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Independence Intifada | |||
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Part of Western Sahara conflict | |||
Date | 21 May – 14 December 2005 | ||
Location | Western Sahara, south of Morocco | ||
Caused by | Transfer of a Sahrawi prisoner from El Aaiun to Agadir | ||
Goals |
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Methods |
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Resulted in | Sahrawi failure to gain independence [1] [2] | ||
Parties | |||
Number | |||
Casualties and losses | |||
The Independence Intifada or the Second Sahrawi Intifada (intifada is Arabic for "uprising") and also May Intifada [3] is a Sahrawi activist term for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 [ citation needed ] in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara and south of Morocco. This event has also been called The El-Aaiun Intifada by the same sources.[ citation needed ]
Part of a series on the |
Western Sahara conflict |
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Background |
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Western Sahara, formerly Spanish Sahara, was annexed by Morocco in 1975, as Spain pulled out. A war with the Polisario Front, which according to the UN represent the indigenous Sahrawi population, and was backed by neighboring Algeria, ensued. In 1991 a cease-fire was agreed upon, on the condition of a referendum on self-determination (including the options of independence or integration into Morocco). Since 1991 the terms of a referendum have been subject to years of dispute between the parties, although the cease-fire continues to hold despite remaining tensions. Morocco controls the majority of the territory, with Polisario forces controlling a rump. A UN mission MINURSO mission patrols the demarcation line.
Sahrawi political activity in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara remains severely restricted, and police crackdowns and forced disappearances were a frequent response to civil protest. The political climate gradually relaxed in the 1990s, after the cease-fire, and following considerable liberalization in Morocco proper. Since political liberalisation, intermittent protests have broken out and pro-Polisario groups have declaring minor "intifadas" in 1999 and 2000, often resulting in dozens of demonstrators being arrested.
Demonstrations began on 21 May 2005 in El Aaiún, after relatives protesting the transfer of a Sahrawi prisoner accused of drug dealing and insulting the Moroccan monarchy to a prison in Agadir were violently dispersed by police, provoking further demonstrations over the next several days. Protests spread by the end of May to other towns in the Western Sahara, such as Smara and Dakhla, and were accompanied by demonstrations by Sahrawi students living in Moroccan cities such as Agadir, Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech and Rabat. Moroccan public security units quelled the disturbances, although some subsequent pro-independence demonstrations have subsequently flared up, most recently reported in November 2005. On 30 October 2005, a first fatality was recorded when 31-year-old Hamdi Lembarki died after what human rights organizations assured was police brutality during his arrest, although at first Moroccan authorities attributed his death to an accident. [4] [5]
Over a hundred pro-Polisario Sahrawi protesters were reported arrested by Moroccan authorities by international human rights, and approximately thirty demonstrators and well-known Sahrawi human rights-activists have been imprisoned after summary trials. Among them are the former political prisoner Ali Salem Tamek (who did not partake directly in any demonstrations, but was arrested when returning from abroad), human rights-activist Mohamed Elmoutaoikil, and Aminatou Haidar, a former disappeared. An international campaign for her release was signed by 178 members of the European Parliament, and she was nominated as a candidate for the Sakharov Prize. [ third-party source needed ] A 50-day hunger strike of all the arrested Sahrawis put the health of several at risk, and the action was aborted.
On 14 December 2005, 14 pro-independence Sahrawis and human-rights activists, including the activists mentioned above and most of the remaining pro-Polisario Sahrawi political leadership, were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison by an El-Aaiún court, on charges of disturbing public order, membership of illegal associations, incitement to unrest, damaging public property and rioting. They denied the charges of using violence. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had expressed serious concern over the trials, pointing to reports of torture and previous abuse of some of the prisoners.
Several international human rights-organizations have shown interest in alleged Moroccan abuse of Sahrawi demonstrators. Amnesty International has demanded an investigation into reports of torture of prisoners and called for fair trials, and the release of political prisoners. This has been echoed by Human Rights Watch and others.
Morocco has limited journalists' and diplomats' access to the territory, claiming that their public presence is used by pro-Polisario activists to trigger more riots. Investigative missions from European countries have been denied access to the territory, including several high-ranking parliamentary delegations and foreign ambassadors to Morocco.[ permanent dead link ] Several foreign journalists, mainly European, but also al Jazeera correspondents, were expelled after interviewing protesters, and others have been prevented from visiting it. [6] In November 2005, Moroccan authorities shut down a number of pro-independence or pro-Polisario Internet sites. This was condemned by Reporters Without Borders as an example of internet censorship.
The European Parliament voted 98 in favor, 1 abstention and 0 votes against an October 2005 resolution that "deplored" expulsions of journalists covering the uprising and demanded the "immediate release" of political prisoners.
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.
Sidi Mohammed Daddach is a Sahrawi human rights activist imprisoned for 24 years. He is often called "North African Mandela" or "Sahrawi Mandela".
Ali Salem Tamek is a Sahrawi independence activist and trade unionist.
Aminatou Ali Ahmed Haidar, sometimes spelled as Aminetou, Aminatu or Aminetu, is a Sahrawi human rights activist and an advocate of the independence of Western Sahara. She is often called the "Sahrawi Gandhi" or "Sahrawi Pasionaria" for her nonviolent protests. She is the president of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). She was imprisoned from 1987 to 1991 and from 2005 to 2006 on charges related to her independence advocacy. In 2009, she attracted international attention when she staged a hunger strike in Lanzarote Airport after being denied re-entry into Moroccan Western Sahara. Haidar has won several international human rights awards for her work, including the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, 2009 Civil Courage Prize and 2019 Right Livelihood Award.
Mohamed Cheikh Elmoutaoikil is a Sahrawi human rights activist working in Western Sahara and Morocco. He is a member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA).
Mahfoud Ali Beiba Hammad Dueihi was a Sahrawi politician and co-founder of the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement that seeks self-determination for Western Sahara. From 1975 until his death, he lived in an exile in the refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria.
To assist in the decolonization process of the Spanish Sahara, a colony in North Africa, the United Nations General Assembly in 1975 dispatched a visiting mission to the territory and the surrounding countries, in accordance with its resolution 3292.
The Government of Morocco sees Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. The Moroccan government considers the Polisario Front as a separatist movement given the alleged Moroccan origins of some of its leaders.
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 Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Violations of Human Rights Committed by the Moroccan State, or ASVDH, is a Sahrawi human rights organization in the Moroccan-occupied areas of Western Sahara.
Brahim Dahane is a Sahrawi human rights activist and president of the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Grave Human Rights Violations Committed by the Moroccan State.
In March 2000, women's groups organised demonstrations in Casablanca proposing reforms to the legal status of women in the country. 40,000 women attended, calling for a ban on polygamy and the introduction of civil divorce law. Although a counter-demonstration attracted half a million participants, the movement for change started in 2000 was influential on King Mohammed, and he enacted a new Mudawana, or family law, in early 2004, meeting some of the demands of women's rights activists.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic:
Elkouria Amidane is a Sahrawi student and human rights activist. Elkouria Amidane has over the years conducted non-violent struggle for Western Sahara self-determination and demonstrated for Saharawi student's rights against Morocco. Elkouria Amidane was awarded the Student Peace Prize in 2009 for her work for human rights and the Saharawi people. Elkouria Amidane was awarded the Ordfront Democracy Prize at the Swedish parliament.
The Gdeim Izik protest camp was a protest camp in Western Sahara, established on 9 October 2010 and lasting into November that year, with related incidents occurring in the aftermath of its dismantlement on 8 November. The primary focus of the protests was against "ongoing discrimination, poverty and human rights abuses against local citizens".
The 2011 Western Saharan protests began on 25 February 2011 as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara, and blossomed into protests across the territory. They were related to the Gdeim Izik protest camp in Western Sahara established the previous fall, which had resulted in violence between Sahrawi activists and Moroccan security forces and supporters. The protests also purportedly drew inspiration from the Arab Spring and successful revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, although the Arab Spring proper did not reach Western Sahara.
Hamdi Lembarki was a Sahrawi activist who was killed by Moroccan police after a demonstration in El Aaiun, during the Second Sahrawi Intifada in 2005.
The Western Sahara peace process refers to the international efforts to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. The conflict has failed so far to result in permanent peace between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The standing issues of the peace process include Sahrawi refugees, and human rights in Western Sahara.
The First Sahrawi Intifada forms part of the wider and ongoing Western Sahara conflict. It began in 1999 and lasted until 2004, transforming into the Independence Intifada in 2005.
Sultana Sidi Brahim Khaya, also known as Sultana Khaya, is a Sahrawi human rights activist and an advocate of the independence of Western Sahara and self-determination.