Moroccan Point of View

Our followers might be asking themselves what is Morocco’s position in this political situation? What reasons do they list not to give independence to the Sahrawis? Are they aware of the living conditions in the refugee camps, or doing something to help?

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After investigating into the Morocco World News, a local famous newspaper outlet, and approaching a few Moroccan families, this was the result of our investigations. We are aware that this does not represent the opinion of all Moroccans nor do we intend to impose our point of view. This is merely an outline of what is said in the media on this topic based mainly on an article of Morocco World News newspaper. 

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First of all, it is a fact that most Moroccans consider Sahrawis as nationals but they point at Algeria, the Polisario Front, and Spain colonization period as the integral factors in shaping the critical situation. As Samir Bennis said in his article "Facts About Western Sahara Conflict That You Should Know" in Morocco World News, written in 2013 (1), “the history of Western Sahara does not start in 1975 nor does it start in 1884. It dates back well beyond these dates, well before even the creation of other modern states such as Algeria and Mauritania.” Right after, he refers to the political situation between Morocco and Western Sahara as “a country annexing a territory that was part of it for centuries”, refuting the use of the word “annexation”, and refuting the use it is given by some of the supporters of the Saharawi independence movement. Later, he claims that Morocco had always wanted the reintegration of Western Sahara. “Since Spain took over Western Sahara in 1884, Morocco had always fought for the reintegration of the territory to Moroccan sovereignty.”

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Morocco is said to have been responsible for having raised “the question of Spain’s occupation of Morocco’s southern provinces” to the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. The agreement included the provinces of Sidi Ifni and Western Sahara. Later, these provinces were disassociated by the demand of Spain, and upon declaring Sidi Ifni no interest to  Spain, they decided to return it to Morocco.  

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The United Nations strongly urged Spain to give the territory of Western Sahara to Morocco, but apparently “Spain sought to keep the territory under its sovereignty or, in case it could not achieve this objective, to create a satellite entity under its influence.” In order to reach that goal, they created an assembly called Djeema whose members were seemingly “chosen depending on the degree of their allegiance to Spain” and “rushed to express their attachment to the presence of Spain in Western Sahara” to “give the appearance that Western Sahara was progressing towards self-rule”.

 

After a short-lived alliance with Algeria and Mauritania in which Morocco gave back Algeria its territory in Tindouf and recognized Mauritania’s sovereignty, these two states “pledged to lend their support to Morocco in its endeavors aimed at pushing Spain to decolonize Western Sahara and abide by the relevant United Nations resolutions.” This alliance did not last for long, as “It couldn’t hold up against the aggressive diplomatic campaign carried out by Spain in order to prevent Morocco from gaining the support of its immediate neighbors.” Spain showed an interest in keeping Western Sahara for itself “because of the natural resources of the territory, especially after the discovery of phosphates at the beginning of the 1960s, as well as for the richness of its fishing grounds” 

Algeria is also accused of playing a “double game policy”, in which it “had no interest in seeing Morocco recover its sovereignty over Western Sahara”. Algeria wanted instead to make “Rabat pay for its “irredentism” over Tindouf and other parts of Western Algeria […] as well as for the “Sand War”, that had pitted Morocco against Algeria in 1963.”

So, Spain and Algeria are allies “to thwart Morocco’s endeavors to push for a settlement to the Western Sahara issue in line with its historical rights over the territory and its strategic interests.”

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The Spanish government is said to be responsible for creating “a fictitious nationalism in Western Sahara, whose representatives stated that they did not represent Morocco or any other country.”

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This article also refutes the referendum that Spain tries to organize it by implying that it’s a way for Spain to keep Western Sahara as a colony. “Rabat learned of Madrid’s intention to grant autonomy to this territory and organize a pseudo-referendum, in total disregard of all relevant United Nations resolutions that were calling on it to decolonize Western Sahara and allow its people to express their self-determination.” It states right after that “the time had come to adopt a new and more aggressive strategy to put Madrid under pressure”: The Green March. After this, “Morocco and the Polisario waged a war over the sovereignty over Western Sahara”. 

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In another article, Expert Condemns Algeria’s Delegation of Tindouf Management To Polisario of Morocco World News, written in 2020 (2), the current situation is described as follows. Nowadays, “Algeria’s support for the Polisario Front constitutes a threat to regional stability for many reasons, several observers have been arguing.” “Polisario does not have the credibility to be a “legitimate” representative for Sahrawis, whose alleged dire living conditions frequently make international headlines and continue to prompt the convening of panels to address human rights violations in the Tindouf camps.” “Hubert Seiman […] said that the “Moroccanness” of Western Sahara is “irreversible,” joining the many international analysts and observers defending Morocco’s territorial integrity.”