Why Most Saharawi youth Pushing for War?
By Mohamed salem Uerad
In October 1991, the Polisario movement signed a cease-fire agreement with the Moroccan kingdom brokered by the United Nations, which promised the people of Western Sahara the authority to determine the political fate of the region through a Referendum. This paper is not intended to explain why the Polisario signed the agreement since they were, from the Saharawis’ viewpoint, winning the war, or whether other options were available. The purpose of this paper is to explain why most Saharawi young people want to resume the armed struggle after 20 years of neither peace nor war.
If you ask Saharawi youth what could solve the conflict, most of them without hesitation will answer in favor the armed struggle. If you go to the next reasonable question of why, the answer will be simply that we have tried the armed struggle and through it, we have achieved a lot of things. In 1975, the Moroccan King Hassan VI declared at the time of the invasion that taking over Western Sahara would not take more than one week. It is thirty years later, and Polisario is still in existence. After16 years the same king was forced to enter a negotiation with the Polisario to put an end to the longstanding conflict, because the Saharawi freedom fighters convinced him that they were not easy to conquer or defeat. By 1982, we had liberated more than 85% of our country. If the reader is wondering why we didn’t keep the 85% that we had liberated and take the remaining 15%, then know that the reason is the dramatic increase in military support from two superpowers – the U.S. and France – as well as financial support from Saudi Arabia; Morocco desperately needed this support to reverse the overwhelming tide of the war.
During the last twenty years of non-peace and non-war, we have believed that the United Nations would broker an agreement that will bring us a peaceful and fair solution to enable the Saharawi people to exercise self-determination, but 20 years has not been enough to bring us the promised referendum. We are suffering in the refugee camps from
the harshness of the desert and sky-high unemployment which make fulfilling the dream of getting married and raising a family difficult if not impossible for most young men. To be dependent on humanitarian aid is not easy for a dignified and historically self-sufficient people. Meanwhile, Moroccans are plundering our natural resources in our homeland. With an unknown future it seems futile to plan any important part of our lives when we don’t know when, or even if, our
conflict will be solved in a just way.
In the occupied zones of Western Sahara it is a similar story with a few different details. The Moroccan discrimination policy against Saharawi people is clear. Most Saharawi are living under the poverty level, job opportunities are limited, and university education is offered only in Moroccan cities. In addition, the human rights situation is deplorable. Torture, mass arrests, shootings, and rape are common actions against against both male and female Saharawi who oppose the Moroccan occupation. Supporting the self-determination is considered a capital crime in Moroccan mentality that could cost the offender’s life. The Royal Advisory Council for Human Rights (CCDH) of Morocco, in a unique report, confirms the killing of 352 ”disappeared” Saharawis from 1958 to 1992. Out of these, over 200 died in military bases and secret detention centers, including children. Some 13 people were executed by a martial court in 1976. See the following link for the full report of these events: http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/15823.html.
In October 1991, the Polisario movement signed a cease-fire agreement with the Moroccan kingdom brokered by the United Nations, which promised the people of Western Sahara the authority to determine the political fate of the region through a Referendum. This paper is not intended to explain why the Polisario signed the agreement since they were, from the Saharawis’ viewpoint, winning the war, or whether other options were available. The purpose of this paper is to explain why most Saharawi young people want to resume the armed struggle after 20 years of neither peace nor war.
If you ask Saharawi youth what could solve the conflict, most of them without hesitation will answer in favor the armed struggle. If you go to the next reasonable question of why, the answer will be simply that we have tried the armed struggle and through it, we have achieved a lot of things. In 1975, the Moroccan King Hassan VI declared at the time of the invasion that taking over Western Sahara would not take more than one week. It is thirty years later, and Polisario is still in existence. After16 years the same king was forced to enter a negotiation with the Polisario to put an end to the longstanding conflict, because the Saharawi freedom fighters convinced him that they were not easy to conquer or defeat. By 1982, we had liberated more than 85% of our country. If the reader is wondering why we didn’t keep the 85% that we had liberated and take the remaining 15%, then know that the reason is the dramatic increase in military support from two superpowers – the U.S. and France – as well as financial support from Saudi Arabia; Morocco desperately needed this support to reverse the overwhelming tide of the war.
During the last twenty years of non-peace and non-war, we have believed that the United Nations would broker an agreement that will bring us a peaceful and fair solution to enable the Saharawi people to exercise self-determination, but 20 years has not been enough to bring us the promised referendum. We are suffering in the refugee camps from
the harshness of the desert and sky-high unemployment which make fulfilling the dream of getting married and raising a family difficult if not impossible for most young men. To be dependent on humanitarian aid is not easy for a dignified and historically self-sufficient people. Meanwhile, Moroccans are plundering our natural resources in our homeland. With an unknown future it seems futile to plan any important part of our lives when we don’t know when, or even if, our
conflict will be solved in a just way.
In the occupied zones of Western Sahara it is a similar story with a few different details. The Moroccan discrimination policy against Saharawi people is clear. Most Saharawi are living under the poverty level, job opportunities are limited, and university education is offered only in Moroccan cities. In addition, the human rights situation is deplorable. Torture, mass arrests, shootings, and rape are common actions against against both male and female Saharawi who oppose the Moroccan occupation. Supporting the self-determination is considered a capital crime in Moroccan mentality that could cost the offender’s life. The Royal Advisory Council for Human Rights (CCDH) of Morocco, in a unique report, confirms the killing of 352 ”disappeared” Saharawis from 1958 to 1992. Out of these, over 200 died in military bases and secret detention centers, including children. Some 13 people were executed by a martial court in 1976. See the following link for the full report of these events: http://humanrightshouse.org/Articles/15823.html.
The living conditions in both places are what make the vast majority of Saharawi youth believe in the urgent need to resume the armed struggle.
Last November, after the Moroccan occupation forces attacked a tent city of Western Sahara just outside of Al Aioun, the reaction in the refugee camps was unprecedented. Hundreds of angry youth marched in a special solidarity demonstration, where the demonstrators did not call on the so-called “International Community” and “free souls around the world” to stop the ongoing crimes against Saharawi people. Instead, they asked their own Polisario leadership to resume the armed struggle. Currently, the youth are also gathering signatures from Saharawi in the refugee camps to show the Polisario leadership that the majority of them are willing, more now than at any time since the 1991 cease-fire, to go to war.
Saharawi youth are peaceful and don’t want war. But the reason they want to fight is simply because they are running out of hope and see no other opportunities for a peaceful solution, which is dangerous and alarming. The vast majority of them will exercise a huge amount of pressure to resume the armed struggle in the next Polisario congress this December. The cease-fire agreement was just a tool to enable us to exercise our inalienable right to self-determination, but it didn’t work. Since it’s just a tool and not a goal in itself, we should not respect it any longer.
The thing that could stop all this is a grassroots movement by civil societies around the world to force their respective governments to stop their support of the Moroccan Occupation and put more pressure on the Moroccan Government to respect the advisory ruling given by the International Court of Justice in 1975.
Occupation is terrorism, to be a refugee is hell. Having your homeland taken is a crime. To be a freedom fighter is liberation.
-Laila khalad
E-mail:mohamedsalem210@gmail.com
Last November, after the Moroccan occupation forces attacked a tent city of Western Sahara just outside of Al Aioun, the reaction in the refugee camps was unprecedented. Hundreds of angry youth marched in a special solidarity demonstration, where the demonstrators did not call on the so-called “International Community” and “free souls around the world” to stop the ongoing crimes against Saharawi people. Instead, they asked their own Polisario leadership to resume the armed struggle. Currently, the youth are also gathering signatures from Saharawi in the refugee camps to show the Polisario leadership that the majority of them are willing, more now than at any time since the 1991 cease-fire, to go to war.
Saharawi youth are peaceful and don’t want war. But the reason they want to fight is simply because they are running out of hope and see no other opportunities for a peaceful solution, which is dangerous and alarming. The vast majority of them will exercise a huge amount of pressure to resume the armed struggle in the next Polisario congress this December. The cease-fire agreement was just a tool to enable us to exercise our inalienable right to self-determination, but it didn’t work. Since it’s just a tool and not a goal in itself, we should not respect it any longer.
The thing that could stop all this is a grassroots movement by civil societies around the world to force their respective governments to stop their support of the Moroccan Occupation and put more pressure on the Moroccan Government to respect the advisory ruling given by the International Court of Justice in 1975.
Occupation is terrorism, to be a refugee is hell. Having your homeland taken is a crime. To be a freedom fighter is liberation.
-Laila khalad
E-mail:mohamedsalem210@gmail.com
