Morocco Hopes to Ease Dispute over Western Sahara

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Morocco has a new proposal aimed at resolving a decades-old dispute over the Western Sahara. The Kingdom of Morocco seized the land to its south when Spain withdrew from there 30 years ago. They then fought a rebel group known as the Polisario Front, until a ceasefire was reached in 1991. Several attempts to resolve the impasse have failed. However, Morocco is hoping that Western fears of a potential terrorist threat, in the nearby Sahel region, will bring new attention to an old problem.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

PETER KENYON reporting:

Fishing boats slosh against the harbor in Dakhla, where the desert meets the sea, in the southern part of the disputed Western Sahara. Just down the road, families are crowded into dense, concrete slums that reek of human waste. But here on the docks, fishing crews make a good living hauling millions of dollars worth of octopus, squid and other delicacies from the Atlantic.

Thirty-one year old Fuzi Imbarka(ph) has been on the boat for the past two months. He missed the announcement that Morocco is willing to offer some form of autonomy to the Western Sahara. But he doesn't need much time to ponder the question who he thinks should run this region. It's definitely not the rebel Polisario Front that has been struggling for Western Saharan independence for more than three decades.

Mr. FUZI IMBARKA: (Through Translator) We are all Moroccans from Tangier in the north to the deep south. Our great grandparents fought for this place, and sacrificed for this place; and we will too.

KENYON: The Western Saharan conflict nags at Morocco, as the King Mohammed the Sixth promotes a wide-ranging effort to open up Moroccan society. He launched a reconciliation commission to investigate the country's murky past of illegal detentions and extra-judicial killings. He helped push through changes in Morocco's family law, giving more rights to women. But the Western Sahara dispute, who will govern the local tribes, known as collectively as Sahrawis, remain snarled in political knots.

For the Sahrawis refugees, who've been living in camps in southern Algeria for decades, people like the fisherman, Fuzi Imbarka, are Moroccan settlers making their living on occupied territory. The Polisario rebels set up a government in exile that has been recognized by the African Union, but not by the Arab League. The Polisario representative in Washington, Mouloud Said says this latest offer for limiting autonomy for the region, is simply another attempt by Morocco to change the subject from, what he sees as the only just solution, a public referendum on independence.

Mr. MOULOUD SAID (Washington Representative, Polisario Front): I would not react to what Morocco says. What we do is to reaffirm the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination, through a free and fair referendum. The Moroccans are trying all the venues to ensure that we'll have no referendum. And in this context, they brought this proposal, which represents a reaffirmation of the fait accompli of the occupation of the Western Sahara.

KENYON: In essence, this is the same stalemate that has frustrated a number of United Nations' envoys, including former Secretary of State James Baker. The Polisario, with Algerian support, will take nothing less than a referendum. Morocco, which says Algeria is mainly backing the rebels in hopes of gaining access to the Atlantic for mineral exports, refuses to consider any referendum that has independence as a possible outcome.

Since last May, demonstrations for Saharan independence have spread from the camps in Algeria to Western Saharan cities such as Laayoune and Smara. Several pro-independent activists are now facing charges brought brought by Moroccan authorities. Communications Minister Nabil Ben Abdullah says Morocco is willing to cede control over day-to-day affairs to an autonomous local government. But issues of defense, international trade, and foreign affairs would remain with Morocco.

Mr. NABIL BEN ABDULLAH (Communications Minister, Morocco): (Through Translator) The emergence of any kind of new, independent state would certainly wind up being a profoundly disturbing occurrence for the stability of this region. Without some kind of amenable solution to this, I can tell you, the people would rise up, and it would destabilize not only Morocco, but the entire region.

KENYON: Analyst say recently, Morocco seems to be seizing on Western fears of a destabilized North Africa, as a way to draw attention to its case. Just south of the Sahara begins the Sahel, a region that sprawls across several African countries, and is of growing concern to the American military. The U.S. recently expanded its Pan-Sahel Counter-Terror Initiative to include 9 countries. Hamid Chabar, the Moroccan representative to the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Western Sahara, says he's surprised Western countries haven't woken up to the dangers in the Sahel; given the weak government presence, the loosely controlled borders, and the recent appearance of Islamist radicals transiting North Africa on their way to Europe.

Mr. HAMID CHABAR (Representative, United Nations Peacekeeping Forces): (Through Translator) You have borders for thousands of miles, from Mauritania all the way to Chad, with no control, no authority. And you have an army, the Polisario no longer at war; it might easily convert itself into a terrorist movement. Or, terrorists from elsewhere may seek refuge within the ranks of the Polisario. That's the fear we have.

KENYON: Some analysts wonder if the terror threat in North Africa is being overblown. In a paper last year, the International Crisis Group noted that while the Sahel merits caution from the West, it is currently not a hotbed of terrorist activity. Mouloud Said, the Polisario representative, says the Polisario is totally focused on liberating the Western Sahara, and has no interest in aligning with Islamist fighters from the Sahel or anywhere else.

(Soundbite of a Sahrawi folk song)

KENYON: For the Polisario, the problem is attracting attention to a struggle that has shown no movement for years. In Spain, the former colonial power, Sahrawi folk musicians, such as Aziz Ibrahim, have brought their raw, desert blues sounds to the recording studio, and toured before sympathetic audiences.

(Soundbite of a Sahrawi folk song)

KENYON: But as the years drag on, more questions are being raised about the severe conditions in the Polisario camps in southern Algeria, where both the Polisario and the Algerian armies try to prevent refugees from leaving. Despite their efforts, some two to 4,000 Sahrawis have escaped, according to analysts. Morocco contends thousands more would evacuate the camps if given the chance.

An American expert on the conflict, Professor John Damis of Portland State University, says despite growing security concerns in the region, he doesn't expect either the U.S. or France to lean too heavily on the parties to resolve the Western Sahara conflict in the short term. Speaking by phone from Morocco, Damis says at this point, Morocco's autonomy proposal is virtually the only option for progress, although the Polisario may not yet be ready to accept it.

Mr. JOHN DAMIS (Professor, Portland State University): Their diplomatic preference, that is a referendum on self-determination, is no longer a viable option for the Security Council. So they're moving towards a political solution, mutually accepted to the two parties, and the best option for that is an enhanced autonomy plan. Let us hope Morocco is forthcoming when they do present their plan in April.

KENYON: By forthcoming, Damis means he hopes it offers real powers of self-rule to the region, including the ability to choose their own, police, judges, and to have an independent legislature with the power to enact laws. He says an offer that falls far short of that probably won't entice the Polisario to the table. And for those who see this long running dispute, as a primary obstacle to economic and security cooperation in the region, just getting the parties talking to each other would be a major step.

Peter Kenyon, NPR News.

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