Film reveals Saharawi people's long struggle
REVIEW BY NICK EVERETT
The Forgotten War, a documentary about the struggle of the people of Western Sahara against the occupation of their country by Morocco, premiered to a packed audience in the NSW Parliament Theatrette on June 14. Kamal Fadel, Australian representative of the Polisario Front (Western Sahara's national liberation organisation), and Jose Ramos Horta, representing the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), introduced the film.
Fadel called on the audience to support a referendum on independence for his occupied nation. He explained that Morocco has occupied Western Sahara for 25 years, in circumstances comparable to Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.
"Like East Timor only a year ago, the people of the Western Sahara are waiting for their freedom", Kamal said. "We all saw how quickly the colonising power there retreated once public opinion was mobilised."
Prior to Morocco's invasion, Western Sahara had been a Spanish colony for almost 100 years. In October 1964, the United Nations Decolonisation Committee adopted a resolution urging Spain to start the process of decolonising the territory. The UN General Assembly passed a similar resolution on December 16, 1965.
In 1975, Spain signed a secret agreement with Morocco and Mauritania and handed the territory over to these two countries. Although the UN Security Council adopted a resolution deploring the invasion and calling on Morocco to withdraw, the resolution was never enforced.
In 1979, Mauritania abandoned its claim over Western Sahara and signed a peace treaty with the Polisario Front. However, Morocco continued to enforce its brutal occupation over most of the country.
Horta, who has visited the refugee camps in Algeria, condemned "the grave injustice [being] done to the people" of Western Sahara and agreed that there were similarities between East Timor and Western Sahara. However, Horta claimed there were differences between the formerly leftist East Timorese liberation group, Fretilin, of which he was a leader in 1975, and the Polisario Front.
"While Fretilin entertained Marxist values", he said, "the Polisario Front was always very centrist, very pragmatic and had strong patriotism. [Polisario] did not resort to revolutionary sloganeering and was not a tool of the Cold War", he said in a thinly veiled attack on the influence of revolutionary politics on the East Timorese leadership during the early years of its struggle.
Horta also made the spurious claim that "respect for boundaries set by colonial powers have been a source of stability in the Third World. If these boundaries are ignored, I do not know where we would end up."
The Forgotten War documents the appalling human rights record of the Moroccan armed forces during their 25-year occupation. Morocco has systematically "disappeared", kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured the Saharawi people. Almost a thousand have disappeared during the occupation.
In August 1988, under international pressure, Morocco agreed to a UN-Organisation of African Unity peace plan that included a proposal for a referendum to allow the Saharawi people to exercise their right to national self-determination. A cease-fire was implemented in 1991 and Morocco agreed to release 270 Saharawi detainees who had "disappeared" for 16 years. A UN mission (MINURSO) was deployed to prepare the referendum, which was scheduled for January 1992.
However, Morocco stalled the referendum with arguments over voter eligibility. Approximately 200,000 Moroccan settlers have been moved to the territory by the Moroccan government with the aim of skewing the vote. A date for the referendum has been set for July 31, but it seems that Morocco will continue its delaying tactics and not honour its agreement.
In the documentary, representatives of Amnesty International, the Algerian government, Polisario and a former Moroccan pilot were interviewed — all condemned the human rights record of the Moroccan government. Amnesty has identified 500 Saharawis whose whereabouts are unknown.
The former Moroccan pilot explained how he had been ordered to launch air strikes against Saharawi settlements, thus ending the UN-Organisation of African Unity brokered cease-fire and forcing the postponement of the 1992 independence referendum.
Luc Held, a former head of MINURSO's medical unit, explained how UN staff were too intimidated to confront Morocco. Held's criticisms are backed up by the 1991 resignation of the UN's special representative, who resigned in protest at the UN's failure to confront Morocco.
A Polisario representative explained of the role of former UN Secretary-General Boutras Boutras Ghali: "He is an aristocrat. He does not understand how a group of Saharawi nomads can take on the Moroccan monarchy." Algerians too expressed their solidarity with the Saharawi cause.
[To obtain a copy of the film or more information on Western Sahara, write to the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) at <awsa@ihug.com.au> or PO BOX 846, Rozelle 2039, or visit the web site at .]