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13 - Backbone of the mission

The Australians in Western Sahara, 1991–94

from Part 3 - Western Sahara

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2022

David Horner
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
John Connor
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
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Summary

The Western Sahara desert is a harsh, bleak yet at times beautiful landscape; except when the temperature soars to 60 degrees centigrade and the hot wind – the Sirocco – blasts across the territory, whipping up dust and sandstorms, reducing visibility to a few metres, and causing all manner of respiratory problems. The Australian signallers at the UN observer team sites had plenty of opportunity to admire the terrain. They became familiar with the rock-hard plateaus, where they could drive their vehicles at 100 kph or, less commonly, the shifting sand dunes, where vehicles could barely move. They marvelled at the high, flat-top hills and the dry riverbeds (wadis). Occasionally they spotted camels and goats; but generally it is a lifeless area, with little vegetation and no surface water.

For the UN military observers (Unmos) and their signallers, the dominating feature was the remarkable defensive berm or wall that snaked southwards across the desert from Morocco, parallel to the Algerian and Mauritanian borders, almost to the sea at its southern extremity. The Unmos had the task of supervising the ceasefire along the berm. A later observer – the commander of the British contingent at the time – described the berm as ‘a fascinating military achievement which never fails to impress’:

It is, at one and the same time, a grandiose strategic concept, a tactical stroke of genius, an engineering and organisational triumph and a demographic divide. While varying in its military effectiveness along its some 2000[km] length, being stronger in the more strategically important northern sectors, it has won the war. Polisario have publicly admitted that they have no real conventional military options. They can hurt the Moroccans and achieve a brief tactical success but only at tremendous subsequent cost.

On the Moroccan side there were two sector headquarters – at Smara and Awsard – with a further sector headquarters later being established at Oum Dreyga. Including the sector headquarters (which doubled as team sites) there were ten team sites, six on the Polisario side of the berm and four on the Moroccan side (see map 10). There was also the liaison office with the Polisario headquarters at Tindouf in Algeria.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Good International Citizen
Australian Peacekeeping in Asia, Africa and Europe 1991–1993
, pp. 294 - 330
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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References

Doyle, Leonard, ‘Scandal threatens UN peacekeeping force’, Ottawa Citizen, 8 February 1992 Google Scholar
Peers, Martin, ‘Aust soldiers under threat in W Sahara’, Australian Financial Review, 13 February 1992, p. 12Google Scholar
Coulon, , Soldiers of Democracy, p. 65 (interview, A. Roy, 22 May 2006)Google Scholar
Stewart, Cameron & Shirley Twist, ‘Female Digger in Western Sahara plan crash’, Australian, 23 June 1993 Google Scholar
Ray, R.F. to question without notice from Senator S. Loosley, CPD, Senate, 16 November 1993, p. 2859Google Scholar

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  • Backbone of the mission
  • David Horner, Australian National University, Canberra, John Connor, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: The Good International Citizen
  • Online publication: 12 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139196437.015
Available formats
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  • Backbone of the mission
  • David Horner, Australian National University, Canberra, John Connor, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: The Good International Citizen
  • Online publication: 12 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139196437.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Backbone of the mission
  • David Horner, Australian National University, Canberra, John Connor, University of New South Wales, Sydney
  • Book: The Good International Citizen
  • Online publication: 12 May 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139196437.015
Available formats
×