The Algerian military regime could not resist getting
involved militarily in Western Sahara but their adventure was short-lived
when the Moroccan army captured 130 Algerian soldiers and officers at the
battle of Amgala. (1)
The direct military intervention of the Algerian army at Amgala,(2) more than 200kms
from the Algerian frontier with Morocco, constituted a flagrant
violation of the provisions of the United Nations Charter regarding the
respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states. Morocco
reported the incident to the UN Security Council on 28 January 1976.
As the main backer of Polisario
diplomatically and militarily, Algeria’s
involvement in the Sahara Imbroglio is not
principled or committed to the Sahrawis’
rights as Algerian diplomatic representatives make believe at international
forums. In fact, it is a ploy aimed at disguising the considerable vested
interest in the long-standing rivalry between Algeria
and Morocco
since their armed conflict in 1963.
It is rightly argued that the Inhabitants of Western Sahara are entitled to exercise their right to
self-determination but it does not automatically imply independence.
The Algerian military regime, however, has already made
up the Sahrawis’ mind by establishing,
recognizing and harbouring the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on Algerian
territory. A very expensive diplomatic offensive was launched worldwide to
secure its recognition. Such hasty decisions prejudge and even invalidate
well in advance the legitimacy of the sought-after referendum. Algeria
advocates the exercise of the right to self-determination but recognizing
the SADR before that principle was freely exercised contradicts the very
argument the Algerian military regime advances. By recognizing, arming,
financing and providing the SADR with refuge in South-East Algeria,
illustrates that Algiers’
policy was not as well-intentioned as it may appear at first glance.
The most exaggerated estimates of the number of Sahrawis in the Tindouf Camps
did not exceed twenty thousand,(2) yet the Algerian military regime, which
prided itself on being the champion of the “oppressed” and
providing safe heaven for “revolutionary movements” and
“opposition exiles” , embarked on mass deportation of over
twenty thousand Sahrawis of Tuareg
origin in May 1986.(3)
They have also deported some 350.000 Moroccan
residents from Algeria
in December 1975 and January 1976. (4)
As the Tindouf area, in
South-East Algeria, is officially recognized as a military zone where even
Algerian nationals are not permitted to go unless they produce a special
military permit, The Sahrawis in Tindouf are not allowed to leave the camps nor be counted
by the UN High Commission for Refugees or the International Red Cross.
The UN international bodies have systematically been
denied permission from the Algerian authorities to conduct a census of the
“Sahrawi refugees” in the area.
Human Rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human
Rights Watch and others have also been denied free access to the people in
the Tindouf Camps to find out about the alleged
systematic torture, ill-treatment and imprisonment of those who oppose the
Algerian security services or Sahrawi
leaders’ doctrines and policies with regards to the people confined
to the camps.
The fact that the sahrawis
in the Tindouf Camps are not allowed to roam in
the desert is in total contradiction with their traditional nomadic
lifestyle.
We call on the international
community and the UN bodies to exert pressure on the Algerian military
regime to allow for a census to be conducted in the Tindouf
camps by an independent and international organization to put an end to the
suffering of the people in these camps, reunite them with their families
and loved ones and provide a genuine picture of the number of people held
there.
1- Virginia Thompson and
Richard Adloff, The Western Saharans, Croom Helm, London 1980, p. 239; Maurice Barbier, Le Conflit du Sahara Occidental, L’Harmatan,
Paris, 1982, P. 185; Raoul Weesteen,
“La Question du Sahara Occidental”, Annuaire de l’Afrique du Nord 15, 1976, P. 259.
2-
Le Monde, Paris, 8 August 1976, pp. 6-7; Jeune Afrique, Paris, November 28, 1975; New York Times,
October 12, 1976 and March 20, 1977, Virginia Thompson and Richard Adloff, The Western Saharans, Croom Helm, London 1980, pp.252-253.
3-
See Jeune Afrique,
Paris, No 1327, 11 June 1986, pp. 46-47 and No 1328, June 18 1986, pp.
38-39; Le Figaro, Paris, 23 May 1986.
4-
Nouvel Observateur,
Paris, No 585, 26 January 1976 and Jeune Afrique, Paris, no 795, 2 April 1976, Agence France Presse, Geneva,
26 December 1977.
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