Western Sahara is the only non-self-governing territory on the African continent still awaiting the completion of its process of decolonization and, as such, it has been listed by the committee established for the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples for half a century. While Spain and France were responsible for the delineation of land borders between 1900 and 1912, the delimitation of maritime boundaries is a pending issue. Spain began its colonization of the territory shortly before the Berlin Conference (1884–1885). Despite the fact that since 1961 it had been providing the UN General Assembly with the information required under Article 73 (e) of the UN Charter, it was only in 1974 that it assumed proper responsibility for its obligations as administering power, when it decided to organize a referendum on self-determination, to be held in the first half of 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations. As a result of a series of events, that plan was ultimately frustrated. The first such obstacle was the postponement of the referendum by the General Assembly, after it had decided to ask the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the relationship between the Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco. The court’s ruling confirmed the international status of Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory. The second obstacle was the so-called Marcha Verde (Green March) on Sahara, organized by the King of Morocco, Hassan II, to demonstrate his intentions with regard to Western Sahara. Soon afterwards, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania issued a declaration of principles on 14 November 1975 (also known as Madrid Agreements) whereby Spain not only ratified the decision to decolonize the territory and abandon its active presence on the territory but also committed itself to establishing a temporary administration together with Morocco and Mauritania and the collaboration of the Yemáa (Assembly of Sahrawi notables). For its part, Morocco occupied northern Western Sahara, which led to the conflict between Mauritania and Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y de Río de Oro (Frente Polisario—Polisario Front), the Sahrawi national liberation movement created in 1973, which in turn proclaimed the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1976, which has been recognized by more than eighty states and has been a member of the African Union since 1984. The conflict with Mauritania ended in 1979, but the war with Morocco dragged on nearly a decade. The ceasefire agreement came into force in 1991. That same year Security Council Resolution 690 adopted the settlement plan agreed by the two parties and established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). Once MINURSO had published a provisional electoral list for the holding of the referendum (February 2000), Morocco accused the members of the mission of bias and abandoned the peace plan. The core of the conflict lies in the fact that Morocco will only accept an autonomy formula for Western Sahara, which would remain an integral part of its national territory and under its sovereignty, whereas the Frente Polisario holds that the only acceptable solution to the conflict is holding a referendum on self-determination in which independence is an option.
Delayed Peace and Tranquillity in Africa’s ‘Last Colony’: What Next for Western Sahara?
