THE LAST AFRICAN COLONY

After years of conflict between the colonizers and the so-called liberation movements, Africa has been liberated, and by virtue of the decisions of the United Nations and the African Union, the territories that were under the control of foreign countries have the right to become independent nations.

It does not matter how big they are. The important thing is that no African country takes over another, usually a neighboring country. This is the case of Western Sahara, which Spain administered until 1975. That year, Madrid handed over the administration to Morocco and Mauritania, with the prospect of holding a self-determination referendum on a certain day.

When its inhabitants are not consulted about their future and the territory is appropriated as “part of” another African country, there is something that does not coincide in any way with international law.

The Sahrawis have been tribes that moved throughout the Sahara, without exception. They never recognised that they were part of Morocco, but they did agree to have good relations with the Sultan of the Alawite kingdom. Having good relations did not mean recognising his authority.

As long as the Sahrawis are not consulted, the situation of the territory will remain incomplete. The 4th UN decolonisation commission maintains the referendum project and even established a commission to carry it out.

Legality and international law have, however, been abandoned by Morocco, when it stated that there would be no referendum and that the territory belongs to it, making it one of the provinces of the Kingdom, without its inhabitants being able to express their opinion on the matter.

If the population with confirmed tribal origins were consulted, it is likely that they would agree to join the Kingdom, given that Rabat has modernised the territory and living conditions have improved significantly.

But the opposite could also happen. Thousands of Sahrawis live in inhuman conditions, refugees in the “hamada” of Tindouf, belonging to Algeria. The desire for independence of this population is so great that they prefer to be a free nation than to live comfortably under the control of Morocco, which, moreover, has no legality.

All of Morocco's propaganda apparatus, with the support of the countries that support Rabat's autonomy plan, cannot hide the simple truth: Western Sahara is occupied by a neighbouring country.

This is an unjustifiable situation, because the Alawite Kingdom, at first, under King Hassan II, did not rule out the referendum, and then, after he had disappeared, suddenly said that it was useless and was its property. If that is not the law of the strongest, without reason,...