratization process, but would also back a Republic whose basic principles wouldn’t be based on a “divine” or religious right, but rather on democracy; and seventh, Western Sahara independence would establish a firewall to the hazardous expansion of Moroccan Islamism, preventing its spread to a strategic region.

Journal of Central and Eastern European African Studies, 2023

Western Sahara conflicts have yet to be definitively resolved. It now belongs to the category of "forgotten" or "frozen" conflicts. The conflict itself is not the only issue to have been forgotten. Power politics have overridden questions of international legality despite the unlawful occupation of the territory and the legitimacy of Sahrawi rights. What should have been a straightforward case of decolonization in the Western Sahara has become a conspicuous failure of the UN; mainly due to the disinclination of its most powerful members in the Security Council, chiefly the United States and France.

2020

The UN marks the 75th anniversary of its creation on 26th June, the date on which the UN Charter was signed by the representatives of 50 countries in San Francisco, the United States of America. Since its inception, the UN has had a rather mixed record when it comes to fulfilling the purposes for which it was created. On balance, the UN as an inter-governmental organisation has stood the test of time despite the myriad challenges arising from its built-in structural imbalances and the continued attacks on the multilateral system that it represents.

Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies ( …, 2010

Abstract: Western Sahara conflicts have yet to be definitively resolved. It now belongs to the category of “forgotten” or “frozen” conflicts. The conflict itself is not the only issue to have been forgotten. Power politics have overridden questions of international legality despite the ...