Bruger:Msyrak/Vestsahara

الصحراء الغربية
As-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbīyah
eller
الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية
Al-Jumhūrīyâ al-Arabīyâ as-Sahrāwīyâ ad-Dīmuqrātīyâ

(Sahrawi republikkens flag og våben)
Officielt sprog	arabisk
Hovedstad	Laayoune
Største by	Laayoune
Præsident (i eksil)	Mohamed Abdelaziz
Premierminister (i eksil)	Abdelkader Taleb Oumar
Areal  - Total  - % vand	Areal 83 266,000 km² Ubetydelig
Befolkning  - Total  - Pr. km²	Størrelse 156 415.945 (2004 opt.) 1,56/km²
Uafhængighed  - Erklæret  - Afgivet	fra Spanien  27. februar, 1976  til Marokko
Valuta	Marokko Dirham (MAD)
Tidszone	UTC 0
Nationalmelodi	?
Internetdomæne	Intet (.eh er reserveret)
International tlfkode	+ 212. (det samme som Marokko)

Vestsahara (Arabisk: الصحراء الغربية; translittereret: as-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbīyah) er et område i Nordvestafrika der grænser op til Marokko mod nord, Algeriet mod nordøst, Mauretanien mod syd og øst og Atlanterhavet mod vest. Det er et af de tyndest befolkede områder i verden og består mest af ørken områder. Den største by er Laayoune, som også huser over halvdelen af områdets befolkning.

Vestsahara har været på FNs liste over ikke-selvstyrende territorier siden 1960'erne, da det var en spansk koloni. Kongedømmet Marokko og uafhængighedsbevægelsen Polisario kæmper om magten over området. Polisario kalder området Den demokratiske arabiske republik Sahrawi.

Siden den FN-støttede våbenhvile aftale blev indgået i 1991, er det meste af territoriet under Marokkansk herredømme, med den resterende del under kontrol af Polisario/SADR, støttet af Algeriet. Store internationale magter som USA har generelt taget en upartisk og neutral indstilling til begge siders krav, og har presset parterne til at enes om en fredelig løsning. Både Marokko og Polisario har forsøgt at styrke deres krav ved at søge formel anderkendelse, hovedsagligt fra mindre stater. Polisario har vundet formel anerkendelse til SADR fra omkring 45 stater, og er blevet tildelt medlemskab i den Afrikanske Union, mens Marokko har vundet formel anderkendelse for sit krav fra 25 stater, udover sit medlemskab af den Arabiske Liga. I begge tilfælde er anderkendelsen både blevet udvidet og tilbagetrukket med skiftende internationale strømninger.

Historie

De tidligst kendte indbyggere i det vestlige Sahara i historisk tid var bønderne kendt som Bafour. Bafour-folket blev senere erstattet/opslugt af berbisk talende befolkninger som til sidst blev blandet med migrerende arabiske stammer. Det synes dog klart at det arabisktalende flertal i Vestsahara nedstammer fra Berberstammer der optog arabisk som sprog over tid. Der kan også have været visse fønikiske kontakter i antikken, men de har kun efterladt få blivende spor.

Ankomsten af Islam i det 8. århundrede spillede en stor rolle i udviklingen af forholdet mellem de områder af Sahara der senere blev det nuværende Marokko, Vestsahara, Mauretanien og Algeriet, og de omkringliggende områder. Handlen udviklede sig yderligere og regionen blev gennemgangs område for karavaner, navnlig mellem Marrakech og Timbuktuområdet i Mali. I middelalderen stammede både Almohaderne og Almoraviderne fra de Sahariske områder og kontrollerede området.

I slutningen af middelalderen invaderede de arabiske Beni Hassan beduinstammer Nordvestafrika (Maghreb), og nåede herved Saharas nordlige grænse i det 14. og 15. århundrede. I en kompleks process af befolkningsblanding og kulturpåvirkning som også er set i Maghreb og det øvrige Nordafrika, tog de oprindelige berbiske stammer Hassaniya arabisk til sig og over ca. 5 århundreder opstod der en blandet arabisk-berbisk nomadekultur.

Spansk provins

Efter at Berlinkonferencen i 1884 fastslog reglerne for kolonialisering af Afrika, lykkedes det Spanien at få kontrol over Vestsahara i starten af det 20. århundrede. Efter en serie krige mod lokale stammer etableredes Vestsahara som spansk protektorat.

Det spanske kolonistyre begyndte at gå i opløsning efter 2. verdenskrig, i forbindelse med den generelle afkolonialiseringsbølge, hvor de europæiske magter mistede kontrollen over Nordafrika og Afrika syd for Sahara. Den spanske afkolonialisering startede relativt sent, men internt politisk og socialt pres i det spanske hovedland opbyggedes mod slutningen af Francisco Franco's styre. Efter at have været imod afkolonialisering gav spanien efter og udstedte i 1974-75 løfter om en folkeafstemning om uafhængighed. En sådan folkeafstemning havde være blandt den nydannede Polisario fronts krav, under kampe indledt mod Spanierne i 1973.

Samtidig begyndte Marokko og Mauretanien, der mente at de havde historiske rettigheder til området, at gøre gældende at det var blevet kunstigt udskilt fra deres territorier af de europæiske kolonimagter. Den tredje nabo, Algeriet, så på disse krav med skepsis, bl.a. med baggrund i sin lange rivaliseren med Marokko. Efter at have talt for en afkolonialiseringsprocess styret af FN, bandt den algeriske Houari Boumédiènne regering sig i 1975 til at hjælpe Polisario fronten, som var modstander af både Marokkanske og Mauretanske krav og krævede fuld selvstændighed.

FN forsøgte at løse disse kontroverser gennem en besøgsmission i slutningen af 1975, og gennem en afgørelse fra den internationale domstol, der erklærede at Vestsahara havde krav på selvbestemmelse. Den 6. november 1975 begyndte Den grønne march ind i Vestsahara da 350.000 ubevæbnede Marokkanere samledes ved byen Tarfaya i det sydlige Marokko og afventede signal fra Kong Hassan 2. af Marokko til at gå ind i Vestsahara.

Krav om selvstændighed

In the waning days of General Franco's rule in November 1975, the Spanish government secretly signed on 14 November 1975, mere days before Franco's death, a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania as it moved to abandon the Territory. Although the accords foresaw a tripartite administration, Morocco and Mauritania each moved to annex the territory, with Morocco taking control of the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces, while Mauritania taking control the southern third as Tiris al-Gharbiyya. Spain terminated its presence in Spanish Sahara within three months, repatriating even Spanish corpses from its cemeteries. The Moroccan and Mauritanian moves, however met staunch opposition from the Polisario, which had by now gained backing from Algeria. In 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal due to pressures from Polisario, Morocco extended its control to the rest of the territory, and gradually contained the guerrillas through setting up the extensive sand-berm in the desert to exclude guerilla fighters. Hostilities ceased in a 1991 cease-fire, overseen by the peacekeeping mission MINURSO, under the terms of a UN Settlement Plan.

Afbrydelse af folkeafstemnings- og bosættelsesplanen

The referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, foresaw giving the local population the option between independence or affirming integration with Morocco, but it quickly stalled. In 1997, the Houston Agreement attempted to revive the proposal for a referendum, but likewise has hitherto not had success. As of 2007, however, negotiations over terms has not resulted in any substantive action. At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies to be registered to participate in the referendum, and, since about 2000, Morocco's renewed refusal to accept independence as an option on the referendum ballot combined with Polisario's insistence that independence be a clear option in the referendum.

Both sides blame each other for the stalling of the referendum. The Polisario has insisted on allowing to vote only the persons found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below), while Morocco has insisted the census was flawed by evasion and sought the inclusion of members of Sahrawi tribes with recent historical presence in the Spanish Sahara.

Efforts by the UN special envoys to find a common ground for both parties did not succeed. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the Tindouf refugee camps, Mauritania and other places of exile. Polisario accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused and, as rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. This again brought the process to a halt.

According to a NATO delegation, MINURSO election observers stated in 1999, as the deadlock continued, that "if the number of voters does not rise significantly the odds were slightly on the RASD side" [3]. By 2001, the process had effectively stalemated and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other, third-way solutions. Indeed, shortly after the Houston Agreement (1997), Morocco officially declared that it was "no longer necessary" to include an option of independence on the ballot, offering instead autonomy. Erik Jensen, who played an administrative role in MINURSO, wrote that neither side would agree to a voter registration in which they were destined to lose (see Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate).

Baker Planen

As personal envoy of the Secretary-General, James Baker (who also had John Bolton in his delegation) visited all sides and produced the document known as the "Baker Plan". This was discussed by the United Nations Security Council in 2000, and envisioned an autonomous Western Sahara Authority (WSA), which would be followed after five years by the referendum. Every person present in the territory would be allowed to vote, regardless of birthplace and with no regard to the Spanish census. It was rejected by both sides, although it was initially derived from a Moroccan proposal. According to Baker's draft, tens of thousands of post-annexation immigrants from Morocco proper (viewed by Polisario as settlers, but by Morocco as legitimate inhabitants of the area) would be granted the vote in the Sahrawi independence referendum, and the ballot would be split three-ways by the inclusion of an unspecified "autonomy", further undermining the independence camp. Also, Morocco was allowed to keep its army in the area and to retain the control over all security issues during both the autonomy years and the election. In 2002, the Moroccan king stated that the referendum idea was "out of date" since it "can not be implemented"; Polisario retorted that that was only because of the King's refusal to allow it to take place.

In 2003, a new version of the plan was made official, with some additions spelling out the powers of the WSA, making it less reliant on the Moroccan devolution. It also provided further detail on the referendum process in order to make it harder to stall or subvert. This second draft, commonly known as Baker II, was accepted by the Polisario as a "basis of negotiations" to the surprise of many. This appeared to abandon Polisario's previous position of only negotiating based on the standards of voter identification from 1991 (i.e. the Spanish census). After that, the draft quickly garnered widespread international support, culminating in the UN Security Council's unanimous endorsement of the plan in the summer of 2003.

Vestsahara idag

Today the Baker II document appears politically redundant, with Baker having resigned his post at the UN in 2004. His resignation followed several months of failed attempts to get Morocco to enter into formal negotiations on the plan, but he met with rejection. The new king, Mohammed VI of Morocco, opposes any referendum on independence, and has said Morocco will never agree to one: "We shall not give up one inch of our beloved Sahara, not a grain of its sand".

Instead, he proposes, through an appointed advisory body Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), a self-governing Western Sahara as an autonomous community within Morocco. His father, Hassan II of Morocco, initially supported the referendum idea in principle in 1982, and in signed contracts with Polisario and the United Nations in 1991 and 1997; Morocco is thus bound to hold the referendum, but it appears unlikely that any major power will attempt to force its hand.

The UN has put forth no replacement strategy after the breakdown of Baker II, and renewed fighting may be a possibility. In 2005, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported increased military activity on both sides of the front and breaches of several cease-fire provisions against strengthening military fortifications.

Morocco has repeatedly tried to get Algeria into bilateral negotiations, receiving vocal support from France and occasionally (and currently) from the United States. These negotiations would define the exact limits of a Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan rule, but only after Morocco's "inalienable right" to the territory was recognized as a precondition to the talks. The Algerian government has consistently refused, claiming it has neither the will nor the right to negotiate on the behalf of the Polisario Front.

Demonstrations and riots by supporters of independence and/or a referendum broke out in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara in May 2005, and in parts of southern Morocco (notably the town of Assa). They were met by police. Several international human rights organizations have expressed concern at what they termed abuse by Moroccan security forces, and a number of Sahrawi activists have been jailed. Pro-independence Sahrawi sources, including the Polisario, have given these demonstrations the name "Independence Intifada", while sources supporting the Moroccan claims have attempted to minimize the events as being of limited importance. International press and other media coverage has been sparse, and reporting is complicated by the Moroccan government's policy of strictly controlling independent media coverage within the territory.

Demonstrations and protests are still occurring, after Morocco declared in February 2006 that it was contemplating a plan for devolving a limited variant of autonomy to the territory, but still explicitly refused any referendum on independence. As of January 2007, the plan has not been made public, even if the Moroccan government claims that it is more or less completed. [4] [5].

The Polisario Front has intermittently threatened to resume fighting, referring to the Moroccan refusal of a referendum as a breach of the cease-fire terms, but most observers seem to consider armed conflict unlikely without the green light from Algeria, which houses the Sahrawis' refugee camps and has been the main military sponsor of the movement.

In April 2007 the government of Morocco has suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007. The stalemating of the Moroccoan proposal options has led the UN in the recent "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution.Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara (13 April 2007)(ped). UN Security Council. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. )