Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:37:50.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Organization of African Unity and the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

J. Naldi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The long-standing Western Sahara dispute which has plagued the OAU finally came to a head in August, 1982, when, as a consequence of the admission of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic to the Organization earlier in the year, the Nineteenth Summit Conference due to have been held in Tripoli was postponed sine die. Following a Moroccan-inspired boycott, an insufficient quorum existed to allow the meeting to proceed. The Western Sahara dispute has emphasised some of the shortcomings of the OAU. Although it may have been initially assumed that the OAU was better suited to handle this dispute, it was handicapped by the intransigent attitudes of the parties to the dispute. Threats to cancel membership of the Organization if the SADR was ever admitted were repeatedly made by Morocco and some of her allies. The SADR secured membership of the OAU in February, 1982, and the worst fears appear to have been confirmed. The question therefore arises as to what the future holds for the OAU, but first it is necessary to examine how the SADR was admitted to the OAU.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of African Law , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1982 , pp. 152 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 A chronological account of the handling of the Western Sahara dispute by the OAU is provided by Weexsteen, R. “L'OUA et la question Saharienne”, (1978) 17 Annuaire de l'Afriquedu Nord 213.Google Scholar

2 Jeune Afrique, no. 1018, 9 07, 1980.Google Scholar

3 West Africa, no. 3286, 14 07, 1980, p. 1286.Google ScholarPubMed

4 The Guardian, 21 07, 1980.Google ScholarPubMed

5 Jeune Afrique, no. 1015, 18 06, 1980, p. 41Google Scholar; and no. 1017, 2 07, 1980, p. 19.Google Scholar

6 Kabbaj, T., L'Affaire du Sahara Occidental, Abidjan, 1981, 342–344.Google Scholar

7 ICJ Reports 1975, 12, at p. 68.Google Scholar

8 ICJ Reports 1975, p. 39.Google Scholar

9 Gretton, J., Western Sahara—The Fight for Self–Determination, Anti-Slavery Society, 1976, 11Google Scholar; Mercer, J., “The Sahrawis of Western Sahara”, Minority Rights Group, Report No. 40, 1979, 18–19Google Scholar; Leymarie, P., “L'Afrique, continent du refugiés”, (1979–1980) 167–69, Revue Française d'études politiques africains, 15, at 43Google Scholar; Keesing's, Contemporary Archives. 09, 1977, 28573Google Scholar; ”Refugees: Africa's Challenge”, Christian Aid, 1978, 3, 21–23Google Scholar; ”Sahara Occidental: Un Pays, Un Peuple”, (1978) Comité Beige de Soutien au Peuple Sahraoui 15–16.Google Scholar

10 Crawford, J., The Creation of Stales in International Law, 1979, p. 42.Google Scholar

11 El Pais, 1 03, 1981, p. 6.Google ScholarPubMed

12 Devine, D. J., “The state of Rhodesia in international law”, (1973–1974) Acta juridica 1, at 81Google Scholar; Higgins, R., The Development of International Law through the Political Organs of the United Nations, 1963, 23.Google Scholar

13 Devine, , op. cit., p. 82.Google Scholar

14 Higgins, , op. cit., pp. 22–23Google Scholar; Crawford, , op. cit., p. 46Google Scholar, Brownlie, I., Principles of Public International Law, 2nd ed. 1973, 577Google Scholar; Guest, S., “Three judicial doctrines of total recognition of revolutionary governments”, (1980) Acta juridica 1, at 45Google Scholar; Witkin, M. F., “Transkei: an analysis of the practice of recognition-political or legal?”, (1977) 18 Harvard International Law Journal, 605, at 610–611.Google Scholar

15 Devine, op. cit.

16 Africa Diary, 03, 1976, p. 7733Google Scholar. See further the list of the members of government of the SADR and the political organization of the Polisario Front after its Fourth Congress held on 25–28 09, 1978 in “Documents Sahara Occidental”, (1978) 17 Annuaire de l'Afrique du Nord 845 and 852.Google Scholar

17 Crawford, , op. cit., pp. 407, 417–420.Google Scholar

18 Crawford, , op. cit., pp. 47–48.Google Scholar

19 El Pais, 3 03, 1981, p. 4.Google ScholarPubMed

20 The importance of independence has been stressed by international tribunals. See the statements by Huber, Judge in the Island of Palmas Case 2 RIAA (1928) 829, at p. 838Google Scholar; and Anzilotti, Judge in the Austro-German Customs Union Case, PCIJ Reports, Ser. A/B, No. 41, (1931) pp. 57–58.Google Scholar

21 The question that needs to be answered is whether the proclamation of independence by the Polisario Front can be deemed to constitute a valid exercise of the right to self-determination. The General Assembly has recognised the Polisario Front as the sole and legitimate representative of the Sahrwai people: see G.A.O.R. 31st session A/31/23 Add. 5 of 25 10, 1976Google Scholar; Resolution 34/37 (1979); Resolution 35/9 (1980). It is debatable whether any binding norms of international law exist requiring the inhabitants of non-self-governing territories to exercise the right to self-determination by any particular method, such as a plebiscite, although UN practice has usually held it to be necessary. However, the situation in the Western Sahara is an abnormal one and evidence suggests that the majority of the inhabitants support the Polisario Front, see G.A.O.R., 30th Session, Vol. III, Suppl. 23 (A/10023/Rev. 1) p. 7, para. 219, pp. 63–64. Therefore, there would be grounds for presuming that the inhabitants of the Western Sahara have exercised their right of self-determination via the Polisario Front.

22 Greig, D. W., International Law, 2nd ed., 1975, p. 97.Google Scholar

23 Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Iran, Jamaica, Laos, Lesotho, Libya, the Malagasy Republic, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Korea, Panama, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Sao Tome e Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Yemen, Syria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Equitorial Guinea withdrew recognition after a change of government.

24 Devine, , op. cit., p. 120Google Scholar

25 The Daily Nation, 24 02, 1982, p. 28Google Scholar; Jeune Afrique, No. 1105, 10 03, 1982, pp. 18–20.Google Scholar

26 Jeune Afrique, op. cit., pp. 20–22.Google Scholar

27 The Guardian, 27 07, 1982, p. 5Google Scholar; and 28 07, 1982, p. 6; The Times, 28 07, 1982, p. 5Google Scholar; The Guardian, 6 08, 1982, p. 5Google Scholar; and 7 08, 1982, p. 5Google Scholar; El Pais, 8 08, 1982, p. 2Google Scholar; Le Monde, 6 08, 1982, pp. 1 and 6.Google Scholar

28 The Guardian, 29 07, 1982, p. 5Google ScholarPubMed; 30 07, 1982, p. 5; 10 08, 1982, p. 4; 13 08, 1982, p. 6.

29 Padelford, N. J., “The Organization of African Unity”, (1964), 18 International Organization, 521, at 535.Google Scholar

30 See Resolution AHG/Res. 92 (XV); Africa Diary, 09, 1978, p. 9194.Google ScholarPubMed

31 Resolution AHG/Dec. 114 (XVI); Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 11, 1979, p. 29918Google Scholar; Jeune Afrique, no. 970, 8 08, 1979, p. 52.Google Scholar

32 The Guardian, 13 09, 1980, p. 6Google Scholar; El Pais, 13 09, 1980, p. 7Google Scholar; Le Monde, 14–15 09, 1980, p. 4.Google Scholar

33 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 09, 1981, pp. 31054–55Google Scholar; The Guardian, 29 June, 1981; 24 09, 1981, p. 6Google Scholar; Jeune Afrique, no. 1079, 9 09, 1981, pp. 20–21.Google Scholar

34 The Guardian, 9 08, 1982, p. 5.Google ScholarPubMed

35 El Pais, 13 09, 1982, p. 2.Google ScholarPubMed

36 Crawford, , op. cit., p. 322Google Scholar; Grieg, , op. cit., pp. 134–135.Google Scholar

37 Sureda, A. Rigo, The Evolution of the Right of Self-Determination, 1973, 83–84.Google Scholar