Breve historia del Sahara Occidental (A Brief History of Western Sahara) (2022)
Isaías Barreñada
142 pages
Peace is not just the absence of war, it is also justice.
(La paz no es solo la ausencia de guerra, es también justicia.) (66)
Over the course of the twentieth century, peoples in colonies across the globe protested in pursuit of – and often fought protracted and bloody wars for – the right of self-determination. By the turn of the twenty-first century, many of these national liberation movements had successfully achieved independence, with most of the colonies that remained settling into some form of relatively stable relationships with their distant masters, as protectorates or territories.
In a few places, however, colonial conflicts have remained unresolved. One such disputed region is a strip of land along the north-western Atlantic coast of Africa. In his book A Brief History of Western Sahara (Breve historia del Sahara Occidental), political scientist Isaías Barreñada summarizes the events that led to the current situation in Western Sahara, and explains the conflicting interests that have both contrived to frustrate its resolution and left it under-the-radar in terms of global awareness.
Based on his biography in the book, Barreñada brings significant experience to the topic. As a professor of International Relations at Complutense University of Madrid, he has been deeply engaged in the study and analysis of events in Western Sahara and the Middle East, including serving as a member of the Observatorio Universitario International del Sahara Occidental (International University Observatory of Western Sahara).
In his overview of the colonial history of the region, Barreñada notes that Spain petitioned for, and was granted, authority over it in 1885, during a diplomatic conference in Berlin held to establish the partitioning of Africa. Though not from this book, the two images below demonstrate the extent and character of the plundering of the continent at that conference, one showing the resulting partition and the other an editorial comic from the time that already then recognized the imperious posture of the European powers.
Spanish interest in the coastal region was primarily “geostrategic: to avoid that another European colonial power settle across from the [Spanish province of] the Canary Islands, which could put into question Spanish sovereignty over that archipelago.” (20) Barreñada notes that although the Spanish colonial period in the Western Sahara was hardly benign, Spain’s engagement was relatively limited, in-line with its goal of occupying the region largely as a preventative measure.
By the 1960’s, as significant numbers of European colonies became independent nations, Spain’s geostrategic reasons for staying in Western Sahara had waned; unfortunately for the Sahrawis, however, Moroccan interest in their land grew during this period. Moroccan officials began publicly claiming their country’s supposed historical connections to Western Sahara and, with increasing adamance, claiming their right to it.
In the mid-1970’s, the Spanish government declared their intent to decolonize the region and to hold a referendum on independence. But the referendum was never held; taking advantage of Spain’s distraction during its transition from the Franco dictatorship to democracy, Morocco launched a military invasion into Western Sahara, and Spain withdrew precipitously, signing a treaty with Morocco in which it ceded control of the territory. Barreñada repeatedly refers back to this missed moment of opportunity for the Sahrawis, when Spain retreated from the region in the face of Moroccan aggression, failing to follow through on its commitment to carry out the referendum on independence.
Over the balance of the text, Barreñada explores how, from the 1970’s on, the situation in Western Sahara became increasingly complex. The Sahrawis, from their origins as Bedouin tribes, coalesced around the desire for an independent state, while the Moroccans invested heavily to try and bribe the Sahrawis into accepting Moroccan rule. During this period, Western powers such as Spain and the European Union, as well as the United States, have demonstrated an unwillingness to risk international stability for a region of the world they cared little about. And, with the West ambivalent, the United Nations has proven impotent to engage in defending the Sahrawis’ right to self-determination.
Barreñada notes the challenges faced by the Sahrawi national liberation movement, including most critically the dispersed nature of their population, split between the Moroccan occupied territory, Algerian refugee camps, and the remaining free portion of their land. Despite their dispersed population, Sahrawi’s have managed to make common cause in the fight against the occupation. Nonetheless, they struggle to counter the power of the Moroccan state and to capture the attention of a world that has averted its gaze.
On the other side of the conflict, the Moroccan regime faces both growing, armed resistance from the Sahrawis, but also challenges at home. The government’s spending in Western Sahara has begun to trigger dissatisfaction among Moroccans who would prefer to see the money used at home, while the cumulative investment over so many years makes it ever more difficult to pull out and admit having wasted so much money and effort. Perhaps most critically, the regime faces the difficulty of walking away from a narrative built over half century among Moroccans that the Western Sahara region is and always has been a part of greater Morocco.
As a part of his analysis, Barreñada compares the situation in Western Sahara to another ongoing, and much more prominent dispute, that between the Palestinians and Israel. In that context, he notes that “the term intractable conflicts has been popularized to describe conflicts of long duration (protracted), not currently resolved, and complex, if not impossible to manage to resolution.” He points out, however, that this term “implies not just a sense of complexity, but also of fatalistic “irresolvability” that prejudges the possibility of resolution.” (33) And, in the Western Sahara in particular, he argues against giving in to the fatalistic conclusion that the situation is intractable and for the will to be found to allow the Sahrawis their right to self-determination as enshrined in the UN charter.
In A Brief History of Western Sahara, Barreñada summarizes the colonial history of the Sahrawi people, and provides a comprehensive review of the challenges of finding a peaceful resolution to their pursuit of independence. In clear and engaging prose, he lays out his view of how Spain and the international community have failed the Sahrawi people, and he concludes with a powerful warning regarding the potential implications of this failure for the global order:
The international community’s consent and permissiveness to the politics of force of certain countries is contributing to the perpetuation of conflicts. This inaction of the international community makes it co-responsible and, worse yet, runs the risk of leading to a presumption of the failure and inefficiency of international rights. (97)
(In that context, one can wonder how the Sahrawi’s view the West’s active engagement against aggression in Ukraine, relative to its passiveness in the face of similar aggression in Western Sahara.)
Other notes and information:
A review of the book by Luz Gómez appeared in the Babelia section of the El País newspaper under the title <i>Breve historia del Sáhara Occidental’, la recolonización de la descolonización</i> ("A Brief History of Western Sahara," the recolonization of decolonization").
Unfortunately, I’m not aware of an English translation of the book being available at this point.
Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Other of my book reviews: FICTION Bookshelf and NON-FICTION Bookshelf
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