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The Western Sahara Conflict: Regional and International Dimensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Yahia H. Zoubir
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Extract

King Hassan II of Morocco informed the French press in December 1988 that he was willing to talk to the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Río de Oro, known as the Polisario Front, which had been waging a war of national independence during the previous 15 years. Although the Moroccan Sovereign insisted that the subsequent meetings which took place on 4–5 January 1989 in Marrakesh constituted ‘discussions’ rather than ‘negotiations’, they undoubtedly represented a breakthrough in what has been dubbed by many as the ‘forgotten war’, not least because the mere acknowledgement of the Front's existence was in itself a de facto recognition of the Sahrawi liberation movement.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 225 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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References

1 For a detailed account and analysis of the historical background of the conflict, see Hodges, Tony, Western Sahara: the roots of a desert war (Westport, Ct., 1983),Google Scholar and Damis, John, Conflict in Northwest Africa: the Western Sahara dispute (Stanford, 1983).Google Scholar

2 The Economist (London), 4 July 1987, gives the probably exaggerated figure of $300 million a year as Algerian aid to Polisario. What is more certain, however, is that the military build-up undertaken to keep a balance with Morocco, combined with the drop in oil prices, has surely had an adverse effect on Algeria's economy.

3 Jeune Afrique (Paris), 28 September 1988.

4 El Moudjahid (Algiers), 17 May 1988, translated by the author, as have all sources hereinafter in Arabic and French.

5 Personal interview with a senior official in the Algerian Government.

6 Africa News (Durham, N.C.), 30 May 1988.

7 This scenario was ‘played up’ following Hassan's interview published in Le Monde (Paris), 3 August 1988. The King argued that he would grant the Sahrawis autonomy if they decided to remain Moroccan, albeit making it clear that he was opposed to their independence.

8 Africa News, 30 May 1988, and The Guardian (London), 28 September 1988.

9 On these talks, see Jeune Afrique, 2 November 1988.

10 Ibid. 28 September 1988.

11 The New York Times, 25 September 1988.

12 El Moudjahid, 21 September 1988.

13 See Foreign Broadcast Information Service: Near East and South-Asia (Washington, D.C.), 8 and 12 September 1988, hereafter FBIS/NES.

14 It seems likely that very few Algerians blamed the October 1988 events on the conflict in the Western Sahara, and the attack on the Polisario information centre can have had little significance since other offices were also targeted, including those of Lufthansa and the widely popular Palestine Liberation Organisation.

15 Quoted in Libération (Paris), 10 October 1988.

16 FBIS/NES, 16 December 1988, p. 49.

17 El Moudjahid, 7–8 and 12 October 1988. Obviously, the Moroccan authorities feared that the rioting in Algeria might be copied in their urban centres. As explained by Hassan, King: ‘When the last word is left to the streets… it is a very dangerous and contagious disease. And one has no interest to see his neighbour ill. One only hopes that he will recover’. Maghreb Arabe Press (Rabat), 14 12 1988, reported in FBIS/NES, 16 December 1988, p. 49.Google Scholar

18 Cf. Joffe, George, ‘Algeria's New Militancy’, in Middle East International (London), 4 11 1988, p. 11. See also ‘Sahara: l'Algérie durcit le ton’, in Jeune Afrique, 26 October 1988, p. 13.Google Scholar

19 Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations, ‘Declaration du Dr. Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, Ministre des Affaires Étrangères à la 43éme Session de l'Assemblée Générale des Nations Unies’, New York, 5 October 1988, p. 9. These were the same conditions mentioned in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly the previous year; El Moudjahid, 9–10 October 1987.

20 Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations, ‘Intervention de S.E.M. Abdellatif Filali, Ministre des Affaires Étrangéres et de la Coopération du Royaume du Maroc, devant la 43ème Session de l'A.G.N.U.’, New York, 6 October 1988, pp. 15–17.

21 Joffe, loc. cit. pp. 11–12. It should be noted that until his removal, Mohamed Cherif Messadia was the President's emissary to Morocco to discuss issues relating to Maghrebi unity.

22 El Moudjahid, 30 October 1988.

23 General Assembly, Forty-Third Session, Supplement No. 23 (New York, 1988), A/43/23, ch. IX. The General Assembly adopted the Fourth Committee's Resolution 43/23 on 22 November 1988 by 86 votes for and none against, with 53 abstentions.

24 Maghreb Arabe Presse, 22 October 1988, reproduced in Arab Press Bulletin (Washington, D.C.), 5, 81, 28 October 1988.

25 Rabat Domestic Service in Arabic; FBIS/NES, 7 Novemeber 1988, p. 15, my emphasis.

26 The Washington Post, 9 December 1988.

27 El Moudjahid, 9–12 December 1988, and The Washington Post, 13 December 1988.

28 Charles Redman, ‘Department of State Daily Press Briefing’, Washington, D.C., 12 December 1988. A similar statement was made by a spokesman for the White House.

29 See report of Chester Crocker's interview in Jeune Afrique, 25–27 December 1988, p. 15.

30 Le Point (Paris), 12 December 1988. See also Le Monde, 25–27 December 1988, El Moudjahid, 25 December 1988, and The New York Times, 28 December 1988.

31 Admitted by Hassan, King II in the interview reported in Le Nouvel observateur (Paris), 12–18 01 1989.Google Scholar

32 Crocker, loc. cit. See also U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Appropriations Bill, FY 1990 (Washington, D.C., 1989), and House Foreign Aid Appropriations Bill, FY 1990 (Washington, D.C., 1989).

33 Zoubir, Yahia, ‘Soviet Policy toward the Western Sahara Conflict’, in Africa Today (Denver), 34, 3, 1987, pp. 17–32.Google Scholar See also Zartman, I. William, ‘Conflict in the Sahara: options for an outside power’, in S.A.I.S. Review (School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.), 1981–1982, p. 170.Google Scholar

34 Duignan, Peter, Introduction to Damis, op. cit. p. xii.Google Scholar

35 See Zunes, Stephen, ‘The United States and Morocco: the Sahara war and regional interests’, in Arab Studies Quarterly (Belmont, Mass.), 9, 4, Fall 1987,Google Scholar and Hodges, Tony, ‘At Odds with Self-Determination: the United States and Western Sahara’, in Gerald, Bender, James, Coleman, and Richard, Sklar (eds.), African Crisis Areas (Berkeley, 1985), especially pp. 266ff.Google Scholar

36 See Zartman, I. William, ‘Algeria Today and Tomorrow: an assessment’, in CSIS African Notes (Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C.), 65, 28 11 1986, especially pp. 4–5 and 9–10.Google Scholar

37 Cf. Zunes, Stephen, ‘Nationalism and Non-Alignment: the non-ideology of the Polisario’, in Africa Today, 34, 3, Fall 1987, pp. 33–46.Google Scholar

38 See Zoubir, loc. cit.

39 Polisario's official communiqué on talks with Morocco was published in Algérie Presse Service, 9 January 1989.

40 See, especially, Ahmed Kasmi's commentary in ibid. 6 January 1989.

41 Interview published in El Moudjahid, 15 January 1989.

42 Maghreb Arabe Presse, 14 January 1989.

43 Tass (Moscow), 11 January 1989; FBIS/Soviet Union, 12 January 1989, p. 7.

44 Izvestia (Moscow), 12 January 1989.

45 Ibid. 25 October 1989, and ‘Statement by the U.S.S.R. Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Permanent Mission to the United Nations’, Press Release 201, 1 November 1989.

46 Algiers Domestic Service in Arabic, 4 January 1989; FBIS/NES, 5 January 1989, p. 18.

47 The Washington Times, 13 January 1989, for instance, reported one ‘source’ as saying that ‘Polisario is talking about something that is not full integration into Morocco and not full independence’.

48 Maghreb Arabe Presse, 6 January 1989; FBIS/NES, 9 January 1989, p. 26, my emphasis.

49 Agence France Presse (Rabat), 16 January 1989.

50 Ibid. See also Jeune Afrique, 25 January 1989, pp. 38 ff. Compare this statement with the one made in Le Point in December 1988.

51 El Moudjahid, 20–21 January 1989.

52 Algérie-Actualité (Algiers), 12–18 January 1989.

53 Le Nouvel observateur, 12–18 January 1989.

54 According to Algerie Presse Service, 30 January 1989, the King had ‘promised’ to meet with Polisario again in mid-February, although the Moroccans later denied publicly that any such undertaking had been given.

55 See Aghrout, Ahmed and Sutton, Keith, ‘Regional Economic Union in the Maghreb’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 28, 1, 03 1990, pp. 115–139.Google Scholar

56 See Christian Science Monitor (Boston), 12 April 1989.

57 Révolution africaine (Algiers), 3 March 1989, pp. 47–8.

58 To give two African examples: according to Agence France Presse, 18 December 1988, Morocco resumed diplomatic relations with the Seychelles after a 10-year break caused by the latter's recognition of the S.A.D.R., and Jeune Afrique reported on 25 January 1989 that relations with Mali had improved considerably. In addition, relations with India and Yugoslavia were renewed in early 1989.

59 The United States and the E.E.C., as well as a number of Arab states, are said to be interested in financing the construction of this Afro-European project which would take several years. See Le Monde, 9 February 1989, and Jeune Afrique, 22 February 1989.

60 El Moudjahid, 3–4 March 1989.

61 Agence France Presse, 29 April 1989.

62 El Moudjahid, 25 July 1989.

63 ABC (Madrid), 24 September 1989. See also West Africa (London), 2–8 October 1989, p. 1666.

64 El Moudjahid, 2 October 1989.

65 Al Sharq al Awsat (London and Washington, D.C.), 2 October 1989. A week earlier, according to El Moudjahid, 27 Septmeber 1989, the Algerian Foreign Minister, Sid Ahmed Ghozali, had insisted that his Government favoured a negotiated settlement through a fair and regular referendum, and later declared that Algeria was still trying to arrange for a meeting between King Hassan and Polisario; Algerie Presse Service, 2 October 1989.

66 Al Sharq al Awsat, 10 October 1989, Middle East International (London), 20 October 1989, and The Middle East (London), November 1989.

67 Maghreb Arabe Presse, 7 November 1989; FBIS/NES, 16 November 1989, p. 24.

68 See, for instance, El Moudjahid, 10 November 1989, and Algerie-Actualité, 30 November–6 December 1989. In an article in the latter, Morocco was accused of using the U.M.A. as a framework within which it hoped to induce Algeria to ‘sell out’ the Sahrawi cause, a miscalculation, in the author's view.

69 Rabat's domestic service in Arabic, reported in FBIS/NES, 10 and 12 October, and 9 and 20 November 1989.

70 Reported optimistically in advance from New York by Agence France Presse, 16 March 1990.

71 Algérie Presse Service, 25 March 1990.

72 Echaab (Algiers), 25 March 1990.

73 Associated Press (New York), 1 April 1990.

74 Agence France Presse, 2 April 1990.

75 Ibid. 1 April 1990.