SADR Independence
In 1973 the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) declared its independence from Spain and became the home to all Sahrawi or Polisario (People of the Sahara Desert). In 1976, the Moroccans and Mauritanians did not agree with the creation of this nation and with military power took over its lands. In 1978 the Mauritians with a new ruler made a peace deal with the Sahrawi and their part of SADR was taken over by the Moroccans. Thus the decades’ long conflict still rages on between the Moroccans and Sahrawi. In 1991 the Sahrawi started a guerilla war against the Moroccans and in the same year, a UN administered and tailored cease fire was made and implemented in September to bring stability to the region. The agency which is maintaining the cease fire is MINURSO: United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara from 1991. Negotiations have been held between the sides but no significant progress was made.
In 1997 James Baker was appointed special envoy from the UN to Western Sahara. He had negotiations with both parties in London, Lisbon and Houston. From these negotiations both the parties had reached an agreement on prisoners of war (POW) exchange and a code of conduct in the referendum. In June of 2001, Baker made a framework agreement called “The Third Way.” In this framework he had stated that “Autonomy for Saharawis will be under Moroccan sovereignty, a referendum will be placed after a four-year transition period, and voting rights for Moroccan settlers resident in Western Sahara for over a year.” This was not accepted by the Saharawi so it became a failure. The UN tried another method which was “Western Sahara was to become a semi-autonomous region of Morocco for a transition period of up to five years. A referendum would then take place on independence, semi-autonomy or integration with Morocco.” Again failure happened as the Moroccans did not agree to this. In 2004 James Baker resigned from the UN.
In 2008 there were talks started again and at the negotiation table were the Saharawi, Moroccans, Algerians and Mauritanians but there was no outcome. In 2009, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Christopher Ross as the Special envoy from the UN to Western Sahara. There has be no conclusion to the problem till now, the Saharawi strongly believe in having their own free country and the Moroccans are not ready to leave the area. The region is very sensitive and all parties should be accounted if ever a resolution is reached.
Download Preambulatory Clauses here.
(To download, right-click on "here" and select "Save link as...")
