by STEFAN SIMANOWITZ
“In this photo released by the MAP news agency (Maghreb Arabe Presse) shows Moroccan forces dismantle a camp housing thousands of refugees in the Western Sahara, near Laayoune, Monday Nov. 8, 2010. At least three Moroccan security officials were killed and 70 injured Monday in a raid on a protest camp in the disputed territory of Western Sahara and unrest that then spread to a nearby city, where several buildings were set on fire. Laayoune, a city of some 270,000 people, many with Saharawi roots, is the main city in the disputed Western Sahara, where a local independence movement is locked in a long conflict with Morocco, which claims the territory.” PHOTO/AP/MAP/HO/Boston Globe
A fortnight ago, whilst on a tour of the region ahead of new round of informal talks between the two sides in one of the world’s longest-running conflicts, UN special envoy for the Western Sahara Christopher Ross stressed that there was a ‘need to lessen tensions and avoid any incident that could worsen the situation or hamper discussions’. Two short weeks later and Western Sahara is ablaze, both literally and metaphorically. In the early hours of Monday morning, Moroccan security forces moved in to remove an estimated 20,000 Saharawi protesters from the makeshift protest camp where they had been living for the past month. The security forces were met with anger as the tented city was razed to the ground amid unconfirmed reports of large numbers of injuries and possible fatalities. Violent clashes between Saharawis and Moroccan forces have been reported across El Aaiun, Western Sahara’s capital.
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Fifty years ago next month, the United Nations adopted Resolution 1514 which stated that all people have a right to self-determination and that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end. Half a century later, the Saharawi people are still waiting for Resolution 1514 to be applied in Western Sahara. Often, as with the South Africa’s state of emergency in the 1980s, a conflict edging towards its endgame goes through a period of tension. We can only hope that the pressure from the international community can prevent this tension resulting in more bloodshed.
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