Africa Features
Threat of a new war looms in Western Sahara
By Mouhsine El-Hassouni and Sinikka Tarvainen
Dec 15, 2006, 17:02 GMT

Rabat/Laayoune/Madrid - In the neighbourhood of Hay Riad in the Moroccan capital Rabat, Mohammed, the son of a Western Saharawi dignitary, and some friends sit around his computer.

The group reads all websites defending the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco, but does not participate in chats.

'Moroccan secret police are constantly logged in,' explains Moussa, one of the young men. 'They post pro-independence comments to gain your confidence and then one day you find them on your doorstep, bringing a host of problems.'

But when Moussa and others like him log in from a cybercafe, they give free rein to their anger at Morocco, inciting to join the independence movement Polisario Front and to resist the Moroccan 'occupation' of their home region.

While Saharawis living outside Western Sahara pursue such campaigns, the mounting protests against Morocco are taking more serious forms in Laayoune, the capital of the desert territory annexed by Rabat after the colonial power Spain withdrew from there in 1975.

Street protests have clearly increased over the past few years, as have police crackdowns, according to observers in Laayoune.

When Moussa was still living in Laayoune, he and his friends used to display Saharawi flags and to stone police patrols, he recalls. 'It is our way of venting our fury against injustice,' he adds.

The United Nations (UN) and international human rights groups have given credibility to reports of arrests, torture and biased trials of Saharawi pro-independence militants, dozens of whom have staged hunger strikes in prison.

Morocco has barred several European delegations from visiting Western Sahara, including members of the European Parliament and Spanish legislators, on the grounds that they comprised disproportionate numbers of Polisario sympathizers.

The police and army are highly visible in Laayoune, and people attending weddings or other ceremonies often find that some family member is absent - in jail or exile, according to local sources.

A police chief in Laayoune, however, says he and his colleagues are only protecting citizens from 'aggressors.' 'We try to avoid clashes with young people at all costs, but sometimes, we have to intervene,' he explains.

The sharpening of the Western Sahara conflict can also be observed on Spain's Canary Islands, where hundreds of Saharawis have landed after a long and dangerous sea journey in the recent months.

Unlike most other undocumented immigrants arriving from Africa, the Saharawis nearly always apply for political asylum, accusing Morocco of using police repression to push pro-independence activists to leave the region.

Moroccan officials in Laayoune dismiss such allegations, stressing Rabat's commitment to the fight against illegal emigration.

The Western Sahara conflict has threatened regional stability and hampered economic integration since 1976, when Polisario launched a full-scale guerrilla war against Morocco and Mauritania, the two of which had occupied the territory after Spain pulled out of there.

Mauritania also withdrew in 1980 and Morocco grabbed its share. The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 and sent a force known as Minurso to monitor it.

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic proclaimed by Polisario in 1976 has been recognized by more than 30 countries, but UN plans for a referendum on independence collapsed over quarrels about who would be allowed to vote.

Morocco has encouraged large numbers of Moroccans to settle in the region, where original Saharawis only make up a minority in the population of 400,000.

Rabat is now pushing an autonomy plan for Western Sahara, but Polisario and its backer Algeria want to hear of no such thing.

Many Saharawis have joined pro-independence protests because of the economic situation of the territory, where Morocco has built a considerable amount of infrastructure, but which has been unable to rise out of unemployment and poverty.

Morocco offers Sahara residents advantages such as tax exemptions and subsidized foodstuffs, but they are of most benefit to a few families favoured by Rabat, which control the economy, according to observers.

The most urgent question, however, is the fate of some 160,000 Saharawi refugees, who have been living for decades in camps in the inhospitable Algerian desert.

They now reportedly face a famine after the international community cut food aid to them.

Saharawi activists blame the deadlock largely on France, Spain and the United States, which they accuse of lacking the political will to solve the conflict for fear of damaging their relations with Morocco, a key ally of the West in North Africa.

If the situation persists for much longer, Polisario may finally carry out its threats and relaunch the war, which has already killed thousands, analysts said.