Western Sahara
Context of Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-western Africa. It has a surface area of 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the territory (82,500 km2 (31,900 sq mi)) is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated territory in Africa and the second most sparsely populated territory in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara.
Previously occupied by Spain as the Spanish Sahara until 1975, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand. In 1965, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonize the territory. A...Read more
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-western Africa. It has a surface area of 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the territory (82,500 km2 (31,900 sq mi)) is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated territory in Africa and the second most sparsely populated territory in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara.
Previously occupied by Spain as the Spanish Sahara until 1975, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand. In 1965, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonize the territory. A year later, resolution 2229 (XXI) was passed by the UN General Assembly requesting that a referendum be held by Spain on self-determination. In 1975, Spain relinquished administrative control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco and Mauritania. A war erupted between those countries and a Sahrawi nationalist movement, the Polisario Front, which proclaimed itself the rightful leadership of the SADR with a government-in-exile in Tindouf, Algeria. Mauritania withdrew its claims in 1979, and Morocco secured de facto control of most of the territory, including all major cities and most natural resources. The UN considers the Polisario Front the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, and maintains the Sahrawis have a right to self-determination. Western Sahara is the last African colonial state yet to achieve independence and has been dubbed "Africa's last colony".
Since a UN-sponsored ceasefire agreement in 1991, most of the territory has been administered by the Moroccan government, with tacit support from France and the United States. The remainder is administered by the SADR, backed by Algeria. The only part of the coast in SADR territory is the extreme south. Internationally, countries such as Russia have taken an ambiguous and neutral position on each side's claims and pressed parties to agree on a peaceful resolution. Morocco and Polisario have sought to boost their claims by accumulating formal recognition, especially from African, Asian, and Latin American states in the developing world. The Polisario Front has won formal recognition for the SADR from 46 UN member states and South Ossetia, and was extended membership of the African Union. Morocco has won support from several African governments and most of the Muslim world and Arab League. In most instances, recognitions are extended or withdrawn due to a change in relations with Morocco. Until 2020, no other member state of the UN had ever recognized Moroccan sovereignty over parts of Western Sahara. In 2020, the US recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Moroccan normalization of relations with Israel. In 2023, Israel recognized Moroccan sovereignty.
In 1984, the African Union's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, recognized the SADR as one of its full members, with the same status as Morocco, and Morocco protested by suspending its membership of the OAU. Morocco was readmitted to the Union in 2017, after promising conflicting claims would be resolved peacefully and it would stop building walls to extend its military control. Meanwhile, the African Union has not issued any formal statement about the border separating the sovereign territories of Morocco and the SADR. Instead, the African Union works with the UN mission to maintain the ceasefire and reach a peace agreement. The African Union provides a peacekeeping contingent to the UN mission which is used to control a buffer zone near the de facto border walls built by Morocco.
More about Western Sahara
- Currency Moroccan dirham
- Calling code +212
- Internet domain .eh
- Population 612000
- Area 266000
- Driving side right
- Stay safe
Hot, dry, dust-and-sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely restricting visibility. There are low-level uprisings and political violence which is altogether rare, but can escalate. Occupying powers are likely to evict foreigners in such case.
The N1—and even more so the roads into the heart of the territory—are very remote roads, with facilities and settlements being easily 150–200 km (93–124 mi) away from each other. Take enough fuel (always refuel before going on the next leg, you never know what is going to happen) and enough water (several liters per person). Mobile network connection exists along N1.
Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)There was war in Western Sahara for over 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, and as a result, the landmine and UXO situation to this day remains quite unclear, despite efforts of the Moroccan Government to improve the situation. There are landmines not only in the remote parts of the country close to berm, but all the way down main coastal road (N1) to the Mauritanian border. Google Earth clearly shows the efforts to clear minefields all along N1, which continue to this day—despite Moroccan officers tending to tell tourists that this part of the country is safe. Around the settlements (Boujdour, Ad-Dakhla, Golfe de Cintra) the situation seems to be slightly worse, possibly due their strategic significance in the war. The warning signs are sometimes so rusty that they can't be recognised anymore, but usually the combination of two small metal signs is a strong indicator.
...Read moreStay safeRead lessHot, dry, dust-and-sand-laden sirocco wind can occur during winter and spring; widespread harmattan haze exists 60% of time, often severely restricting visibility. There are low-level uprisings and political violence which is altogether rare, but can escalate. Occupying powers are likely to evict foreigners in such case.
The N1—and even more so the roads into the heart of the territory—are very remote roads, with facilities and settlements being easily 150–200 km (93–124 mi) away from each other. Take enough fuel (always refuel before going on the next leg, you never know what is going to happen) and enough water (several liters per person). Mobile network connection exists along N1.
Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO)There was war in Western Sahara for over 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, and as a result, the landmine and UXO situation to this day remains quite unclear, despite efforts of the Moroccan Government to improve the situation. There are landmines not only in the remote parts of the country close to berm, but all the way down main coastal road (N1) to the Mauritanian border. Google Earth clearly shows the efforts to clear minefields all along N1, which continue to this day—despite Moroccan officers tending to tell tourists that this part of the country is safe. Around the settlements (Boujdour, Ad-Dakhla, Golfe de Cintra) the situation seems to be slightly worse, possibly due their strategic significance in the war. The warning signs are sometimes so rusty that they can't be recognised anymore, but usually the combination of two small metal signs is a strong indicator.
Withered Landmine Warning Sign at N1 south of Ad-Dakhla.Keep eyes open to lines of stones, cairns, staples of old tyres and similar man-made marking—they are usually meaningful! Generally, any place off the tarmac-road of N1 and off-branching tarmac roads must be considered unsafe. Car-wrecks are strong indicators—do not explore these! Strategically significant points (the various small passes, narrow valleys, elevated points, etc.) are more dangerous, but this does not mean that other places are safe. Any man-made fortifications (straight sand-walls, round sand-wall [for artillery] and any other military looking movements of ground) pose particular danger (esp. south of Ad-Dakhla, but also south of Boujdour). It might be that these were mined when being abandoned to prevent them from falling into the other party's hand, or it might be that the surroundings were mined from the beginning to protect against guerrilla attacks, but anyway the mine-cleaning patterns strongly indicate that such places were and possibly continue to be particularly dangerous. Few to no mine-clearing efforts can be observed off the N1 - that possibly means that (e.g. for lack of touristic significance) these areas continue to be mined and efforts were focussed at the immediate surrounding of N1.
The patterns of cleaning mine-fields indicate that in not all cases does the Moroccan Government seem to be aware of the location of minefields, which requires more or less random search pattern. Moreover, on Google Earth it can be seen that where minefields have previously been cleared, new clearing activities have resumed later. This again indicates that even traces of cleared minefields do not guarantee safety. This includes the surroundings of the lagoon of Ad-Dakhla, including the lands north of it.
