Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara Third ... - Scarecrow Press

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INTRODUCTION • li Nouakchott remained largely rhetorical. This situation, however, did not last much beyond the early 1970s, as the criticism aimed at Spain from the United Nations and elsewhere in the developing world did not relent, and—even more importantly—more and more educated Saharawis were embracing the anticolonial cause. These students and other youths, who had earlier formed a loosely constituted group that styled itself the “Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of the Sahara,” went even further on May 10, 1973, when they founded the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Río de Oro, known as the Polisario Front, with the objective (at first implied but later made explicit) of securing full independence for the desert colony. To drive this point home, they immediately set about mounting smallscale armed attacks on Spanish forces in the territory, to little real military effect but with significant practical and political consequences, as would soon be made clear. The rising tide of international attention to the colonial status of Western Sahara, the 1974 coup d’état in Portugal that was to presage Lisbon’s final pullout from its own empire in Africa and elsewhere, and the increased level of Polisario activity within the colony itself, finally induced Spain to alter its course. Late in 1973, the Franco régime decided to devolve a certain amount of real authority to the Djemaa, a hitherto purely consultative body made up of conservative tribal choiukh who were willing to colloborate with the Spanish and which had been established back in 1967. Wider internal autonomy (and perhaps even independence) would come later, on Spanish terms to be sure, and to this end a pro-Spanish political grouping, the Partido de la Unión Nacional Saharaui (PUNS), was established as a competitor (albeit an ineffective one, as matters turned out) to the ever-increasing popularity of the Polisario Front. Mere internal autonomy under Spanish authority was not acceptable to Polisario, though, and giving ground to the Saharawi nationalist organization, Spain announced on August 21, 1974, that it was accepting the longstanding calls from the UN and Polisario to hold a referendum in the territory during the first half of 1975. Confronted with this, and mindful of their own claims to Western Sahara, Morocco and Mauritania swung into action to prevent the possible emergence of an independent Saharawi-run state in North Africa. The two countries successfully induced Spain to postpone the referendum while the controversy was shunted to the International Court of Justice
lii • INTRODUCTION (ICJ) for a decision on the “legal ties” between the territory and Morocco and Mauritania. While this was occurring, King Hassan and Mokhtar Ould Daddah worked to reconcile their mutually exclusive claims to the desert territory, a task made harder by Ould Daddah’s wariness of Moroccan intentions, particularly since Rabat had espoused a claim to all of Mauritania until 1970. Moreover—and adding fuel to the fire—the UN sent a Visiting Mission to Western Sahara in May 1975 and reported that the overwhelming majority of the population wanted independence and was favorably disposed toward the Polisario Front, which amply demonstrated its hold on the loyalties of the Saharawis in whichever location the mission traveled. Spain, too, was becoming friendlier to Polisario, but events were soon to take a drastic and tragic turn. PARTITION, INVASION, AND WAR By late 1975, Morocco and Mauritania had secretly reached an agreement with Spain to divide Western Sahara between them, with Rabat receiving the northern two-thirds of the colony (including El-Ayoun and the phosphate mines) and Mauritania the southern one-third, a slab of desert practically without natural resources. Saharawi public opinion generally, and the Polisario Front in particular, was to be totally disregarded. Madrid’s attitude had initially proved a stumbling block to the realization of the two countries’ ambitions in Western Sahara, but with Franco on his deathbed and Spain about to enter a period of democratization that would transform it by the 1990s into one of the most prosperous nations in Europe, the country’s leaders decided they did not need a “colonial war” with Morocco to distract them at this important juncture. Spain also capitulated to pressure from Morocco’s King Hassan in October and November 1975, when he organized a “Green March” of 350,000 unarmed civilians into the border zone of Western Sahara to illustrate the supposedly unanimous feelings of ordinary Moroccans on the Sahara issue. Adding to this confused picture was the issuance, on October 16, 1975, of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion, which, after reviewing the evidence, declined to endorse the territorial claims of either Morocco or Mauritania and restated the need for self-determination.
Page 1 and 2: Historical Dictionary of Western Sa
Page 3 and 4: Editor’s Foreword While nearly al
Page 5 and 6: Preface As was the case in the seco
Page 7 and 8: Reader’s Notes The Western Sahara
Page 9 and 10: Acronyms and Abbreviations AMD Alli
Page 11 and 12: ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS • xix
Page 13 and 14: Chronology c. 5000 BC Beginning of
Page 15 and 16: 1578-1603 Moroccan Sultan Ahmed el-
Page 17 and 18: continues his resistance until 1919
Page 19 and 20: er 20: UN General Assembly calls fo
Page 21 and 22: CHRONOLOGY • xxxi Morocco, Maurit
Page 23 and 24: CHRONOLOGY • xxxiii down several
Page 25 and 26: CHRONOLOGY • xxxv Council unanimo
Page 27 and 28: CHRONOLOGY • xxxvii period.” No
Page 29 and 30: CHRONOLOGY • xxxix they would sup
Page 31 and 32: CHRONOLOGY • xli could be disband
Page 33 and 34: xliv • INTRODUCTION 1960s and ext
Page 35 and 36: xlvi • INTRODUCTION Ibn Tashfin,
Page 37 and 38: xlviii • INTRODUCTION the 19th ce
Page 39: l • INTRODUCTION was afflicted by
Page 43 and 44: liv • INTRODUCTION bringing the c
Page 45 and 46: lvi • INTRODUCTION decide its fut
Page 47 and 48: lviii • INTRODUCTION the characte
Page 49 and 50: lx • INTRODUCTION sponsor, Algeri
Page 51 and 52: lxii • INTRODUCTION made no menti
Page 53 and 54: lxiv • INTRODUCTION THE FUTURE By

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