Integration for ones already recognized as a possibility, although within the framework of the UN and with an agreement between the parties, by the former president Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2007 and that, for others, despite what has been pointed out, it is not at all in line with the political program (2019) of the current president Pedro Sánchez, who speaks of "respecting the principle of self-determination of the Saharawi people"
Words of the moment regarding the autonomous integration of the Saharawis in Morocco that, in principle, do not guarantee anything (it is not known if there is any agreement regarding Ceuta and Melilla, control of immigrants, anti-terrorist collaboration, assurance of relations in the energy, commercial and fishing sectors...) since, according to the words of the UN, which rejects the current Spanish position , the Sahara conflict must be resolved through a political process under its guidelines, outlined in resolution 2602 (2021).
Spanish words that take us out of the crisis with Morocco, exacerbated in 2021 by the case of the president of the SADR, Brahim Ghali, which can be replaced by a new one with Algeria, together to those who support that country and the Saharawis, with the addition of a possible internal crisis (governmental and political). From pragmatic diplomacy, we speak of a resolved crisis and a possible substitute crisis. However, the logical Saharawi protest, now in active and silent war against Morocco, is not even taken into account.
Thus, in view of the new Spanish government position on the Sahara, in accordance with the Moroccan thesis, and that the Saharawis are not spoken of, much less asked about their opinion, it is worth asking where they come from and who are the Saharawis? what are they for Spain? And, as a complement, what is the Saharawi thought about it?
To answer the first question it is of interest to give a brief review of its historical origin as a people.
Spain and the Sahara, a historical perspective
Since the fifteenth century, the territory of the Spanish Sahara was integrated into a pan-tribal space known as the Trab el-Bidán (land of the whites in its literal translation from the Arabic hassaniya ). Nomadic territory defined by the Saharawi as Dawlat Abadia , with a geography recognized as Jat al-Jaof o Frontera del Miedo, which, given its proximity to the Canary Islands and the wealth of fishing along its coast, always had a strong strategic and commercial interest for Spain .
Territory that was bounded on the north by the Wad el-Dra (south of Morocco), then passing through the Hamada from Tindouf in Algeria (now home to Saharawi refugees expelled by Morocco from its territory, the former Spanish Sahara), the Tuareg area of Azawwad in Mali, the Niger River to the south, Timbuktu area, the Senegal River, and to the west, the Atlantic Ocean.
A geographical area integrated, after the colonial distribution in 1884, by the former province of Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, part of the north of Mali, the extreme south of Morocco and the west from Algeria.
A space that constituted, from back in time, a historical, linguistic unit (hassaniya ), ethnic (Berber united with the Arabs who occupied North Africa), sociocultural and religious, but not political, on the other hand, difficult to build in a nomadic society; there were only a few emirates to the south, rivals among themselves, established, in the 17th century, by a group of tribes to market with the French the gum arabic extracted from a common acacia in the territory that the Saharawis call talha .
A space empty of Europeans and other African peoples, therefore, without ownership over it by those. Space that had a long tradition of contacts between its inhabitants and the navigators of the kingdoms of Castile and Portugal who sought their fortune in it.
So these, built during the fifteenth century, after pacts with the notables of the area, small and medium-sized bastions on the coast and on some of the caravan routes in order to serve as a base for their factories and commercial exploratory incursions into the interior. Strongholds that, on more than one occasion, were destroyed by the natives and rebuilt by the settlers over and over again.
It was therefore a question of achieving a commercialization of products (gold, ivory...) more quickly and efficiently by sea than by caravan routes from the interior to North Africa . Objective to which was added that of achieving, to facilitate the above, the submission of the tribes through the signing of agreements or treaties. Agreements that would only be established with a few tribes and never with all of them. Spanish objectives made difficult by the Portuguese action that led to the uprising of some tribes against the Spanish (the "Christians").
Situation, then, of tug-of-war, with the Portuguese, tribal groups and even the English until, in the mid-nineteenth century, after the Peace of Tetouan with Morocco (1860) after the African War, the sultan recognized the historical rights of Spain over the enclave of Santa Cruz de la Mar Pequena, again allowing a secure settlement that supported fishing and trade; an enclave that, having disappeared, was later located in Ifni.
Let us note that, at that time, there was talk of historical rights without taking into account the Bidan people, people over which the sultan of Morocco claimed to have decision-making power.
In 1885, after the Berlin Conference Western powers divided up the African continent. Moment in which, most Europeans despised the indigenous people for their inferior culture and sought their submission for the development of their commercial activities with the support of their geographical societies and their military forces. Moment then of the colonial occupation.
For its part, in 1884 Spain claimed ownership of the factories established in its day at various points along the coast, but in order to expand the territory towards the interior, thus seeking to block the path of the French from Senegal to the north, and for this he organized two expeditions, culminating the second (Cervera and Quiroga) with an agreement with the most important tribes of the Sahara (Erguibat , Arosien , Ulad Delin , Ulad Bu Sbaa, among others) to accept Spanish sovereignty. However, it was not until 1934 that Spain gained control of the area of Western Sahara that would become the Spanish Province of Sahara .
Coming closer to the present, in 1967 the OALS (Arab Organization for the Liberation of the Sahara), or MLS (Movement for the Liberation of the Sahara), and the MOREHOB (Revolutionary Movement of the "Blue Men"), later pro-Moroccan and dissolved.
That is, the idea of liberating the Sahara from Spain is born , an idea that would be supported as early as 1970 by surrounding countries, each with their own interests (Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania) and by the Saharawi people in their first demonstration (June) in El Ayoun demanding their independence (failure for Spain due to its violent response).
Already in 1973 the Front POLISARIO was born (Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Río de Oro) with which everything concerning the Sahara became "reserved matter" for the Spanish Government, while recognizing that the Saharawi people were the sole owner of their destination, it was about enacting a statute of autonomy. However, in 1974 the first armed encounters began between the POLISARIO, which followed a strategy of guerrilla warfare, and the Spanish Army, and the idea of creating the SADR (Democratic Socialist Arab Republic) arose despite the fact that a large part of the Saharawi population wanted to remain united to Spain.
Faced with this situation, Spain, in 1974, tried to make a positive propaganda about the Spanish action, perhaps as a reaction to the pro-independence attitude of the POLISARIO; propaganda that developed the following points at the base:
- Existence of an administrative organization as a province, with two important cities on the coast:the capital in Ayoun (about 15,000 inhabitants) and Villa Cisneros (today Dahla, with about 5,000) to the south.
- Establishment of study centers for secondary education (two centers), primary education (105 schools) and employment (two schools).
- Press:Weekly “Sahara”, radio stations (two) and TV repeater.
- Improvement of traditional wells and opening of new ones.
- Two hospitals and a large number of clinics.
- Paved roads, new tracks, ports.
- Airports (two fundamental ones:Aaiún and Villa Cisneros) and landing fields.
- Housing construction (3,588 were built from 1965 to 1969).
- Improvements in agriculture and livestock (possible despite climatic and soil difficulties thanks to the new wells).
- Industry, commerce, mining (the Bucrá phosphates stand out).
- Social action and growing tourism.
- For all this in 1971 alone, nearly 1,000 million pesetas were spent.
At the same time, they sought to make viable the right of the Saharawis to self-determination , giving greater decision-making power to the Yemaa (meeting of chosen Saharawi elders and leaders), declaring that a referendum would be held under the auspices of the UN in the first six months of 1975 (moment at the beginning of the maneuvers in opposition to Morocco, which it would never stop raising, to hinder said query).
It is the moment in which the US and the UN wonder about the legal ties of Morocco with the territory of the Sahara and if the Saharawis were a free people before the arrival of the Spanish. Responses contrary to the allegations of Morocco, which claimed that the territory belonged to it historically, claiming that the Saharawi tribes were subject to the sultan, which was not true.
Likewise, it was the moment in which Morocco created the FLU (Liberation and Unity Front) that fought both the Spanish armed forces and the Saharawis, a front that later disappeared on same year. It was also the moment in which Spain created the PUNS (Sahrawi National Union Party) with the idea of counteracting the POLISARIO, advocating independence, but maintaining ties with Spain (a party that disappeared after its general secretary fled to Morocco). .
And we come to the new strategy of Hassan II, who, manipulating the ruling of the International Court of Justice in his favor, began the Green March
From then on, the Sahara Decolonization Law would be applied, "deprovincializing" the territory (it was then said that "the Sahara belonged to Spain, but it was not Spain", which which became effective with the withdrawal of the Spanish armed forces and the illegal occupation by Morocco and Mauritania (this country, which, faced with warlike pressure from the POLISARIO, abandoned the territories it had occupied; territories that were immediately invaded by Morocco) .
This is the moment for the Saharawis of the first betrayal of Spain .
The liberation war of the POLISARIO Front continued with Morocco until a ceasefire was produced under the promise of a self-determination referendum (a referendum not yet held due to the constant problems raised by Morocco regarding the census of voters:they want them to be counted, in addition to the Saharawis, the settlers, Moroccans from the occupied territories.
Result:occupied Sahara divided by several defense walls , a Saharan territory to the east of those, controlled by the POLISARIO, an interposition mission, MINURSO, to guarantee the ceasefire and some Saharawis, for a little over forty years, scattered around the world (fundamentally in Latin American countries and Africans), others in the territories occupied by Morocco and others in the refugee camp in Tindouf (Algeria), from where the SADR exercises its sovereignty, recognized by some 80 countries (not by Spain) that accept its nationality, in addition to being part of the African Unity (AU) as a full member.
Going back to the topic at hand, knowing where the Saharawis come from and who they are, we need to know what their current situation is, answering the second question.
What are the Saharawis for Spain?
In the first place, we meet a people, the Saharawi, whose homeland has been stolen being forced to live outside of it. A people with its own sovereignty of origin, which, as a Spanish possession, was colonized through agreements with Spain, which became considered for all purposes a Spanish province from 1958 to 1976, and which later sought its decolonization and independence with the intention of create the SADR with the POLISARIO war effort.
There is no doubt that they were Spanish:all Saharawis lived through provincialization policies on a par with the metropolitan population , being able to participate in the Francoist Courts and be civil servants of the administration. At the same time, during the Spanish presence, they received a bilingual Spanish identity card (initially red, then blue), as well as a Spanish passport, birth certificates, marriage certificates, family book, school documents…; the vehicles registered in the Sahara belonged to the SH province, with their own numbering similar to the rest of the Spanish provinces; and, likewise, they had postage stamps typical of that province; and the flag of Spain waved in all the institutions.
However, with the abandonment of the Sahara by of Spain, the loss of Spanish nationality and consequent rights, without a homeland due to Moroccan occupation and stopped, at that time, the armed action against Morocco to recover its territories, the Saharawi strategy, converted into immigrants, has focused on the last years in the continuous search (through diplomatic channels) of recognition by the largest number of countries of their existence as a people constituted in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).
Sahrawis who do not claim to be, under any circumstances, neither Spanish (Peninsular Spaniards or native Spanish), nor Algerians, nor Moroccans, since they only want to be Sahrawis by sovereign right, and that, at present, they are nothing more than stateless persons for not having any nationality (neither Spanish, nor Moroccan, nor Algerian) and that they will continue to be so until they can achieve their own nationality through the creation of a State in the territory that was occupied by Morocco, which will only be possible after the development of a referendum on self-determination.
However, until recently, Spain did not recognize them as such, and their specific situation is as follows:
- On the one hand. those nationalized Spaniards by "origin" after proving that during their childhood they were Spanish or were descendants of those who were until 1975, the year in which Spain left the Sahara. They are those who have been able to present official documents from when the Sahara was Spanish.
- On the other hand, those nationalized Spaniards by «residence» with a requirement until now of ten years (provided that it could change to two). Many arrive with passports from countries that recognize the SADR.
- Finally, those covered by the status of stateless persons since 2000, growing since 2013; right to such a request on the basis that the Saharawis have freely created their own State from their Saharawi nationality. Situation that entails legal residence in Spanish territory, the right to family reunification and obtaining a passport with which to move freely around Europe and other countries
In any case, it must be taken into account that the Saharawis cannot be taken as a group of immigrants with documents such as Moroccans, Algerians or others (with a homeland of origin), who have never constituted a large group in Europe, who have not come to Spain very many (in 2012 it was considered that some 10,000 lived, mainly in Andalusia, Catalonia, Extremadura, the Canary Islands, Murcia, the Basque Country and Valencia), that Western Sahara, their "stolen house", does not support a large population and that part of it is "controlled" in the occupied territories, another in the Tindouf camps in Algeria and another in diaspora in other countries of the world (so that to a generation of "old warriors" is added that of those born outside their territories); all reasons why the establishment of Saharawis in Spain should not be considered a problem.
Sahrawis who are not Moroccan either, nor do they want to be (except for some pro-Moroccans, who do exist), since, for historical reasons, the Sahrawis never depended on Morocco; nationality that cannot, therefore, be imposed on them, much less by arms.
They are not Algerians either, as the National High Court concluded, on the basis that the Saharawis are refugees in Algeria with an official Algerian passport (passports that are issued solely for humanitarian reasons ).
Under these conditions, and given its current situation, the long-standing problem of its self-determination, nothing dangerous for Europe compared to the possibility of the passage of jihadist terrorist groups among North African immigrants (more immediate problem), has been left, despite some apparent attempts, without resolution.
However, the desire for national independence, escaping the obsessive pressure of Morocco in the construction of Greater Morocco , is always present, as an essential objective of the SADR and the POLISARIO Front, maintaining with it their identity as a people while promoting external attention to the Saharawi cause. Objective, motivating element of all its activity, both for men and women, which keeps them always visible wherever they settle; action based mainly on cultural manifestations of all kinds. In Spain preferably, through its public presence, with its own associations (Poemario Saharaui, Generación de la Amistad Saharaui, AMSE..., among others), with its integration into various civil associations, with the development of events in the refugee camps of international character (FiSahara, Sahara Marathon,...), with its presence on the internet, in the media, etc.
A set of activities that does not make them stand out as Muslims (they are Sunni malekí rite ) with which, facing society, they go unnoticed in such a context, without provoking the rejection or fear that other Muslim immigrants produce.
Finally, by way of conclusion, the third question must be answered.
What is the Saharawi thought about it?
In principle, the positive aspects that the Saharawi people received from their relationship with Spain must be taken into account :
- Without a doubt, the history of Spanish colonization in Western Sahara strengthened the Saharawi as a people before international law, as different and separate from Morocco. It accentuated their identity as an Afro-Arab-senhaya people with strong historical ties to the Hispanic family.
- Faced with the problem of decolonization and the Moroccan occupation of part of the territory, the language and history of Western Sahara as a former Spanish colony brought the Saharawis and their struggle closer to the Hispanic family in Latin America and their cause was well embraced and supported in this continent.
- The language of Cervantes, which the Saharawis have inherited and incorporated as one more factor in their identity, differentiates them from other Arab countries. It is one of the best legacies that the metropolis left them. The Saharawis have known how to use it as a lingua franca of resistance and projection towards the Hispanic world in general, while Morocco harasses them with the Francophone policy and persecutes the Spanish that the Saharawis speak in the occupied territories.
- Coexistence for almost a century between the peoples of Spain and the Sahrawis is one of the ties that is still alive today socially and politically, keeping alive the struggle of the Sahrawis in each region of the Spanish State, despite to the shaky posture of the governments of the day in Spain, whether from the right or from the left.
And also, as a contrast, the negative aspects of it:
During colonial rule there were many differences in economic conditions between the Saharawis and the Spanish. Example:ranks in the military hierarchy, no Saharawi could rise to the rank of captain; access to posts in the general administration was difficult; abysmal difference in wages in all areas of work; Difficulty in accessing universities and in studying certain careers that were banned for Saharawis –such as journalism–, military academies, access to Arab universities, among others.
Points of view that frame the last question on current Saharawi thought :
The Saharawis may have different opinions on this, but in general it predominates that Spain did negative and positive things, such as respecting the traditions and the religion practiced among the Saharawis.
However, their betrayal by not applying the principle of decolonization by handing over the territory to Morocco, and the idea of maintaining an active neutrality, will continue to haunt them like a stain on their history. Stain now enlarged with the exit of the aforementioned neutrality by recognizing that the possible Saharawi integration, as autonomy, in the Kingdom of Morocco, a position that, yielding to Moroccan blackmail, is considered a second betrayal .
According to the Saharawis, the different governments Spaniards have had a position, despite appearances, closer to Morocco , not exercising its obligations as the administering power of the territory, a position that corresponds to it according to the legal department of the United Nations. A fact that the Saharawis condemn and keep alive in their collective memory.
Likewise, they consider that Spain, listening to the majority of its population that recognizes the Saharawi cause as just, should strongly support the holding of a referendum to put an end to the plight of the Saharawi people.
And meanwhile, Saharawi despair grows in the absence of a real international will to solve the conflict.
In this regard there are no internal divisions:all Saharawis are united and organized around their sole and legitimate representatives, the Polisario Front and the Saharawi Republic, recognized by the UN and by the African Union and Latin America.
Thus, having answered the questions raised, in the face of so many opinions, the surprise is accentuated by the lack of consideration towards the Saharawi people who are forgotten and who are not consulted about what What do you think about your future?