WESTERN SAHARA: NEGLECT PLAYS INTO THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS
Ana Gomes, MEP *
BRUSSELS - Together with a group of European Parliamentarians, I lived earlier this year the life of a refugee in Tindouf, in the south of Algeria, in the Hamada, the "desert of deserts". We stayed only for four days. The Saharawi stayed behind without real perspective of leaving anytime soon.
For the past thirty years, EU humanitarian assistance has been supporting some 180,000 refugees. Most of them could live without it, for the Saharawi know how to handle adverse surroundings. But what they really need to better their daily lives is to retake control of their territory which Morocco has illegally occupied since 1975.
The EU cannot carry on using its humanitarian aid to alleviate the conscience of some of its members who bare special responsibilities in the process of decolonisation of Western Sahara. It is urgent that a political solution be found under the auspices of the United Nations.
MINURSO was established to monitor the cease-fire agreement signed in 1991 between the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and Morocco. The agreement called for the planning of a referendum the following year. But Rabat consistently opposed such a referendum, as well as all other proposals made by James Baker, the former U.S. Secretary of State and UN Secretary-General Special Representative during the following seven years, who resigned in June 2004.
The Baker Plan foresaw a referendum in which the Saharawi people would participate alongside Moroccan settlers. Despite the flaws regarding inalienable rights of the Saharawi, the Plan was accepted by SADR/Polisario, but never by Morocco. Considering that today the settlers are the majority, it is difficult to understand why - unless Rabat cannot even trust the Moroccan settlers….
Recently, as if further proof of genuine will for a fair, peaceful and lasting solution was needed, Polisario released all 404 remaining Moroccan prisoners of war jailed for over 20 years. Rabat is not reciprocating, by also releasing or at least account for 185 Saharawi war prisoners, as well as some 500 "disappeared".
Also, some 37 Saharawi political detainees have been on hunger strike since 9 August. One of them, Aminatou Haidar, a campaigner for women rights (who had "disappeared" following a demonstration in 1987, then freed in 1991 and incarcerated again in 2005) had to be sent to the hospital in a critical state. Not only does she and her fellow prisoners need urgent medical attention, but also the prospect of a life worth living, free from political oppression. Today their desperate cries for a referendum promised to them by the international community more than ten years ago remain unheard.
Europe has to deal with its historical responsibilities towards Western Sahara. The EU can and should make the difference. There are new opportunities for change. The UN Secretary-General recently appointed Mr Peter Van Walsum of the Netherlands as his Personal Envoy to the region. And John Bolton, a neo-con who worked as James Baker's main advisor on Western Sahara, has taken up the post of U.S. Ambassador to the UN.
Time will tell whether they will play a role in convincing States holding seats on the Security Council to genuinely address the roots of the problem. That may require Europe and the USA to review their cosy relationship with Morocco (which flies in the face of their much-proclaimed promotion of human rights) unless that country starts to show a clear willingness to end the conflict.
U.S. and Europe should keep in mind that settling the political situation in that territory could prove beneficial for both USA and Europe and Morocco in the long run. Western Sahara could embark on a path of development and become an important commercial partner for America, Europe and Morocco. Its natural resources such as oil and phosphates are plentiful and its potentially lucrative fishing and tourism industries could be developed in a sustainable way. That is not the case today because of< (END)
