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Western Sahara
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Total area: 102,703 sq mi (266,001 sq
km) Population (2007 est.): 382,617
(growth rate: 2.9); birth rate: 40.4; infant mortality rate: 72.6;
life expectancy: 53.5; density per sq mi: 4 Largest city (2003 est.): El Aaiun 198,200 Monetary unit:
Tala More Facts & Figures
Western Sahara
Major sources and definitions
Geography Located in
northern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean, Western Sahara is surrounded by
Algeria to the east, Morocco to the north, and Mauritania to the south.
About the size of Colorado, it is mostly low, flat desert with some small
mountains in the south and northeast.
Government Legal status of the territory is disputed
and sovereignty unresolved; a UN referendum on the issue is planned. The
territory is contested by Morocco and the Polisario Front, which in Feb.
1976, formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the Saharawi Arab
Democratic Republic, now officially recognized by about 55 countries.
History Little is known about Western
Sahara before the 4th century
B.C.
, when trade
with Europe began. During the Middle Ages it was occupied first by Berbers
and then by the Arabic-speaking Muslim Bedouins. In the 19th century the
Spanish laid claim to the southern coastal region, called Rio de Oro, and
later occupied the northern interior region, Saguia el Hamra, in 1934. The
Spanish formally united the two regions, and it became known as Spanish
Sahara in 1958. Both Morocco and Mauritania sought to control the territory,
and when the Spanish departed in 1976, they divided the territory between
them. In the meantime, the indigenous Saharawis began fighting for
independence. In 1976, the insurgents, called the Polisario Front, declared
a government-in-exile (the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic) from their
base in Algeria. Mauritania reached a peace agreement with the Polisario in
1979, but Morocco then seized the land given up by Mauritania and now exerts
administrative control over the entire region. The Polisario Front fought
Morocco to a stalemate and agreed in Sept. 1991 to a cease-fire, which was
contingent on a referendum regarding independence. For more than a decade,
however, the UN has failed to hold the referendum; disputes over voter
eligibility have been the major stumbling block, as well as Morocco's
opposition to the referendum. In Aug. 2001, former secretary of state James
A. Baker, special UN envoy to the Western Sahara, proposed that instead of a
referendum on independence, Western Sahara consider becoming an autonomous
region of Morocco. The Polisario rejected the new proposal, which it saw as
a reversal of the UN's decadelong promise to hold a referendum on
self-determination. In 2002, King Mohammed VI of Morocco reasserted that he
will not “renounce an inch of” the Western Sahara.
In
Aug. 2003, a UN Security Council resolution adopted a new peace plan that
would turn Western Sahara into a semiautonomous region of Morocco for five
years, after which a referendum would be held to determine independence,
autonomy, or integration into Morocco. The Polisario agreed to the plan;
Morocco refused to consider it. In June 2004, a frustrated James Baker
resigned after seven years as UN envoy. His successor has vowed to achieve a
resolution. The UN has spent more than $600 million on peacekeeping efforts
in Western Sahara over the last 13 years.
In Aug. 2005, the
Polisario freed the last Moroccan prisoners it had been holding. The 404 men
had been imprisoned for almost 20 years and were the world's longest-held
prisoners of war.
See also
Encyclopedia:
Western Sahara
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