The justly-celebrated democracy movements sweeping across North Africa and the Arab peninsula somehow appear to have bypassed the territory of Western Sahara, where one of the oldest independence movements in the region, the fight for freeing Western Sahara from Morocco’s domination, is being waged by the Saharawis since 1976.
The territory of Western Sahara has been occupied partly by Morocco and Mauritania since 1975, with the Moroccan control becoming all-pervasive since 1979. The annexation of the territory by Morocco is viewed under inter-national law to have been “not only a violation of the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people but is in our days still a source for massive human rights violations and the cause of the 165,000 Saharawis living in refugee camps in Algeria”, as a recent report on the situation comments.
Yet, the painful truth is that Morocco has for over thirtysix years successfully withstood all attempts by the international community to wrest the territory from its patently illegal occupation. Even in the summer of 2011 international gatherings are being held in various capitals, with the latest organized in London, where world leaders are routinely sympathizing with the Saharawis’ continuing deprivation of liberty in their own country under foreign occupation but to no avail.
For more: Western Sahara: No Arab Spring? - Mainstream Weekly
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