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Western Sahara Conflict: Independence
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Western Sahara is a Non Self-Governing Territory, which is disputed between Morocco and the indigenous Polisario independence movement. Formerly Spanish Sahara, Western Sahara was invaded by Morocco as the Spanish colonial authorities withrew from the territory in 1975. The Polisario take their name - the
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Most of the media stories about Western Sahara and the arguments over Morocco’s “Autonomy Plan” give the impression that the entire territory of Western Sahara has been annexed by Morocco. The implication is that the question of limited “self government” as part of a greater Morocco, as opposed to independence, is really one of whether the rest of the world should accept the done deal of Morocco’s occupation and annexation of Western Sahara.
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The US State Department's 2005 report on Morocco's attitude towards human rights noted that "[i]n 2004 various international human rights groups estimated that 700 persons were imprisoned for advocating Western Saharan independence."[23]. Foreign journalists and visiting missions have been prevented from visiting the territory and in some instances deported from it[24]. In 2004, Moroccan newsman Ali Lmrabet was sentenced to heavy fines and ten year ban on practicing journalism, for referring in an article to the Sahrawis in Tindouf, Algeria, as being "refugees" rather than "sequestered" or "kidnapped", as is the official Moroccan position.[25] Sahrawi human rights organizations have been refused permission to operate in Morocco: the Sahrawi branch of the Moroccan Forum for Truth and Justice (FVJ) was dissolved in 2003, and its members arrested[26]. They were later released in the royal amnesties of 2006, or before that, even if some have since been rearrested again. Presently, several organisations, such as the ASVDH, operate illegally, with activists occasionally subject to arrests and harassment, whereas others, such as the polisario close AFAPREDESA, are mainly active in exile.
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