A fortnight ago while on a tour of the region ahead of a new round of informal talks between the two sides in one of the world’s longest running conflicts, Christopher Ross, the United Nations’ special envoy for the Western Sahara, stressed that there was a “need to lessen tensions and avoid any incident that could worsen the situation or hamper discussions”. Just two weeks later, Western Sahara is ablaze – literally and metaphorically.
In the early hours of the morning on Monday November 8, 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.
The camp, know as Gdeim Izik, was set up on October 9 and attracted Saharawi protesters from surrounding cities demanding improved housing and employment opportunities. Moroccan forces were quick to surround the camp and over the past month there were a number of clashes between protesters and the police, the most serious being the killing of a 14-year-old boy shot dead by Moroccan forces as he was travelling towards Gdeim Izik in a car.
Journalists were banned from entering the camp and at the weekend three Spanish MPs attempting to visit the camp were refused entry to the country. The Moroccan authorities obtained a court order to remove the camp. At around 6am on November 8, the army moved in using tear gas and high-pressure hoses to clear the protesters.
“Everyone is being attacked – children, women, men, the elderly”, the Saharawi human rights organisation, Sahara Thawra, reported on its website. “They are destroying the tents and part of the camp is burning.” Moroccan forces met violent resistance which reportedly left a gendarme, a civil defence official and a fireman dead.
The number of casualties has been hard to confirm, but unofficial claims are that 11 Saharawi were killed, 723 injured and 159 are missing. Additional reports suggest that an unknown number of Saharawi have been detained. Moroccan authorities announced the death of an employee of the Moroccan Phosphate Office, bringing the total number of deaths confirmed by Morocco to six.
Meanwhile, in New York, the United Nations brokered “talks about talks”. These were due to take place on Monday and Tuesday last week, but were delayed amid angry recriminations. The UN envoy for the Polisario Front described the Moroccan action in El Aaiun as “a deliberate act to
wreck the talks.”
In the House of Commons, Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn referred to the incident and asked the Foreign Secretary to “intervene urgently with the Government of Morocco and the UN to bring about a resolution to this crisis”. During his tour of the region, his fourth trip to the region since becoming special envoy in January 2009, Christopher Ross described the current impasse over Western Sahara as “untenable”. Martin Nesirky, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said resolving the conflict was a “priority for the United Nations”.
However, if a resolution is to be found, this rhetoric must be matched by action. The Moroccan occupation has been allowed to continue in breach of international law and of UN resolutions for more than 35 years and the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara remains the only contemporary peacekeeping mission without a mandate to monitor human rights. Had they had such a remit, the violence that occurred in Gdeim Izik might have been avoided.
Despite many attempts to break the long-running diplomatic stalemate, progress towards a resolution has been tortuously slow with the Polisario Front being unprepared to negotiate away its legitimate right to self-determination, Morocco rejecting any proposal that contains even the possibility of independence and the Security Council unwilling to enforce its own resolutions to hold a referendum on self-determination. History shows that a political solution will be the only way forward and the international community will have an important role and responsibility in helping ensuring negotiations take place.
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 South Africa’s state of emergency in the 1980s, a conflict edging towards endgame goes through a period of tension. We can only hope that international pressure can prevent this tension resulting in more bloodshed.
Stefan Simanowitz is a journalist, writer and broadcaster. He chairs the Free Western Sahara Network
