WESTERN SAHARA

Modern Standard Arabic and Spanish, due to former colonization, are the popular languages of the Polisario Front. Spanish is used solely in the SADR [i] for radio, state journalism, and television broadcast purposes. Surprisingly, after being spoken in Western Sahara for over a century, Spanish is not supported or part of the formal education curriculum. -Hassaniya [ii], an Arabic dialect, is spoken mainly by the native Sahrawi people especially in their homes and in the refugee camps. However, Moroccan Arabic is what dominates and is widely used in common places and the workplace due to their occupation of the majority of the territory.

The Moroccan government has made advances in developing Western Sahara with special emphasis on education, framework, and modernization coated in their tradition. Despite Moroccan occupation [iii], Sahrawi refugees actively protest for peace and self-determination from the post-colonial struggle. Women have played a pivotal role in organizing peace against the conflict such as Aminatou Haidar, referred to as “Sahrawi Gandhi,” and Mariem Hassan, whose music amplified the people’s voice. Encapsulating the product of the national struggle, the Sahrawis express themselves through visual art like film [iv] and graffiti. Music, poetry and the transference of oral traditions is how they maintain their dignity and identity.

The Sahrawis of Western Sahara are majority Sunni Muslims [v] and make up approximately 99% of the population. The religious minority are mostly Moroccan Christians who account for less than 1% of the demography. The Moroccan constitution extends the right for anyone to practice their religious affairs freely. Although, if any individual speaks ill of any aspect of Islam on public platforms, they fined for an equivalent of $21,000 USD [vi] or be sentenced to jail for approximately two years. In addition, by law, any publicly funded educational intuition must teach Sunni Islam in obedience with the Maliki-Ashari [vii] school methods.

Due to territorial and sovereignty disputes, Western Sahara has no official government [viii]. Because there was no resolution after the UN’s peace proposal, the indigenous Sahrawi people have yet to be granted independence. The latest attempt of reconciliation was in late December 2018 and has not been revisited since. Morocco asserts administrative control over parts of Western Sahara where it claims its partitioned portion. Residents from the Moroccan-controlled portions even participate in the Moroccan elections. However, the Polisario Front [ix] began to operate as a government-in-exile formally in February of 1976, known as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) headquartered in Tindouf, Algeria.

The Moroccan dirham [x] is considered the local currency and is non-convertible. However, the Sahrawi peseta and Algerian dinars are recognized within the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria. Western Sahara is a small-market based economy [xi] with long-term obstacles of underdevelopment in industries capable of generating new employment opportunities. With untapped natural resources, its market may not thrive on fishing, pastoral nomadism [xii], phosphate mining and tourism alone. There is speculation of oil reserves off the coast of the territory which could diversify their exports, but this exploration cannot be pursued with quarreling over rights to the land between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

During medieval times, the Amazigh peoples were wandering and later converted by the Bedouins, Arabic-speaking nomadic people [xiii] from Arab Empires. The Bedouins were known for practicing pastoral nomadism during rainy winter months. Though little explored, around the mid-19th century Europeans, such as Spanish merchants, started to arrive. Spanish explorers claimed sovereignty over the territory after expressing interest surrounding massive phosphate reserves. This caused an immense power struggle between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania for rights to the land and resources. Today, Morocco has majority rule over the territory, but the native Sahrawis are actively seeking to gain independence in a peaceful manner.

In size proportion, Western Sahara is slightly smaller than Italy and consists of substantial sandy desert terrain with the Sahara and Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria fixed as its land-bordering neighbors. Additionally, the two main regions encompassing the territory are the Río de Oro [xiv], occupying the majority of the southern region and Saguia el-Hamra [xv], occupying the northern region. Having the North Atlantic Ocean as its western coastal border has made fishing a rich straightforward trade commodity. Other than vast phosphate deposits in the city of Bu Craa, sources of potash and iron ore are found throughout the land as well.