Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic | |
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Motto: حرية، ديمقراطية، وحدة (Arabic) Libertad, Democracia, Unidad (Spanish) "Freedom, Democracy, Unity" | |
Anthem: يا بني الصحراء (Arabic) Yā Banī aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ ¡O hijos del Sáhara! (Spanish) "Oh, Sons of the Sahara!" | |
Status | State partially recognized by 46 UN member states and South Ossetia |
Capital and largest city | El Aaiún (de jure) 27°9′N13°12′W / 27.150°N 13.200°W |
Capital-in-exile |
|
Official languages | |
Spoken languages | |
Religion | Islam (official) |
Demonym(s) |
|
Government | Unitary one-party semi-presidential republic |
Brahim Ghali | |
Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun | |
Legislature | National Council |
Formation | |
14 November 1975 | |
• Republic declared | 27 February 1976 |
• Sovereignty disputed with Morocco | Ongoing |
Area | |
• Total | 266,000 km2 (103,000 sq mi) (claimed) 90,000 km2 (35,000 sq mi) (controlled)(77th) |
• Water (%) | Negligible |
Population | |
• Estimate | c. 200,000 |
173,600 (2023 estimate) [8] | |
40,000 (2010 estimate) [9] [b] | |
Currency | Sahrawi peseta (de jure) (EHP) De facto |
Time zone | UTC+1 (WAT) |
Date format | dd/mm/yyyy (AD) |
Drives on | right |
ISO 3166 code | EH |
Internet TLD | .eh (reserved) |
Part of a series on the |
Western Sahara conflict |
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Background |
Regions |
Politics |
Clashes |
Issues |
Peace process |
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, [e] also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state, located in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only the easternmost one-fifth of that territory. It is recognized by 46 UN member states and South Ossetia. Between 1884 and 1975, Western Sahara was known as Spanish Sahara, a Spanish colony (later an overseas province). The SADR is one of the two African states in which Spanish is a significant language, the other being Equatorial Guinea.
The SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlou, Western Sahara. The SADR government calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the Free Zone . Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory, and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The claimed capital city of the SADR is El Aaiún (the capital of the territory of Western Sahara). Since the SADR does not control El Aaiún, it has established a temporary capital in Tifariti, although most of the day-to-day administration happens in Rabuni, one of the Sahrawi refugee camps located in Tindouf, Algeria.
The SADR maintains diplomatic relations with 46 United Nations states, and is a full member of the African Union. With a population of about half a million, it is the most sparsely populated in Africa, and the second-most sparsely populated in the world. [11]
The name Sahrawi is the romanization of the Arabic word Ṣaḥrāwīصحراوي, meaning 'Inhabitant of the Desert', derived from the Arabic word Ṣaḥrāʼ (صحراء), meaning 'desert'.[ citation needed ]
Following the evacuation of the Spaniards, due to the Moroccan Green March, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania signed the Madrid Accords on 14 November 1975, six days before Francisco Franco died. Morocco and Mauritania responded by annexing the territory of Western Sahara. On 26 February 1976, Spain informed the United Nations (UN) that as of that date it had terminated its presence in Western Sahara and relinquished its responsibilities, which left the region devoid of any Administering Power. [12] Neither Morocco nor Mauritania gained international recognition, and war ensued with the independence-seeking Polisario Front. The UN considers the Polisario Front to be the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, and maintains that the people of Western Sahara have a right to "self-determination and independence". [13]
The creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was proclaimed on 27 February 1976, as the Polisario declared the need for a new entity to fill what they considered a political void left by the departing Spanish colonial administration. While the claimed capital is the former Western Sahara capital El-Aaiún (which is in Moroccan-controlled territory), the proclamation was made in the government-in-exile's provisional capital, Bir Lehlou, which remained in Polisario-held territory under the 1991 ceasefire (see Settlement Plan). On 27 February 2008, the provisional capital was formally moved to Tifariti. [14] [15] Day-to-day business, however, is conducted in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria, which house most of the Sahrawi exile community.
A new 1999 Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic took a form similar to the parliamentary constitutions of many European states, but with some paragraphs suspended until the achievement of "full independence". Among key points, the head of state is constitutionally the Secretary General of the Polisario Front during what is referred to as the "pre-independence phase", with provision in the constitution that on independence, Polisario is supposed to be dismantled or separated completely from the government structure. Provisions are detailed for a transitory phase beginning with independence, in which the present SADR is supposed to act as Western Sahara's government, ending with a constitutional reform and eventual establishment of a state along the lines specified in the constitution.[ citation needed ]
The broad guidelines laid down in the constitution for an eventual Western Saharan state include eventual multi-party democracy with a market economy. The constitution also defines Sahrawis as a Muslim, African and Arab people. [16] The Constitution also declares a commitment to the principles of human rights and to the concept of a Greater Maghreb, as a regional variant of Pan-Arabism.[ citation needed ]
Since August 1982, the highest office of the republic has been the President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a post held by the secretary-general of the Polisario Front, presently Brahim Ghali, [17] who appoints the Prime Minister, presently Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun. The SADR's government structure consists of a Council of Ministers (a cabinet led by the Prime Minister), a judicial branch (with judges appointed by the President) and the parliamentary Sahrawi National Council (SNC; the present speaker is Hamma Salama). Since its inception in 1976, the various constitutional revisions have transformed the republic from an ad hoc managerial structure into something approaching an actual governing apparatus. From the late 1980s the parliament began to take steps to institute a division of powers and to disentangle the republic's structures from those of the Polisario Front, although without clear effect to date.[ citation needed ]
Its various ministries are responsible for a variety of services and functions. The judiciary, complete with trial courts, appeals courts and a supreme court, operates in the same areas. As a government-in-exile, many branches of government do not fully function, and has affected the constitutional roles of the institutions. Institutions parallel to government structures also have arisen within the Polisario Front, which is fused with the SADR's governing apparatus, and with operational competences overlapping between these party and governmental institutions and offices. A 2012 report mentioned the existence of the Sahrawi Bar Association. [18] In 2016, the bar association (going by the name Union of Sahrawi Lawyers) issued a report calling for the implementation of political and civil rights. [19] Unfortunately, there is no clear indication as to how certain demographic groups, such as women, have fared in the legal field.[ citation needed ]
The SNC is weak in its legislative role, having been instituted as a mainly consultative and consensus-building institution, but it has strengthened its theoretical legislative and controlling powers during later constitutional revisions. Among other things, it has added a ban on the death penalty to the constitution, and brought down the government in 1999 through a vote of no-confidence.[ citation needed ]
The Sahrawi National Council is composed of 53 members, all from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro.[ citation needed ]
The Sahrawi People's Liberation Army is the defence force of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and previously served as the armed wing of the Polisario Front prior to the foundation of the Republic.
The official currency of the SADR is the Sahrawi peseta; though, in practice, the Algerian dinar and Mauritanian ouguiya are the main currencies used within the controlled territories. The Moroccan dirham is also accepted, though it is mainly only used in the Moroccan-occupied territories.
All data about demographic information regarding Western Sahara are extremely error-prone, regardless of source. Most countries take censuses every ten years, and some every five in order to stay abreast of change and miscounts; the last count was conducted in 1970, and even that data by colonial Spain is considered unreliable due to large nomadic populations.
Following the 1975 Green March, the Moroccan state has sponsored settlement schemes enticing thousands of Moroccans to move into the Moroccan-occupied part of Western Sahara (80% of the territory). By 2015, it was estimated that Moroccan settlers made up at least two thirds of the 500,000 inhabitants. [20] Under international law, Morocco's transfer of its own civilians into Non-Self-Governing territory is in direct violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. [21]
The religion in Western Sahara is Sunni Islam. The major ethnic groups are Arab and Berbers. The most common languages are Hassaniya Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. [22]The predominant religion practiced by Sahrawis is the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, which is constitutionally recognized as the official religion of the SADR and a source of law. Virtually all Sahrawis identify as Muslim according to the CIA World Factbook, which makes the country one of the most religiously homogeneous nations in the world.
The Catholic Church had an important presence during Spanish rule, with 20,000 Spanish Catholics present before Spain abandoned the territory (30% of the population). Today around 300 people in the Moroccan-controlled areas are Catholic (mostly of Spanish origin), being able to attend the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in El Aaiún and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Dakhla.
Modern Standard Arabic is the sole constitutionally recognized official and national language of the Sahrawi Republic. [23] Hassaniya, a variety of Arabic also spoken in neighbouring countries such as Mauritania, is the common vernacular language of the Sahrawi people.
Spanish was introduced during the Spanish colonisation in the late 19th century, and remains as the preferred second language of the Sahrawi, also enjoying a de facto working language status. [24] In 2018, President Brahim Gali stated that the SADR is the only Arab country in the world where Spanish is an official language. [2] Instituto Cervantes estimates that around 20,000 Sahrawis have limited competencies in Spanish [25]
The SADR acted as a government administration in the Sahrawi refugee camps located in the Tindouf Province of western Algeria. It is headquartered in Camp Rabouni, south of Tindouf, although some official events have taken place in towns in the Free Zone, including the provisional capitals, first Bir Lehlou until 2008, then Tifariti. The government of the SADR claims sovereignty over all of the Western Sahara territory, but has control only within the Free Zone. Several foreign aid agencies, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organizations, are continually active in the camps.
As ofSeptember2022,the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been recognized by85 states, at one time or another. Of these, 39 have "frozen" or "withdrawn" recognition for a number of reasons. A total of 29 UN states maintain an embassy from the SADR, with Vietnam being the only nation not hosting an embassy but only sending their own mission [26] Sahrawi embassies exist in 18 states. Six UN states have other diplomatic relations, while a further nine UN nations and South Ossetia [27] also recognize the state either by previous regimes or through international agreements in the past, but do not have any active relations at the moment (see foreign relations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for more details).
Paraguay, [28] Australia, [29] Brazil, [30] [31] [32] [33] and Sweden [34] have all internally voted to recognize the SADR, but none have yet ratified it.
Although it is not recognized by the UN, the SADR has held full membership of the African Union (AU, formerly the Organisation of African Unity, OAU) since 1982. Morocco withdrew from the OAU in protest during 1984, and from the time of South Africa's admittance to the OAU in 1994 was the only African UN member not also a member of the AU, until it was readmitted on 30 January 2017. [35] The SADR participates as a guest in meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement [36] [37] and the New Asian–African Strategic Partnership, [38] [39] over Moroccan objections to SADR participation. [40]
The SADR also participated in a conference of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of the Latin American and the Caribbean (COPPPAL) in 2006; [41] the SADR ambassador to Nicaragua participated in the opening conference of the Central American Parliament in 2010, [42] and a SADR delegation participated in the meeting of COPPPAL and International Conference of Asian Political Parties in Mexico City in 2012. [43]
On 27 February 2011, the 35th anniversary of the proclamation of SADR was held in Tifariti, Western Sahara. Delegations, including parliamentarians, ambassadors, NGOs and activists from many countries participated in this event. [44] [45]
The SADR is not a member of the Arab League, nor of the Arab Maghreb Union, both of which include Morocco as a full member.
Under the Baker Plan created by James Baker, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy to Western Sahara, the SADR would have been replaced with a five-year transitional Western Sahara Authority (WSA), a non-sovereign autonomous region supervised by Morocco, to be followed by a referendum on independence. It was endorsed by the UN in 2003. As Morocco has declined to participate, however, the plan appears dead.[ citation needed ]
In April 2007, the government of Morocco 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 UN Security Council in mid-April 2007. A stalemate over the Moroccan proposal led the UN, in an April 2007 "Report of the UN Secretary-General", to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution. [46]
The SADR was invited to participate in the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, which would have been the country's debut at a major international sporting event. However, its thirteen athletes were not allowed to compete by the Congolese organizing committee. [47] The country has a national football team, but its governing body, the Sahrawi Football Federation, is not a member of FIFA or the Confederation of African Football. [48]
Date | Name | Original event / Notes |
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27 February | Independence Day | Proclamation of the SADR in Bir Lehlou, 1976 |
8 March | First Martyr | |
10 May | Foundation of the Polisario Front | The anniversary of the front's establishment in 1973 |
20 May | 20 May Revolution | Start of the armed struggle against Spain in 1973 |
9 June | Day of the Martyrs | Day on which El-Ouali died in 1976 |
17 June | Zemla Intifada | Harakat Tahrir riots in El-Aaiun, 1970 |
12 October | Day of National Unity | Celebrating the commemoration anniversary of the Ain Ben Tili Conference, 1975 |
Additionally, Muslim celebrations are kept according to the lunar Islamic calendar.
Date | Name | Observance |
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Muharram 1 | Islamic New Year | The anniversary of the Hijra from Mecca to Medina and the beginning of the lunar Islamic year |
Dhul Hijja 10 | Eid al-Adha | Sacrifice feast |
Shawwal 1 | Eid al-Fitr | End of Ramadan |
Rabi' al-awwal 12 | Mawlid | Birth of Muhammad |
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-western Africa. It has a surface area of 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the territory is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated country in Africa and the second most sparsely populated country in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara.
All data about demographic information regarding Western Sahara are extremely error-prone, regardless of source. Most countries take censuses every ten years, and some every five in order to stay abreast of change and miscounts; the last count was conducted in 1970, and even that data by colonial Spain is considered unreliable due to large nomadic populations.
The politics of Western Sahara take place in a framework of an area claimed by both the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco.
The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, is a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to establish a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for the Sahrawi people through the means of self-determination and armed resistance in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The Sahrawis, or Sahrawi people, are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Sahara desert, which includes the Western Sahara, southern Morocco, much of Mauritania, and along the southwestern border of Algeria. They are of mixed Hassani Arab and Sanhaji Berber descent, as well as West African and other indigenous populations.
Elections in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic are regularly held by the government-in-exile at a national, regional and local level. Elections are considered to be held under a non-partisan participatory democratic regime, as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and the Polisario Front structures are parallel.
Bir Lehlou is an oasis town in north-eastern Western Sahara, 236 km from Smara, near the Mauritanian border and east of the border wall, in Polisario Front-held territory. It has a pharmacy, a school and a mosque. It is the head of the 5th military region of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and was the factual temporary capital of SADR until Tifariti became the temporary capital in 2008. It is also the name of a Daïra of the Wilaya of Smara, in the Sahrawi refugee camps.
Tifariti is an oasis town and the temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, located in north-eastern Western Sahara, east of the Moroccan Berm, 138 km (86 mi) from Smara and 15 km (9 mi) north of the border with Mauritania. It is part of what Polisario Front calls the Liberated Territories and Morocco call the Buffer Zone. It has been the de facto temporary capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic since the government moved there in 2008 from Bir Lehlou. It is the headquarters of the 2nd military region of the SADR.
The Free Zone or Liberated Territories is a term used by the Polisario Front government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a partially recognized sovereign state in the western Maghreb, to describe the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of a 2,200-kilometre (1,400 mi) border wall flanked by a minefield, often referred as the Berm, and to the west and north of the borders with Algeria and Mauritania, respectively. It is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as opposed to the area to the west of the Berm, which is controlled by Morocco as part of its Southern Provinces. Both states claim the entirety of Western Sahara as their territory.
The Sahrawi National Council or Sahrawi Parliament is the legislature of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Its structure and competences are guided by the Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). The present speaker since 2020 is Hamma Salama.
The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara.
The foreign relations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) are conducted by the Polisario Front, which maintains a network of representation offices and embassies in foreign countries.
The politics of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic refers to politics of the Polisario Front's proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a country in North Africa with limited recognition by other states, controlling parts of the Western Sahara region.
The Sahrawi People's Liberation Army is the army of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and previously served as the armed wing of the Polisario Front prior to the foundation of the Republic. Its commander-in-chief was the Secretary-General of the Polisario, but the army is now also integrated into the SADR government through the SADR Minister of Defense. The SADR and the Polisario Front have no navy or air force. The SPLA's armed units are considered to have a manpower of possibly 20,000–30,000 active soldiers today, but during the war years its strength appears to have increased to 100,000 men. It has a potential manpower of many times that number, since both male and female refugees in the Tindouf camps undergo military training at age 18. Women formed auxiliary units protecting the camps during war years.
The Western Sahara War was an armed struggle between the Sahrawi indigenous Polisario Front and Morocco from 1975 to 1991, being the most significant phase of the Western Sahara conflict. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords, by which it transferred administrative control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania, but not sovereignty. In late 1975, the Moroccan government organized the Green March of some 350,000 Moroccan citizens, escorted by around 20,000 troops, who entered Western Sahara, trying to establish a Moroccan presence. While at first met with just minor resistance by the Polisario Front, Morocco later engaged a long period of guerrilla warfare with the Sahrawi nationalists. During the late 1970s, the Polisario Front, desiring to establish an independent state in the territory, attempted to fight both Mauritania and Morocco. In 1979, Mauritania withdrew from the conflict after signing a peace treaty with the Polisario Front. The war continued in low intensity throughout the 1980s, though Morocco made several attempts to take the upper hand in 1989–1991. A cease-fire agreement was finally reached between the Polisario Front and Morocco in September 1991. Some sources put the final death toll between 10,000 and 20,000 people.
Sahrawi nationality law is the law of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic's (SADR) governing nationality and citizenship. The SADR is a partially recognized state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, but only administers part of it. The SADR also administers Sahrawi refugee camps.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic:
Sahrawi Republic–South Africa relations are the current and historical relations between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Western Sahara and the Republic of South Africa. Formal diplomatic relations were established at ambassador level in 2004, during the Thabo Mbeki government. A Sahrawi embassy was opened in Pretoria, and the South-African embassy in Algiers was accredited to the SADR.
Mexico recognized and established diplomatic relations with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1979.
En los alrededores de Tifariti sobreviven unas 40.000 personas, una población dispersa y nómada [...] según cifras oficiales.[In the vicinity of Tifariti, about 40,000 people survive, a dispersed and nomadic population [...] according to official figures.]
La divisa local es el dinar argelino, aunque se puede pagar casi todo en euros. La moneda mínima para hacer compras en los campamentos es el billete de 10€.[The local currency is the Algerian dinar, although you can pay almost everything in euros. The minimum currency to make purchases in the camps is the €10 bill.]
Official SADR pages
SADR pages