Western Sahara

The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara remains the last case of decolonisation in Africa.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attracted a lot of media attention at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. 

Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara (21 June 2017). The government of the Saharawi Republic (the SADR) avails itself of the opportunity to identify the material risks and express its policy in the matter of the ocean carriage of natural resources from occupied Western Sahara.

May 25 marks the 54^th anniversary of the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor to the African Union formed in 2002.

A fairy tale stretch of desert…an endless sky, blue like the sea. Walking barefoot on a carpet of sand, smooth like silk. (Mohammed Dchira)

Pambazuka News: How can you describe the current situation in Western Sahara?

In 1975, Morocco, under King Hassan II, invaded Western Sahara; and since, the Sahrawi people — female-dominated society of Arab and Berber descent — have been in an unflagging resistance struggle, committed to self-determination without exception.

In 1984 Morocco turned it’s back on Africa because the Organisation of African Unity refused to support it’s 1975 conquest of Western Sahara. For the next few decades Morocco followed the example of apartheid Israel and looked only towards Europe and America.

[Radhi Bachir, the Ambassador to South Africa of Western Sahara, or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), delivered this speech on 27 February 2017 during a panel discussion at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria.

1. Tell us what life was like growing up in Western Sahara?