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United States Policy on the Western Sahara Dispute: Overview and Recommendations
THE STATUS QUO The status quo of UN-brokered and monitored ceasefire reflects an uneasy stalemate, in which Morocco and the Polisario hold almost diametrically opposed visions of each other and of the territory’s future. This section reviews elements of this stalemate including: • Current status of the Polisario and the centrality of independence to the Polisario cause; • Current status of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara and its ideological centrality to the Moroccan state; and • How the sides’ perceptions of each other dim prospects of resolving the impasse under current circumstances.
Frente Polisario The Polisario Front’s legitimacy depends on achievement of its longtime goal: an independent Sahrawi state that controls the territory of the Western Sahara. Since 1991, it has sought to realize this goal through a referendum on the territory’s future that includes an option of independence. Formed in 1973, the Polisario Front began a guerrilla warfare campaign against Spanish colonial authorities and troops with its focus on obtaining decolonization and the self-determination of the Sahrawi nation. The Polisario resembled many contemporary national liberation movements, and aligned itself with the socialist and non-aligned camps during the Cold War.23 Throughout 1973 and 1974 the Polisario Front gained military capability, capturing weapons from Spanish armed forces. Sahrawi troops defecting from the Spanish armed forces augmented this capability. While it never achieved a technological or resource advantage over its enemies, the Polisario’s armed forces mounted a sustained and capable military challenge to its
enemies. The Polisario still retains armed forces in the Sahrawi People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the bulk of which are stationed in the Polisario-controlled territory east of the berm. After Spain withdrew its armed forces from the territory in 1975, increased fighting and Moroccan pressure led Sahrawi civilians to flee the territory and settle in refugee camps around the Algerian city of Tindouf. In 1976, the Polisario declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The SADR acts as the state-in-exile of an independent Western Sahara and has administered services in the refugee camps and the territory it controls since its formation. The African Union and 85 countries recognize the SADR as the government of an independent Sahrawi state. Since its formation, the Polisario has dominated the SADR, with Polisario members staffing all senior positions. The Polisario forms its members (including those who reside in the Moroccan-controlled territory and who keep their membership secret) into constituencies that elect delegates to a general congress. This congress then elects a Politburo and secretary general. It also debates and amends the political program for the Front and SADR to pursue until the next congress. The Polisario Secretary General becomes the SADR President and selects a Prime Minister, who then selects a cabinet. Since 1991 subsequent congresses and the SADR have reiterated their commitment to the ceasefire and UN process. Throughout this period, both the Polisario and SADR have repeatedly stated that the referendum reflects the only mechanism to achieve Sahrawi self-determination. Both have also condemned terrorism, including public statements after terrorist bombings in Casablanca in 2003.
