Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: Difference between revisions

The Saharawi (or Sahrawi) Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الدمقرطية, Spanish: República Árabe Saharaui Democrática) is an exile government of Western Sahara, proclaimed by the Polisario Front.

History

When Western Sahara was evacuated by Spain, both Morocco and Mauritania virtually annexed it; neither gained international recognition and war with the independence-seeking Polisario Front, representing the Sahrawi indigenous people, ensued. The creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was announced in Bir Lehlou in Western Sahara on February 27 1976, as the Polisario declared the need for a new entity to fill what they considered a political void left by the departing Spanish colonizers. Bir Lehlou is still in Polisario-held territory under the 1991 cease-fire and has remained a temporary capital of the exiled republic, until the Sahrawi capital of El-Aaiun, presently in Moroccan controlled Western Sahara, can function as the capital of an independent Western Sahara. Day-to-day business is however conducted in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, home of the Sahrawi exile community.

Government structure

Its president is Mohammed Abdelaziz, its prime minister Abdelkader Taleb Oumar. It has a government (the Council of Ministers), a judiciary branch and a parliament (the Sahrawi National Council). Since its inception in 1976, the various constitutional revisions has tranformed the republic from an ad hoc managerial structure, into what closely resembles an actual governing apparatus. From the late 1980s the parliament made a clear attempt at instituting a division of powers and of disentangling the republic's structures from those of the Polisario. The 1991 constitution is basically a parliamentary constitution such as that of any European state, but with some paragraphs suspended until the achievement of "full independence". For example, the head of state is constitutionally the general secretary of the Polisario during the pre-independence phase. But the constitution also states that this must change when an independent Western Sahara is a reality, as the Polisario will then be dismantled or separated completely from the government structure. Further, it lays down some guidelines for a future Western Sahara: it is to be founded as a multi-party democracy and a market economy.

Its various ministries are responsible for a variety of services and functions. The judiciary, complete with trial courts, appeals courts and a supreme court, operates in the same areas. The parliament is presently weak in its legislative role, having been instituted as a mainly consultative and consensus-building institution, but it has notably strengthened its legislative and controlling powers during later constitutional revisions. Among other things, it has managed to add a ban on the death penalty to the constitution, and bring down the government in 1999 through a vote of no-confidence.

The government excercises state power in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf, Algeria, and in the Polisario-held, more or less unpopulated parts of Western Sahara east of the Moroccan Wall. It is headquartered in Tindouf, although official events often for symbolic purposes take place on Western Saharan territory, in Bir Lehlou or Tifariti. The Algerian authorities stay outside the Sahrawi refugee camps and respect the autonomy of the republic.

International recognition and memberships

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is currently recognized as a sovereign representative of Western Sahara by 44 states, mostly African and other third world governments. This figure does not include 23 states that have withdrawn their former recognition, or the 12 that have "frozen" their diplomatic relations with the republic pending the outcome of the UN referendum. Sahrawi embassies exist in 13 states. On December 25, 2005, Sudan became the only state to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara [1].

The Sahrawi republic is a full member of the African Union (AU), since 1984 (when it was called the Organization of African Unity, OAU), but it has no representation at the United Nations. Due to the African Union's recognition of an independent Western Sahara, Morocco has left its seat, and it is the only African nation outside the AU since South Africa was admitted in 1994.

The Sahrawi republic is not a member of the Arab League.

Towards a Western Sahara Authority?

In the last UN-endorsed peace plan (created by Secretary-General Kofi Annan's personal envoy to the Western Sahara, James Baker III), the SADR would have been dismantled, at least temporarily, and replaced with the Western Sahara Authority (WSA), a governing body that would not claim sovereignty, but autonomy under Moroccan rule during a five-year transitional period until a referendum by Saharans on independence. This plan however appears politically dead, since Morocco refuses to participate in it.

National holidays

• February 27 - Independence Day
• May 10 - Foundation of Polisario
• May 20 - Beginning of the armed struggle
• June 5 - Day of the Disappeared
• June 9 - Day of the Martyrs
• June 17 - Zemla Intifada
• October 12 - Day of National Unity (see Ain Ben Tili)

See also

• Politics of Western Sahara
• Polisario Front

External links

• Sahara Press Service (SPS) The official SADR press agency.
• RASD TV Official TV channel (mostly in Spanish)
• Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Page in Arabic
• SADR Oil & Gas 2005 SADR oil and gas licensing offer.
• Western Sahara Online
• Association for a Free and Fair Referendum in Western Sahara