#former spanish western sahara

[mapsontheweb]

International recognition of Western Sahara

by factswithmaps

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on 27 February 1976, in Bir Lehlou, Western Sahara. SADR claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony; however, at present the SADR government controls only about 20–25% of the territory it claims. It calls the territories under its control the "Liberated Territories". As of July 2021, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is recognized by 39 out of a total of 193 United Nations member states. At different times, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic has been recognized by 84 UN member states, but, of these, 45 have since "frozen" or "withdrawn" recognition. SADR has, at some point in time, been recognized by 43.5% of United Nations (UN) member states, 38 out of the other 54 (70%) African Union (AU) member states, 18 out of 57 (32%) Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states, and 5 out of 22 (23%) Arab League (AL) member states. Several states that do not recognize the Sahrawi Republic nonetheless recognize the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the population of the Western Sahara, but not as the government-in-exile of a sovereign state.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[Atalayar is Spanish Media]

The dismissal last December of former president Pedro Castillo has left Peru in an unprecedented political crisis.[...]

However, the issue of greatest concern to Congress today is the legacy of Pedro Castillo's position on the Western Sahara question. It should be remembered that the policy advocated by the former president was favourable to the Polisario Front, a political, armed and pro-independence movement in the Western Sahara. This stance led the country into a diplomatic crisis with its old ally Morocco, a crisis that did not subside after Pedro Castillo's dismissal and arrest. Congress calls on the executive to rethink its position on the SADR [...]

[An MP from Avanza País party] recalled that Morocco and Peru share a “common history” which “invites us to strengthen and consolidate ties with the Kingdom of Morocco, an increasingly important power in Africa and in the current system of international relations, and to work together to promote peace, security and respect for territorial integrity”. [...]

In her letter, Patricia Chirinos recalls that relations between Morocco and Peru have often been weakened by the dispute over the SADR. Peru recognised the SADR in 1984, “in an international context marked by the bipolar world of the Cold War”. The Peruvian MP welcomes the updating of this position in 1996, “when this recognition was suspended, thus opening up a promising new bilateral chapter between the Peruvian and Moroccan states”. [...]

In addition to the fact that recognition of Western Sahara would be a breach of international law, the Peruvian MP is concerned about “a series of new and emerging threats based, among other things, on the interconnection between states that do not respect democratic principles and terrorist organisations, separatist movements or organised crime”. In her view, “this situation poses a serious threat to the security of our countries, a threat that has increased in the Latin American region["][...]

The former Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Mackay, shares the Congress' point of view. He published an opinion piece last Friday in the Peruvian daily Expreso, stating that his country should follow the common-sense approach adopted by countries such as the United States, Spain and Israel, which have recently recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, as have the vast majority of countries in the international community.

24 Aug 23

[elbiotipo]

Is there any reason why "hispanic" is only applied to South American and not the Phillipines, Western Sahara or Equatorial Guinea (and the Canaries) despite them also being former Spanish colonies? I'm assuming because of the language, but they also speak it in Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara (and the Canaries). I say "hispanic" because obviously I'm guessing 99% of Latinos would never use that term to define themselves.

As far as I know, "Hispanic" is mostly used in a USA context, (I don't remember if it's an official census category.) It means "Spanish speakers", and that definition would include any Spanish speakers, that means yes, people from Spain, Hispanoamérica, and the countries you mentioned, yes. In fact, if you see maps about Spanish, they are indeed included as part of the Spanish-speaking world, because they are:

(note that Perú, Bolivia and Paraguay have native languages as co-oficial, and while only New Mexico has it as co-oficial, Spanish is spoken all over the US Southwest)

In my experience, here in Argentina we use "Hispanohablantes" or "Hispanoparlantes" to refer to Spanish-speakers in general. I am not sure how is it used in the USA, though, I think some people think "Hispanic" is interchangeable with "Latino". In my opinion it is not, because it excludes Brazilian Portuguese speakers and native language speakers who are Latinos, and it includes Spaniards who are well, not Latinos. Latino is more of a regional, even pan-national identity, rather that something defined by language or ethncity, but that's another debate.

The Phillipines is an interesting case, because they had a high proportion of Spanish speakers and Mexican Spanish and culture had a huge influence on the country which is still seen today, but after the Usamerican takeover of the Phillipines, the use of Spanish decayed to a minority (still large in number but a minority nevertheless). There is also a Spanish-derived language, Chavacano, which has at least a million speakers. Equatorial Guinea (which was actually administered by Buenos Aires during colonial times, but that's almost forgotten) and the Sahrawis are majority Spanish speakers, but my knowledge of these countries does not extend beyond the basics.

There is a concept of "hispanidad" or "panhispanidad" that used to be popular in the XIX-XX centuries, but I don't see it that often nowadays and personally I don't feel identified by it, not only because I think of myself as both Argentine and Latino rather than "hispano", but because it's often talked about by Spaniards "WE CIVILIZED THOSE SAVAGES" far right types.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 2.27 (after 1940)

1940 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14. 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Java Sea, an Allied strike force is defeated by a Japanese task force in the Java Sea in the Dutch East Indies. 1943 – The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, explodes, killing 74 men. 1943 – The Holocaust: In Berlin, the Gestapo arrest 1,800 Jewish men with German wives, leading to the Rosenstrasse protest. 1951 – The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, limiting Presidents to two terms, is ratified. 1961 – The first congress of the Spanish Trade Union Organisation is inaugurated. 1962 – Vietnam War: Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bomb the Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed attempt to assassinate South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm. 1963 – The Dominican Republic receives its first democratically elected president, Juan Bosch, since the end of the dictatorship led by Rafael Trujillo. 1964 – The Government of Italy asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over. 1971 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start performing artificially-induced abortions. 1973 – The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government. 1976 – The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. 1988 – Sumgait pogrom: The Armenian community in Sumgait, Azerbaijan is targeted in a violent pogrom. 1991 – Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated". 2001 – Loganair Flight 670A crashes while attempting to make a water landing in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. 2002 – Ryanair Flight 296 catches fire at London Stansted Airport causing minor injuries. 2002 – Godhra train burning: A Muslim mob torches a train returning from Ayodhya, killing 59 Hindu pilgrims. 2004 – A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers. 2004 – Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack. 2007 – Chinese stock bubble of 2007: The Shanghai Stock Exchange falls 9%, the largest daily fall in ten years, following speculation about a crackdown on illegal share offerings and trading, and fears about accelerating inflation. 2008 – Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari escapes from a detention center in Singapore, hiding in Johor, Malaysia until he was recaptured over a year later. 2010 – An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale strikes central parts of Chile leaving over 500 victims, and thousands injured. The quake triggers a tsunami which strikes Hawaii shortly after. 2013 – A shooting takes place at a factory in Menznau, Switzerland, in which five people (including the perpetrator) are killed and five others injured. 2015 – Russian politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow while out walking with his girlfriend. 2019 – Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder downs Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman's Mig-21 in an aerial dogfight and captures him after conducting airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir.

[elsolnetworktv]

UN envoy for Western Sahara proposes a "partition" of the territory

The UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, has proposed for the first time a “partition” of the former Spanish colony into two territories, in such a way that Morocco retains control of the northern area and the south becomes considered an independent country. This was proposed by de Mistura in a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council in which he explained that this…

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

LGBTQIA+ Rights in Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

(Redirect: LGBT rights in Western Sahara)

LGBTQIA+ people in the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (also known as Western Sahara), face legal and social challenges not faced by non-LGBTQI+ residents.LGBTQI+ people face wide range of stigma among the population.

Legality of Homosexuality

Adult-consensual same-sex relationship is illegal in Western Sahara since 1944. The maximum punishment is imprisonment for 3 years.Western Sahara is the only former Spanish colony where homosexuality is illegal.

In 1822, the first penal code of the Kingdom of Spain was adopted & homosexuality was legalized.In 1928, under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera , the crime of "usual homosexual acts" was criminalized in Spain. In 1932, same-sex sexual activity was legalized again in Spain (including western sahara)

During the Spanish Civil War , poet Federico García Lorca was executed by Nationalist forces for allegedly being gay, among other things,but this could not be confirmed. Legal reforms in 1944 and 1963 penalized homosexual activity under "indecent public conduct". In 1954, the Vagrancy Act of 1933 was amended to declare homosexuals a "danger", equating it with pimping. The text of the law states that the measures contained in it “are not appropriate penalties, but merely security measures, put in place with a double precautionary end, with a view to collective assurance and the aspiration to rectify those subjects reduced to the lowest levels of morality. This law does not aim to punish, but to reform.” However, the manner in which the law was applied was clearly punitive and arbitrary: police often used vagrancy laws against suspected political opponents, using homosexuality as a way to circumvent judicial safeguards

Discrimination

There is no law against discrimination or harassment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in Western Sahara.

Recognition of Gender Identity

Western Sahara has no laws for legal gender change.

LGBTQI+ Rights Associations

Kif-Kif organization advocates for the LGBT migrants from MENA.It was established in 2004.It has not been given legal recognition by the Department of the Interior, but it has been unofficially permitted to organize certain educational seminars.

Summary:

Same-sex sexual activity - ❌

Equal age of consent - ❌

Recognition of same-sex marriages,union -❌

Anti-discrimination laws in employment - ❌

Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services - ❌

Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) - ❌

Right to legal gender change - ❌

LGBTQI+ people allowed to served openly in Military - ❌

MSMs allowed to donate blood - ❌

[warningsine]

MADRID, June 21 (Reuters) - More than 30 migrants were feared dead after a dinghy headed for Spain's Canary Islands sank on Wednesday, two migration-focused organisations said, as they criticised Spain and Morocco for not intervening earlier to rescue the vessel's passengers.

The groups, Walking Borders and Alarm Phone, said the dinghy was originally carrying around 60 people. Spain's maritime rescue service confirmed the deaths of two of the dinghy's occupants, a child and an adult man, and said a Moroccan patrol boat had previously rescued 24 people.

Neither Spanish nor Moroccan authorities would confirm how many people had been on board the vessel or how many might be missing.

Walking Borders spokesperson Helena Maleno said in a tweet that 39 people had drowned, without giving further details, while Alarm Phone, which operates a trans-European network supporting rescue operations, said 35 people were missing.

The tragedy sparked criticism from migrant rights activists who accused Spain of omitting its duty of care, as the dinghy was within the country's search-and-rescue region under international law, meaning Madrid should have led the operation instead of Rabat.

At the time of its sinking, the dinghy was located in waters off the coast of Western Sahara. Although Morocco administers a majority of the former Spanish colony, its sovereignty remains under dispute and the United Nations lists it as a non-self governing territory.

Spain's state news agency EFE reported that a Spanish rescue service ship, the Guardamar Caliope, was only 46 km (26 miles) - about an hour's sail - away from the dinghy on Tuesday evening.

The Guardamar Caliope did not aid the dinghy because the operation had been taken over by the Moroccan Rescue Coordination Centre in Rabat, which dispatched a patrol boat that only arrived on Wednesday morning, some 10 hours after it had been spotted by a Spanish rescue airplane, EFE added.

"It's torture to have 60 people, including six women and a baby, waiting for more than 12 hours for a rescue in a flimsy inflatable boat that can sink," Walking Borders' Maleno said.

"Spain has pulled a Greece," she wrote in another tweet, in reference to the recent shipwreck off Greece's Mediterranean coast in which at least 82 people drowned, while describing Europe's border policies as "torture and death".

The EU has said it and member states have been intensifying efforts to establish an "effective, humanitarian and safe" European migration policy.

Morocco's Interior ministry has not responded to a Reuters request for comment and Morocco has not made any official communication about what happened.

The leader of the Canary Islands region, Angel Victor Torres, lamented the deaths on Twitter and said it was "necessary and urgent for the EU to have a Migration and Asylum Pact that offers coordinated and united responses to the migration phenomenon".

The Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa have become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Spain, with a much smaller share trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to the Spanish mainland.

The Atlantic migration route is one of the deadliest in the world. Attempts to reach the Canary Islands' shores saw at least 559 people - including 22 children - die in 2022, according to data from the U.N.'s International Organisation for Migration.

The migrants using the route are typically from several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

[proud-spaniard]

(1280x900) Uno de los North American T-6D ‘Texan’ del Ejército del Aire basados en Canarias, en vigilancia fronteriza del Sáhara Español con Marruecos (años 1970), foto Juan Arráez (AEA-FB).

[mariacallous]

Without real change in Europe’s refugee and migrant strategy, more innocent people will die in the Mediterranean, in Melilla, and on scorpion-infested river islets between Greece and Turkey.

It was not the first time that a refugee died trying to cross the Evros river between Greece and Turkey.

A few weeks before the news of a five-year-old girl dying from a scorpion sting on a river islet between the two countries, a man was beaten to death and two more drowned as they were pushed back.

The Greek government finally saved the 39 people stranded on the islet, but only after fierce criticism from the European Court of Human Rights and days of public outcry.

In the Greek government’s first official version of the story, the asylum seekers were not on Greek soil and the five-year-old girl never died. In reality, the delayed response to a humanitarian crisis was aimed at showing the world that ‘safe third country’ Turkey – and not just Greece – is pushing people over the border.

In other words, innocent people are dying in Europe’s migration buffer zones, victims of a senseless scrap between security establishments under the broad and unclear concept of hybrid war that turns into a real war against those they have a legal obligation to protect.

During the past year, Greece has further expanded the fence that separates it from Turkey in an effort to keep refugees and migrants out. But it was not the only measure to “seal” the frontier.

Investigative reporting has shown that Greek authorities are using migrants and refugees as proxies to enforce illegal pushbacks in the Evros river. According to another report, Frontex, along with Europol, appears to have actively contributed to a mass surveillance system on the European Union’s borders with Turkey, collecting sensitive personal data from refugees and migrants.

Furthermore, in an ever-worsening environment, aid workers are paying an increasingly high price: in 2021, 140 were killed around the world and many more were kidnapped or faced prosecution.

On the Evros and in the Aegean Sea, it has been proven that Greek authorities are employing pushbacks and ‘drift backs’ – abandoning asylum seekers at sea – to deadly effect. They are not always saving lives, as is required.

According to OLAF, which investigates fraud, corruption and serious misconduct within EU institutions, Frontex has sought in some cases to cover up such tactics.

The Forensic Architecture research group and civic organisations have documented at least 1,018 drift backs involving over 27,400 people in total. In other words, this is not just about pushing the limits of security forces in protecting the borderline, but actually identifying people themselves as a threat to be addressed… And it’s not limited to just Greece and Turkey.

The death of at least 23 migrants [37, according to NGOs] trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco in June was horrifying indeed. In what was the deadliest incident recorded on European land borders this year, the state-backed National Human Rights Council of Morocco said they suffocated while trying to storm the border. Analysts linked the attempted mass border crossing to the dispute over the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara.

In April, a renewed security agreement between Spain and Morocco gave the green light to more aggressive border policing by Morocco, a month after Spain pledged its support for a Moroccan plan for the future of Western Sahara, where a separatist conflict has dragged on for five decades.

The story is similar at the border between Poland and Belarus, where a new fence is being built to stop another “invasion”. In the Western Balkans, states continue the practice of violent and dangerous pushbacks, while in Italy, probably the deadliest route via open sea, aid volunteers face prosecution and NGO ships are detained. When Britain signed its absurd agreement with Rwanda [another country deemed ‘safe’], it justified sending asylum seekers and migrants there regardless of their origin on the grounds of “security”.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“The leader of a pro-independence group in Western Sahara declared war Saturday on Morocco, shattering a three-decade-long cease-fire and threatening a full-blown military conflict in the disputed desert territory in northwest Africa.

The announcement came a day after Morocco launched a military operation in a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone after having accused the pro-independence group, the Polisario Front, of blocking access to neighboring Mauritania.

The eruption of hostilities in Western Sahara adds to the instability roiling some of Africa’s biggest countries, with a protracted war in Libya, long-simmering insurgency in Mali and the threat of a civil war in Ethiopia.

On Friday, Morocco said it had put up a “security cordon” on an important road connecting the country to Mauritania, which the Polisario considers illegal because the independence group says it was built in breach of the 1991 United Nations-brokered truce.

Both sides said late on Friday that they had exchanged fire but did not confirm any deaths or injuries. Nor did they specify how many combatants on each side were involved.

The Polisario Front accused Morocco of having shot at peaceful protesters whom the independence group said had been demonstrating against what it called the plunder of resources from the Sahrawi, the people who live in Western Sahara — all under the watch of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory.

The secretary general of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, issued a decree announcing the “resumption of armed struggle in defense of the legitimate rights of our people.”

There was no immediate response from the Moroccan authorities on the announcement.

The decision to end the commitment to a cease-fire, which had defined the conflict for decades, now threatens to uncap the long-festering tension between the Moroccan kingdom and the liberation movement.

Western Sahara, a sparsely populated territory, was occupied by Morocco in 1975 after the Spanish colonial authorities withdrew. The Polisario, a socialist guerrilla movement formed in 1973, waged a war for independence and established the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic that received recognition from entities including the African Union.

The United Nations helped mediate a truce in 1991, with the understanding that a referendum would be held to decide whether the people of Western Sahara would choose independence or integration with Morocco. That referendum has yet to take place, mostly because the two sides cannot settle on who makes up the Indigenous people of the territory and should therefore be permitted to participate in the vote.

The conflict has left Morocco controlling about 80 percent of the disputed territory, leaving thousands of Sahrawis living in a protracted displacement situation near the Algerian town of Tindouf.

For years, the talks between the two sides have been vexed, with some observers worrying that terrorist groups might gain a foothold in the vast desert swathe and further undermine stability in the region. The negotiations have basically stalled since 2019, after the former special U.N. envoy resigned, citing health reasons.

The escalating tensions in recent days have drawn concerns from the United Nations, the African Union and nations in North Africa and across the Middle East. The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, said in a statement on Friday that he was “determined to do everything possible to remove all obstacles to the resumption of the political process.””

- Abdi Latif Dahir, “Western Sahara Ends Truce With Morocco.” The New York Times. November 14, 2020.

[ordinary-wonder]

Former Spanish-held territory.

“If only I could be in Africa and Europe at the same time… Oh, wait! I can! I can go to Melilla!”

I’m a fan of the odd, the unusual, the out of the ordinary, but when you combine that with some history, I’m hooked to the point of obsession. North Africa, or alternatively the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, has seen its share of invaders and occupiers, most of which came from across the selfsame sea. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans were here, as were the Arabs, or course, but more recently, within the last century, the area was occupied variously by European powers such as England, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and France. Even Italy wanted in on the action. Ultimately, the French and Spanish prevailed and divided the country into different spheres of influence with the Spanish having the north and south while France occupied the middle. The exception being Tangier which, for all intents and purposes, was an international zone.

“Mapa del sur de España neutral” by Ecemaml – From Polish Wikipedia, translated to Spanish and neutralized.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Eventually, the occupiers left. The French, though they left their language, ceded the whole of their claims to the country back to Morocco, The Spanish, however, gave back only 99%. They kept little bits and pieces along the coast.

Along the northern coast of Morocco, there are numerous land holdings that Spain still considers part of its territory, part of larger Spain. Two of them, Ceuta and Melilla, are autonomous cities, while the many islands off the coast, and one tiny peninsula, are predominately used as military bases. (See the map at the left for more details.)

From below

Morocco, to no one’s surprise, disagrees with Spanish claims and argues that the land should be given back to them as was the rest of their former northern claims. They are fond of comparing the status of Gibraltar, a territory of the United Kingdom, which has long been s thorn in Spanish pride. Spain did return a small southern, coastal claim, Sidi Ifni, (See the Ifni War) in 1969 after increasing tensions in the area and due to international pressure, but the littoral areas remain Spanish as does a small island in the middle of the sea between the two countries. The Spanish Sahara, now sometimes called the Western Sahara, was relinquished to Morocco after the Green March in 1975 in which “some 350,000 Moroccans advanced several miles into the Western Sahara territory, escorted by nearly 20,000 Moroccan troops…” (Wikipedia). More recently (2002), there was a minor crisis between the two countries surrounding Perejil Island which Moroccan soldiers occupied and which Spanish commandos retook without casualties.

The bell on the old convent.

The population of Melilla, in speaking with locals, is divided roughly 50/50 with people of Spanish decent and people of Rif Mountain Amazigh (Rifian) decent in fairly equal proportions. Thankfully, since I don’t speak a lick of Spanish, I was able easily find Arabic speakers when I needed help or directions. In fact, it was a bit surreal. Here I was ostensibly in Spain, but surrounded by what looked like everyday Moroccans in both dress and complexion. It was the best of both worlds.

Being on the African continent has its challenges as ell. Both Melilla and its sister city Ceuta have become focal points for refugees seeking asylum.Refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East come seeking sanctuary in Europe through the gates of the cities, as was mistakenly made famous by Donald Trump in a rant about immigration in America.

Being a strategic peninsula, Melilla is dominated by an ancient citadel, or fortified city, overlooking the sea from a craggy outcropping of stone. Over the years, it has grown and been added to in six distinct phases, each with its own architectural touches. The museum I went to showed each stage and highlighted each variation. It was a nice little museum that dedicated an entire wing to Sephardic and Amazigh heritage. I met and spoke with one of the curators, an Amazigh, who was very helpful in showing me around.

The citadel

In fact, the entire citadel is quite well-preserved and interesting. There are large, cavernous cisterns for holding water in ancient times, an archaic chimney jutting up from the shore, an old, though functioning, drawbridge, as well as extensive cave systems used by nuns who lived in the convent and in which they would spend the time in contemplation. It was quite impressive, but best of all is that it’s completely free to visit and see all the areas, even the museums, such as the military museum.

The official imprint of Melilla that honors its multifaith population living in harmony.

Perhaps the best part of Melilla, since it is steeped in Spanish cuture, is the tapas. Across from my hotel was a little tapas bar that for between €5-10 I could get four or five delicious tapas and a few beers. I had intentions to dine out for a more formal birthday dinner, but I was more than contented visiting the various tapas offerings than blowing a wad of cash on something fancier. And Hell, it was my birthday, after all.

Not really Spain and not really Morocco, Melilla is a wonderful little anomaly not to be missed. Despite its divergent cultures, its people live in harmony. Most telling of this, perhaps, is in the city’s official logo. In it, one can see a melding of the four dominant religions within the city. (See left) Above the city name are the four sounds of “m” in each of the four languages, Hindi/Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish.

It’s a beautiful town. There are lovely beaches, great food, and plenty of interesting history.

An older citadel

Cannon face the sea

The citadel

Within the citadel

Grafitti

Grafitti

Amazigh and Jewish museum

A church atop, and within, the citadel that was also used as a convent

Excavations

Cactus tree

Ancient Arabic coins

Promontory

The citadel

The citadel

Rooftops

Coastline

Coastline and chimney

A new citadel on a different hill

American Dreams

The citadel

The citadel

An old chimney

From the citadel

The citadel

Rif definition

The citadel

Cannon

Chillin’

A Gaudiesque bulding.

From below

Citadel facade

The bell on the old convent.

Steeples

City mural

Jewish Amazigh-style pins

Atop the citadel

Palm trees

The citadel

City plan

Community park

Standing guard

One of several churches

Within the citadel

An old lighthouse along the coast

The official imprint of Melilla that honors its multifaith population living in harmony.

Canada House

Cannon and lighthouse

Coastline

Another citadel on a different hill, built later

Excavation

The citadel

The oldest part of the citadel dating from the 14th century

Many houses have tiles above their doors.

Carthaginian boat docks as depicted in the museum

Statue of a Spanish explorer

A monument that, on each side, has words written in the four languages of faith within the city

The citadel

Cannon

Perching seagull

The citadel

An odd statue of a boy and his cat in the city park

The town rambla

Melilla "If only I could be in Africa and Europe at the same time... Oh, wait! I can!

[proud-spaniard]

#LE legion española

#El Fundador

[skafte72levesque-blog]

Conclusion Of ARTifariti 2019: Participants Express Firm Resolve To Support The Saharawi Cause

Conclusion Of ARTifariti 2019: Participants Express Firm Resolve To Support The Saharawi Cause

“We hope that we can celebrate ARTifariti in the Free Western Sahara,” said the artists who thanked by the Saharawi people for their solidarity. On other hand, they expressed hope that European aid workers, who were kidnapped by terrorist group, would be liberated sooner. The Encounter, which is an international act of solidarity with the struggle of the Saharawi people, organized by the Saharawi Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Association of Friends of the Sahrawi People in Seville, Spain, (AAPSS). ARTifariti 2011 witnessed the participation of artists from Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Japan, USA, Italy, Congo, Algeria, Spain and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. It also marked by opening a number of workshops in the fields of art, drawing, topography, computer, photography and theatre.

UNITED NATIONS/RABAT (Reuters) - The United States has proposed that the U.N. Western Sahara help monitor human rights there, U.N. Tuesday, an idea that has prompted an expression of regret from Morocco. The U.S. proposal was contained in a draft U.N. Security Council resolution Washington circulated to the so-called Group of Friends on Western Sahara, which includes the United States, France, Spain, Britain and Russia, U.N. Other diplomats, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, confirmed his remarks. The draft resolution is intended to extend the mandate of the U.N. Western Sahara for another year.

It is scheduled to be put to a vote later this month. https://saharapolicy.com/ responded to the U.S. A spokesman for the U.S. United Nations, Payton Knopf, confirmed Washington was discussing the issue. Knopf added. In U.N.-mediated talks, Rabat has tried to convince Polisario, which represents the Sahrawi people, to accept its plan for Western Sahara to be an autonomous part of Morocco. Polisario instead proposes a referendum among ethnic Sahrawis that includes an option of independence, but there is no agreement between Morocco and Polisario on who should participate in any referendum. The referendum has never been held and attempts to reach a lasting deal have been unsuccessful. No state recognizes Morocco's rule over Western Sahara but the Security Council is divided. Some non-aligned states back Polisario but France, a veto-wielding council member, has continued to support Rabat. Polisario accuses Morocco of routine human rights violations in Western Sahara and has called for MINURSO to have the authority to conduct independent human rights monitoring. That is something Polisario has called for in previous years, but Morocco, backed by France, has rejected the idea. In his report, Ban argued in favour of some form of independent rights monitoring but offered no details on how it would be carried out in the resource-rich territory.

The EU is closely following the situation of human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara, including through its contacts with civil society organisations, human rights defenders, the National Council of Human Rights (CNDH) and its regional offices. The EU has specifically enquired about the situation of Mohamed Daoudi. In the context of its political dialogue with the Moroccan authorities, the EU consistently expresses its concerns about alleged cases of ill-treatment and impunity. Political dialogue goes in parallel with the important support provided by the EU through its financial cooperation to public institutions and civil society to reform the justice system in Morocco, in line with international standards and the Constitution.

The Potomac-SAIS ‘task force’ was likely an initiative organized by the Moroccan-American Center for Policy (MACP), a registered agent of the Kingdom of Morocco. Though MACP’s fingerprints are nowhere to be found in the report, it is an open secret in Washington that this project, culminating in the Potomac-SAIS report, has been in the works for several months. And little surprise, then, that the report’s recommendations attempt to equate US interests with those of the Moroccan Monarchy. Paying for policy is quite normal in Washington. Apart from Dr. I William Zartman — Professor Emeritus at SAIS, whose pro-Moroccan views are well known — there is no other recognized expert on the task force who has an extensive scholarly publishing record on the Western Sahara conflict. The effects of Zartman’s partisan bias are quite clear in the report. Yet the arguments suffer from a debilitating series of misrepresentation, fallacies and contradictions.

If translated into actual policy, they would prove counter productive at best, disastrous at worst. Two other names attached to the Potomac-SAIS report, however, suggest the real agenda behind it: General Wesley Clark and Madeline Albright, two leading figures in the Democratic Party. While Morocco’s autonomy initiate played very well with the previous Republican controlled White House, the Obama administration has yet to outline a clear policy towards the dispute. On the same day that the Potomac-SAIS report was published, Edward Kennedy urged his good friend Obama to uphold Western Sahara’s right to self-determination under international law, which Morocco staunchly opposes. With names like Clark and Albright, the Moroccan lobby is obviously seeking to make inroads into the Democratic establishment.

Before examining the shortfalls of the Potomac-SAIS report, it is necessary to background some of the salient historical realities of Western Sahara. The conflict dates back to November 1975, when a Moroccan threat to invade what was then a Spanish colony drove out Madrid lest it face a ‘colonial war’. Algeria has supported Western Sahara for ideological reasons (self-determination) and regional security interests (keeping Moroccan ambitions in check). Morocco, of course, denies the existence of an authentic Western Saharan nationalism and sees an independent Western Sahara only as an expansion of Algeria’s regional hegemony. France and the United States have traditionally supported Morocco because Morocco furthers Franco-American interests in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East, and because a referendum on independence in Western Sahara could destabilize Morocco by de-legitimizing the Monarchy.

Still, a UN mission arrived in 1991, putting an end to the Morocco-Polisario war so that a referendum on independence could finally be held. Morocco’s previous King, Hassan II, had committed to a referendum in 1981, but when he died in 1999, the new King, Mohamed VI, dropped that commitment. In 2007, Morocco proposed a final status solution based on autonomy for Western Sahara within Moroccan sovereignty while Polisario put forward a series of bridging proposals to allow for a referendum. Four rounds of negotiations in 2007 and 2008 produced zero progress towards a solution. In early 2009, a new UN envoy to Western Sahara, former US ambassador Christopher Ross, made his first tour of North Africa. He will report to the Security Council at the end of April. Sovereignty versus Self-Determination or Sovereignty and Self-Determination?

The Potomac-SAIS report makes the case that the Obama administration should take more interest in North Africa. The primary reason is predictable: terrorism. The broader Northwest Africa region, especially the Sahara-Sahel, the report argues, faces significant security challenges. One of the best ways to achieve security in North Africa is to help create the conditions for regional cooperation. And so resolving the Western Sahara conflict, which prevents inter-regional cooperation, especially between Morocco and Algeria, is key. The Potomac-SAIS report supports a solution to the Western Sahara conflict based upon ‘autonomy within Moroccan sovereignty’, as proposed by Morocco in 2007. There are two positive reasons put forward for endorsing Morocco’s initiative. The Potomac-SAIS report also provides some cautionary reasons to support Morocco’s autonomy initiative.

An independent Western Sahara ‘likely would remain a source of acrimony and tension between Morocco and Algeria as well as the other bordering states’. The report furthermore alleges that Western Sahara would not constitute a viable independent state on the grounds of its low population and limited natural resources. While the report’s authors are pessimistic for a near term solution given alleged Algerian and Russian obstruction, they claim that U.S. Morocco’s autonomy initiative will help build a new consensus for peace. As we can see, the best arguments in favor of Morocco’s autonomy proposal are, in fact, merely arguments against self-determination for Western Sahara. To say that autonomy is good because independence is bad is not only fallacious, it seeks to posit a false opposition between self-determination and power sharing that would preemptively bind the imagination of mediators.

The three decades old impasse in Western Sahara demonstrates that mediators need to get beyond the old dichotomy of sovereignty versus self-determination. Western fears of a failed state in Western Sahara can be easily allayed if the focus of the peace process turns away from highly speculative, distant outcomes. Instead, the focus needs to be on realistic, achievable processes in the here and now. The current Security Council mandate for Western Sahara seeks ‘achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara’. A non-partisan approach would simply require that the parties commit to this mandate.

Polisario would commit to negotiating a power sharing agreement with Morocco and Morocco would commit to putting any agreement to a referendum including the option of independence. Morocco’s autonomy proposal certainly constitutes a serious and credible starting point for negotiations towards a comprehensive power sharing agreement, but Polisario will never discuss it openly unless the Security Council secures Morocco’s commitment to a referendum. Morocco claims widespread support among native Western Saharans for its forced annexation, yet Morocco is unwilling to put it to a vote. A referendum, not autonomy, would literally end the conflict tomorrow as far as the international community is concerned. The problem is that Morocco would not win the referendum, so it wants to have the Security Council impose autonomy at the maximum parameters for negotiations on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

Even if we assume, as the Potomac-SAIS report does, that Algeria has a dog in the fight, how are Algeria’s interests served by an autonomous Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty? Algeria’s regional and geo-strategic interests are not addressed by Morocco’s autonomy proposal, nor does it provide any room for Algeria to save face given Algiers’ longstanding support for Western Sahara’s right to a vote on independence. Without first going through an internationally sanctioned act of self-determination, an autonomous Western Sahara would, logically, become just as much ‘a source of acrimony and tension between Morocco and Algeria’. The political and intellectual defenders of Morocco’s autonomy proposal continuously trumpet its virtues as a non-zero-sum or win-win solution.

Because it is a compromise, they argue, it contains incentives to make peace. Yet from Algeria’s point of view (as described in the Potomac-SAIS report), autonomy is very much a zero-sum, win-lose outcome. If Algeria is so important to the Western Sahara deadlock, as suggested by the Potomac/SAIS report, why then support a solution that does not respect Algeria’s interests but rather boldly defies them? Zartman’s own ground breaking work in the fields of conflict resolution and game theory should tell him this, yet he defends a solution that his own theories would reject. It is also bizarre to claim that an independent Western Sahara is Algeria’s idea but then to claim that Algeria would allow an independent Western Sahara to become a failed state.

Why would Algeria back Polisario’s cause for over thirty years, only to see Western Sahara become a ‘Somalia on the Atlantic coast of North Africa’? Let’s be clear: preventing a failed state in Western Sahara is everyone’s interests. Morocco and the United States do not monopolize this concern. If anyone has a vested interest in a viable Western Sahara, it is, first and foremost, the Western Saharans, followed by Algeria, who has championed their cause. Mauritania, sharing the longest border with Western Sahara and undergoing its own bouts with political instability, is likely a close third ahead of Morocco. Algeria and Polisario are well aware of Western fears of a failed state in an independent Western Sahara, one that could become a safe haven for trans-national terrorist groups.

For that reason, Polisario put forward its own set of compromise proposals in April 2007, when Morocco also put its autonomy plan on the table. Polisario has offered Morocco significant economic, political and security guarantees should a referendum result in independence. These included the option of allowing Moroccan settlers to remain in Western Sahara. In 2003, Polisario made the significant concession of allowing Moroccan settlers to vote in a referendum on independence. Polisario is also willing to have Morocco’s 2007 autonomy proposal placed on any referendum ballot so long as it includes independence. Morocco and its supporters have never even attempted to explain why this democratic solution is not viable. Polisario’s leadership is acutely aware of the fact that broad regional cooperation with Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria will be a necessity for a sustainable peace, security and prosperity.

Like the Potomac/SAIS report, they often speak of the day when the Arab Maghrib Union will dissolve all the old colonial boundaries and unite North Africa. Whether out of ignorance or deliberate deception, the Potomac-SAIS report also underestimates the economic viability of Western Sahara. As an independent state, Polisario is willing to maintain the Moroccan settler population, which will boost the population and create natural, social, economic, political and security ties with Morocco. Its main resources, phosphates and fish, are precious dwindling commodities world wide; last summer actually saw phosphate prices increase six-fold over its historic price. Additionally, since 2001, Morocco has engaged several companies to search for hydrocarbon and mineral resources in Western Sahara, suggesting other sources of revenue for an independent Western Sahara.

In terms of security, Polisario has proven highly cooperative with the UN mission, foreign governments and, as a full member of the African Union, has participated in joint security exercises with other African states. What is the way forward? Contrary to what Morocco and its intellectual supporters say, there is no contradiction between the Security Council taking a strong stance in favor of both power sharing and self-determination. Instead of endorsing a particular final status, the Security Council should endorse a specific framework for negotiations based upon mutual respect for each side. Indeed, recent Security Council resolutions have said as much in their calls for a political solution that respects the right of Western Sahara to self-determination. But the Council needs to make this clearer to the parties.

To Morocco, the Council needs to state firmly that its claim on Western Sahara will never be legitimated unless it first passes through a referendum. To Polisario, the Council needs to state clearly that it will never get its referendum unless it is willing to discuss power-sharing with Morocco. Substantive negotiations should be seen as the means to, not the result of, self-determination. This approach has the advantage of addressing the interests of Morocco, Polisario and Algeria without prejudice or favor. Peace in Western Sahara will never be achieved until the parties build the necessary confidence in each other and the Security Council. That trust and respect has to be built at the negotiating table, not through imposed solutions. The Obama administration should choose peace not partisanship. 1. In a recent article, Zartman described the two ‘interested parties’ as Morocco and Algeria. See Zartman, I.W., 2007, Time for a Solution in the Western Sahara Conflict, Middle East Policy, 14, p.181.

The paper employs revealed comparative advantage (RCA) to assess the competitiveness of the case study countries in the Chinese market. The empirical analysis revealed that even though there was a fierce competition in the labour-intensive manufacturing industry with most of the case study countries exports. However, further disaggregation revealed otherwise. It also indicated that the establishment of the Special Preferential Tariffs Treatment (SPTT) by China since 2005 has contributed to the increasing number of exported commodities to the Chinese market. The effect is reflected in the increased export revenue of most of the least developed countries (LDCs) and a secured market for such countries export products.

China’s bilateral trade with Sub-Saharan Africa and Africa as a continent is on the ascendency. Its ties with Africa in the early years of 1950 to late 1970s was politically motivated and had little to do with trade and economic development as compared to 1980s and the period after the cold war. The Bandung Conference organized in April 1955 in Java (Indonesia) provided opportunity for China to forge closer links with the African continent especially the newly independent states. After the Bandung Conference, China adopted a new course of policy based on economic reform and reintegration into the global economy in the late 1970s and as a result, its focus on the African continent shrunk.

Its attention was shifted to rebuilding economic partnership with developed economies in Europe and the United States. This relation started bearing fruits in the 1990s with huge increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) from these developed economies. This phase of China’s less attention on the African continent was crowned in 2001 with its entry into World Trade Organization (WTO) after fourteen years of negotiations. China re-engaged actively with the African continent in the 1990s but this time, the emphasis was on economic relations. This was due to the fact that by this time around it has built an economy and industries with intense and burgeoning energy and resource needs which were not easily satisfied domestically. 160 billion in 2011, indicating a percentage increase of 28 from the previous year.

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Gustavo de Aristegui : this Issue has been a Source of Confusion in Spain on Several Occasions”

Gustavo de Arístegui is a Spanish politician, diplomat and an international analyst. Gustavo de Arístegui comes from a long-standing diplomatic background, his father and grandfather were both senior diplomats posted as ambassadors in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. Ambassador de Arístegui has a law degree from the Jesuit University of Madrid and has been awarded the rank of Spanish Commander of the Royal and Distinguished Order of King Charles III, the Great Cross of Civil Merit and the Great Cross of Air Force.

Gustavo de Arístegui, Spanish diplomat and politician expresses hope that the new parameters that now guide the Spanish position should also “inspire” the whole world and lead to “a reconciliation between Algeria and Morocco. A reconciliation that may require time, but that is what we all want,” he said, commenting the recent message addressed to HM King Mohammed VI by the President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, in which he confirms his support for the autonomy plan in the Moroccan Sahara. These new parameters, he added, “lead us to another thinking…. On the question of the representation of the polisario in relation to the Saharawis. The polisario is not the only representative of the Sahrawi people” he pointed out.

According to the former MP, “This issue has been a source of confusion in Spain on several occasions”. Spain’s new position on the Moroccan Sahara issue and the support of the government on Morocco’s proposal to give autonomy to Sahara has generated a new conflict between PSOE and Podemos, the government partners and with the Government and its parliamentary partners. The reconstruction of relations between Spain and Morocco and the way in which the Spanish Government has handled this situation has created a wave of criticism among the opposition parties.

I understand the criticisms that are made by both analysts, media directors, commentators, critics for not having consulted the opposition on an issue of such great importance for Spain’s foreign policy, for peace and security in the Sahel, which is essential for the entire world. But it is such a question extraordinarily complex and delicate that the negotiations had to be carried out in the most absolute discretion and a leak would have generated a debate that could have derailed the agreement between the two countries”, asserts the Spanish politician and international analyst Gustavo de Arístegui, when talking about Spain’s change of position on Western Sahara in Herrera en COPE.

Gustavo de Arístegui also points out the two sides to that criticism. The risks in consulting the opposition and other partners would have been very high and there is more serious chance of destability in Europe and the Mediterranean in the Maghreb than in the 1970s. There are forces with extraordinary destabilization capacity like the terrorist groups in the Sahel and the Boko Haram who are increasingly attacking targets further north and therefore in this situation, peace, security and stability in the Maghreb is essential.

Gustavo de Arístegui also remembers the central role that Algeria has played in the stability of the Maghreb and the sacrifices made by hundreds of thousands of Algerians in the fight against jihadism. On the geopolitical level, Arístegui pleaded for a rapprochement between Morocco and Algeria to tackle, together, the terror threats coming from the Sahel.