ALI THE

THE WESTERN SAHARA ISSUE -DECOLONISATION OR

GREATER MOROCCO

LYAKAT ALI

THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

OF THE JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

CENTRE FOR WEST ASIAN AND AFRICAN STUDIES SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

JA WAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY NE\V DELHI- 110 067

1997

CONTENTS

Chapters Page l'os.

Historical background of Western Sahara 1 ... -_{- _ )}

II Clash of Nationalisms 26-53

III De-Colonisation of Western Sahara : A 54-99

Legal Dimension

IV Contlict Resolution : Pacific Means 100-135

v

VI Impact of Western Sahara Issue on intra- 173-207

Maghreb relations

VII

UN

VIII Conclusion 244-258

Bibliography 259-269

PREFACE

History of the mankind in different parts of the globe is marked by conquest of territories. This has resulted in movement of people in the sense that a particular group of people crossed one continent and settled in another. Intermixing of peoples have resulted into miscegenation which has either contributed to the mosaic of pluralist cultures or led to 'civilisational conflicts' and distrust between peoples. The industrial revolution and the development of science and technology in Western Europe created conditions which led to the development of colonialism during nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century. The era of colonialism was dominated by scramble between European powers to control territories and people in what is Asia, Africa and Latin America. It led to two world wars. The strong anti-colonial movements in various parts of the world and the recognition of the right of peoples' to freedom by the UN led to a wave of decolonisation.

In spite of the 'Declaration of Decolonisation' in 1960 by UN General Assembly, there remained ce'rtain territories where the previous colonial masters were replaced by the new ones. Spanish Sahara was one such territory where the Spanish colonial rule was ultimately substituted by Moroccan in violation of all prevailing norms of international law. The present thesis entitled 'The Western Sahara Issue: Decolonisation or Greater

' -^~ . ^-

Morocco' is an attempt to analyse the varioys dimensions of the Western Sahara Issue.

.

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The thesis deals with the historical aspects of ~_steJJLS~ar~_ te!ritory relating to its position and influence in the region during pre-Islamic period, Islamic period and the period of European dominance. The o~jecti_ve of the th~sls_ !s to p~obe whether the

W~stern Sahara territory and its people were completely subjugated or they were able to maintain some independenc~.

~

It also deals with the e_voluti~n of nati_onalislll_ in Western ~ahara _dl:lri_ng_l956 to . ...;. _ _ The emphasis is to analyse the Greater Morocco concept, the Spanish Saharan

policy, the evolution of Saharawi nationalism and how it finally led to a dash between

i

two nationalisms: Saharawi and Moroccan. The conditions under which Madrid. Accord was signed has also been dealt with.

The decolonisation issue of Western Sahara has raised various legal issues relating to Western Sahara like llli possidetis. succession to colonial boundaries. self- determination. concepts of Bay 'a, bilad-al-Makhzen, bilad-as-Siba. advisory opinion of International Court of Justice on Western Sahara in 1975 and the legal status of the territory after annexation according to the Madrid Accord. The role of various international organisations like OAU. UN, NAM and external forces like USA. France.

Spain, former USSR in peaceful solution of the contlict have also been analysed. The role of these countries and organisations have been probed up to 1984.

The thesis analyses the military dimension of the Western Sahara contlict which was divided into three phases after 19?5. The three phases deal with the defensive and offensive strategy of the concerned parties, procurement of arms and ammunition, role of external powers to sustain the military efforts by either parties, reasons for the success and failure of their military aims. It also deals with military stalemate after 1986 and the ultimate ceasefire in 1991.

The Intra-Maghreb relations were affected by the issue of decolonisation of Spanish Sahara before November 1975 and forcible annexation after November 1975.

The Maghreb countries remained divided over the Western Sahara issue over the question of support and recognition to SADR up to 1989. This aspect of intra-Maghreb relations have also been dealt with. The mediation efforts by the United Nations after 1986 analyses the role of Perez de Cuellar. his settlement plan, the problem of voter identification, irredentist attitude of Morocco, monitoring of MINURSO by UN Security Council and the reasons for the continuing stalemate.

In completing the thesis I received immense support and cooperation from various persons and institutions. First and foremost I wish to express my deepest sense of gratitude to Professor K. R. Singh for his guidance and support during the last five

years. By his deep understanding and knowledge of West Asia and North Africa. he enabled me to comprehend several problems. But for his humane app_roach and constant encouragement I would not have been able to complete this work. During the last one and half years when I was seriously ill the support of my friends kept me on the move.

During this period my wife and son shared my pain, sufferings and agonies for which I have no words to express. I acknowledge my gratitude to University Grants Commis- sion, Indian Council for Social Science Research. New Delhi and Institute of Objective Studies. New Delhi for awarding me fellowships to complete the thesis. I am thankful to the libraries of JNU, IDSA, Ministry of External Affairs at Patiala House. University of Delhi. and UN Information Centre for providing me with the documents and papers.

I also express my thanks to the Chairperson and staff of CW AAS for their cooperation and encouragement. Many other persons and institutions helped me in various ways. For want of space it is not possible to mention the names of persons and other institutes who supported me in completing my thesis.

In the end I am thankful to Mr. Ramkrishnan and Mr. Varghese for completing the typing work in time.

LYAKAT AU

i i i

Chapter I

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF

WESTERN SAHARA

Chapter I

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF WESTERN SAHARA

The settlement of boundary disputes and territorial claims has been a major problem in the Afro-Asian world since the formation of new nation-states after Second World War. Several of these nation-states did not even exist earlier and if they did exist

"·

their frontiers used to be decided by the intluence which their rulers exercised at any given time. With the decline of their rulers intluence, the external forces not only displaced them but also combined a number of other territories according to their strategic importance and administrative convenience to create new states and boundaries.

Thus, changes in the boundaries stemmed primarily from the need of colonial rulers. A simple look at the map of Africa proves that a number of delimitation of powers during the colonial period resulted from the stroke of a pen or at best a bilateral or multilateral agreement among the colonial rulers without any consultation with the local inhabitantS.

Most of the nation-states which emerged after World War II have disputed the imposed borders, and the time and context in which they raise these border questions have complicated the borders questions in Asia and Africa. These border questions and territorial claims have not been settled in the right earnest as the interested parties feared loosing their hold and power. The First World War stimulated African political consciousness and aroused interest in the boundary questions. It was widely held by various scholars that the partition of Africa by the colonial powers was not realised by the Africans as to where it will lead to and they were passive and naive. But the reality is something else. The African societies were fragmented and politically they could not act cohesively. Even otherwise they were unable to alter the course of events. which was

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varying very rapidly. The Europeans took advantage of the African rivalries. They used various legal, illegal and extra-legal means to acquire the territories and hence the title.

Invariably these means were termed as discotery, occupation, conquest. annexation.

cession or prescription and secession.

In the case of north-west Africa, treaties/protectorates were signed which goes to prove that there existed the indigenous or native ruler/government. In the areas where there was no established ruler or leader, they forcibly occupied it. These phenomenons were the result of the Berlin Treaty of 1884, which led to scramble for African territory among the European powers. As the European powers increased their spheres of intluence, it resulted in creating/establishing protectorates. But, in most cases the acquisition was done by conquest or occupation. The agreements/treaties were no more than devices to facilitate their desire for occupation. All this involved a complete administration over the acquired territories and a precise assertion of sovereignty. The possession of territory and territorial sovereignty has been a major aspect of the state's right, which in tum has affected the international relations among various nation-states in Africa. It has even led to disputes between various countries as their claims for boundary came in contlict with the claim of other nation-states.

At this stage, it is important to mention the difference between the boundary issues/disputes and territorial issues/claims. Adami had defined 'boundary' as 'the line

· which marks the limits of the region within which the state can exercise its own sovereign right. The boundary issues arise when two (or more) adjacent states contest the boundary line to be drawn between their respective territorial domains. Territorial issues arise when one governmental entity seeks to supercede or eliminate another in relation to a particular land area. Such disputes may not involve the drawing of

boundary lines between adjacent territorial communities. Thus, whereas the dispute about the acquisition of territory is competitive between the claimants. in the sense that one must lose completely, the boundary dispute may or may not involve the complete supersession by one entity of another in relation to particular region.¹ The boundary disputes does not deny the territorial and sovereign rights of the parties and the question can be solved through rules/methods like delimitation, demarcation. determination or administration, etc. By contrast, the territorial questions/issues/claims challenge the legality of the methods of the acquiring the territory per se. Territory is itself a geographical conception relating to the physical areas of the globe, but its centrality in law and international law in particular derives from the fact that it constitutes the tangible framework for the manifestation of power by the accepted authorities of the state in question. ²

The post-World War II Africa saw new nation-states coming up through grant of independence by colonial powers or through the liberation struggles. In these states.

the nationhood started taking shapes in different forms. It reflected itself in national development programmes, cultural integration, boundary disputes, territorial clai.ms, consolidation of regimes, etc. It is the territorial claims in Africa which posed a major problem as far as international relations, regional peace or the new norms of international

2

Surya P. Sharma, International Boundary Disputes and International Law (Bombay, 1976), p. 4.

Malcolm Shaw, Title to territory in Africa : International Legal Issues (London 1986), p. 2.

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law were concerned. The te~ritorial claims reflected deeply rooted values related to the state's self-image. If it was not for self-image, then it was to be for economical gains.

personal antagonism between the leaders of the claimant state. ideological differences.

alignment with different power blocs, regional hegemony. quest to unite people of a common ethnic heritage, etc. But the principal factor which guided the policies of the state on the boundary dispute and territorial claims. was political in character in the context of the domestic situation and international relations. The boundary disputes or the territorial claims involve a number of other factors but a 'major distinction has been drawn between disputes which concern fundamentals of self-image and touch on 'core- values' and disputes which do not affect issues to be vital for a state's existence·³ Claims which concern the 'core-values' of self-image can be divided into the claims based on ethnicity and historical continuity or irredentism. Before the nation-states came into existence, all the difference which existed between various tribes, classes, groups.

etc., were lying dormant and they were energised to deal with the common external factor. Having dealt with the external enemy, some sort of centrepetal force was required to unite the nation. In the post-:independence era, the boundary question and territorial claims came handy. New political and legal concepts like uti-possidetis, self- determination, democracy, decolonization, irredentism, etc., came into being. The existence of different ethnic groups within the same state posed acute problems as the people belonging to these groups sought separate identity and demanded a share in the political power. Lord Hailey rightly contends that the African people have in the past

3 K. E. Boulding, Conflict and Defense (New York 1963), p. 311.

missed the dynamic influence of the concept of territorial nationalism. Yet the current drift has unquestionably been toward a territorial nationalism which takes the existing colonies as setting the frame of political reference.

During 1950's and 1960's, the concept of uti possidetis. irredentism.

decolonization and self-determination held sway as far as the inherited colonial borders/territories were concerned. The concept of uti possidetis which means ·as you possess' is originally derived from the Roman Law. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 also attempted to establish a state system which 'exercises untrammelled sovereignty over certain territories and subordinated to no earthly authority'. ⁴ In African context, the terms of Peace of Augusburg in 1555 where religion was at issue.

was changed to nationality as 'coius regio, eius natio, or whose the region, his the nation'. ⁵ The principle of uti possidetis provides that the successor states accept international boundaries set by a predecessor regime. It also governs the territorial integrity of the non-self governing territory vis-a-vis a neighbouring state. The principle of uti possidetis expects the states to respect the frontiers bequeathed by colonization.

It is on this basis that a number of African states achieved independence. The practical problem relating to the application of uti possidetis arose when there was confusion over the location of actual control by the colonial powers or even when the same colonial power controlled two adjacent territories under different treaties or protectorates. The

4 L. Gross, "The Peace of Westphalia, 1648-1948". in Gross L. (ed) International Law in the Twentieth Century (London 1969). p. 25.

5 Touval, Sadia, "The Sources of Status Quo and Irredentist Policies". in Carl Gosta Widstrand ed., African Boundary Problems, (Uppsala 1969), p. 108.

6

colonial powers may have altered the administered boundaries and forced the other signatories to app~ove the new boundary. Such a situation may create a qu~stion whether the uti-possidetis should be colonial or pre-colonial. I. W. Zartman has rightly pointed out that the territorial claims based on the principles of colonial uti-possidetis have a strong case. since the successor state-nation is the primary judicial justification for any boundaries in Africa. Further. he says that he pre-colonial uti-possidetis would open the hornet"s nest. During 1960's. the pre-colonial uti possidetis used to be invoked in press and parliaments. academic gatherings and party meeting, by only such spokesmen who alluded to reconstituting the frontiers of an historic kingdom.

Besides uti possidetis. the other political term being used during 1950's and 1960's was irredentism. It challenged the legitimacy of existing boundaries and of corresponding territorial appointments. While the colonial uti-possidetis could be termed as 'status-quoist". the pre-colonial uti-possidetis and revisionist attitude of the state sought to change existing boundaries. Such an attitude called irredentism was based on ethnic nationhood, historical claims, anti-colonial ideology, self-determination, etc. Irredentism based on religious, historical and ethnic factors have created problems of immeasurable dimension. The creation of Israel in 1948, based on Zionism has destabilised the then Palestine and the Palestinian issue was one of the most thorniest problems in the history of Arab world and the contemporary international relations. The Greater Serbia question in the erstwhile Yugoslavia led to the ethnic war in the Balkans among the Serbs. Croats and Bosnian Muslims since 1991. Similar irreddentist claims by China over Tibet and Taiwan. Iranians over Bahrain, Somalians and Morocco in Africa. have created tensions and low intensity contlict. The regimes in quest for legitimacy have gone to any extent to push their claims. When the territorial changes undermined the pre<.:arious internal

structure threatening the very state's existence, the states have gone for status quo. But if the territorial claims increases the regimes legitimacy, then all norms of international law are thrown to wind. Such claims are also the logical corollary of the abolition of colonial legacy or the advocacy of self-determination which led to rejection of colonial borders. The other underlying causes behind the irredentist claims could be the value of mineral sources in the territory or the gee-strategic location of the territory or a safety valve for the unstable political system or as a matter of foreign policy where territorial claims are made to improve the bargaining position or ideologically different regimes.

etc. or the combination of either of the reasons.

Closely related to the utility of the 'uti possidetis' and the problems created by irredentism is the 'decolonization process' that was undertaken by the United Nations Organization (UNO), Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and other bodies. The word 'decolonization' was tirst used in 1932 by Montz Julius Bonn in the "Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences". Decolonization began with the First World War and entered a much accelerated stage during and after the Second World War. During the First World War, President Wilson of the US had declared before the American Congress in 1916 that 'every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live'. In 1918, he promised that 'all well-detined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded to them without introducing new or perpetuating old demands of discord and antagonism' .⁶ The

6 Pomerance, Michla "The United States and Self-Determination: Perspectives on the Wilsonian Conception" in American Journal of International Law. vol. 70.

1976, pp. 20-21.

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Wilsonian concept of self-determination was further developed and incorporated as a principle in Article I (2) of the Charter of the United Nations as development of friendly relations among nations 'based on respect for the principle of human rights and self- determination of peoples'. This was a tribute to the liberation struggles and the evolution of distinctive institutions by older social and political structures during decolonization and independence.

The principles of decolonization is based upon two concepts -- the 'concept of intangibility of international frontiers and second, the priority of the right of colonial populations to self-determination over all other rights, particularly historic rights·. ⁷ It was the pressure applied by the Afro-Asian countries in the UN that the 'territorial transfer' resulting in independence took place. Self-determination was implicit in 'decolonization'. It is retlected in Article 1(2) of the UN Charter, which makes reference to the right of self-determination of people suggesting that imperial/colonial domination is wrong. A major event in the development of norm of decolonization was the General Assembly resolution 1514 in 1960 sponsored by the Afro-Asian countries which equated imperial/colonial domination with violation of human rights and declared that such domination was contrary to the UN Charter. In fact, the right to self- determination has acquired the 'peremptory norm' of international law.

The founding conference of OA U also declared that colonialism is a 'flagrant violation of the inalienable rights of the legitimate inhabitants of the territories concerned' and "a menace to the peace of the continent'. Article 111(3) of the Charter of OAU also

7 George Joffe, "The International Court of Justice and the Western Sahara Dispute", in Richard Lawless & Laila Monahan ed. War and Refugees (London 1987) P !lO

pledges the member states to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state and for its imilienable right to independent existence. Thus. the OAU while opting for the principle of uti possidetis, also opted for status quo. The acceptance of this principle by the OAU was retlected in the low level of inter state transfers of territory in Africa.

This respect for the colonial boundaries also formed the basis of state boundaries after independence. While committing its member states to the status quo of the frontiers. the OAU established a commission of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration under Article 19 of its Charter.

While the former dependent countries were acquiring territorial sovereignty through armed liberation struggles, self-determination, transfer of territory by colonial powers, etc. few states in Africa embarked on irredentist policies leaving aside the norms of uti possidetis, decolonization and self-determination. The territorial disputes due to irredentism arose as a result of emerging nationalism or historical claims. The irredentist policies of Somalia, Morocco, Ghana and Togo caused tension and contlict between Somalia and Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, Morocco and Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania, Ghana and Togo, and between Morocco and erstwhile Spanish Sahara (presently called Western Sahara and represented by SADR). Partly due to that policy the republic of Somalia is in turmoil at present. Ethiopia has granted independence to Eritrea through self-determination. Dispute between Morocco and Mauritania and Morocco and Algeria have been settled through negotiation. Contlict between Ghana and Togo is dormant. It is the conflict between Morocco and SADR which has caused major trouble in the Maghreb and in UN/OAU.

Morocco's irredentist policy is a sequel to the irredentist propaganda launched by Allal al-Fassi and his Istiqlal party which started after Morocco gained independence

10

in 1956. Morocco claimed the whole of Mauritania, Western Sahara, parts of Algeria and Mali, as part of the 'Greater Morocco' on the basis of the Sixteenth Century Sherifian Empire which exercised military and religious intluence in these regions. On the other hand 'Spanish Sahara' was treated and recognized as an area to be 'decolonized' by the UN to enable the indigenous population to exercise its right of self- determination. From 1964 to 1974 (except 1971), the Special ·Committee on Decolonization called on Spain to hold referendum under the UN auspices to enable the Saharawi people to exercise their right to self-determination. But in 1975 the 10 delivered its advisory opinion on Western Sahara and immediately after that the Madrid Accord was signed by Morocco, Mauritania and Spain. By this accord. the Spain transferred the administration to Morocco and Mauritania which got two-third of the Nonhern Western Sahara and one-third of the Southern Western Sahara respectively.

The military occupation of Morocco and Mauritania left the Saharawi organization POLISARIO with no option but to proclaim SADR in 1976. While Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979, the conflict is going on at all levels between Morocco and SADR to achieve their respective goals.

The forcible occupation of Western Sahara by Moroccans raises certain questions --whether there existed any empire in 12th and 16th centuries which exercised effectiYe control in the Western Saharan region? What kind of historical relations existed between the nomadic tribes of western Sahara and the Moroccan government. Did Western Sahara formed a part of blad-as Siba or blad-al-Makhjen or was not conquered at all?

How far back in the history does one go to retain or claim ownership of a territory that was reportedly lost to others or does one apply the principle 'once a pan of a state.

always a part of that state? What was the attitude of Morocco towards the Spanish

Sahara during the second half of 19th century and first half of 20th century? What kind of 'religious allegiance' existed between the 'desert tribes' and Moroccan Sultan. and whether it can be taken as proof of political allegiance? What kind of treaties were signed between Morocco and other powers? Whether Morocco has any moral, ethical or Islamic right to claim ·any territory, given the prevailing norms of International Law?

For these questions, it is necessary to dwelve into the anthropological and political history of the region as history is the record of the events that had taken place in the region.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND DURING ISLAMIC PERIOD

The north-west Africa or Maghreb has the history of invasion and migration from the east and from across the Mediterranean in the north. The original inhabitants of the Maghreb were the imazighen or Berber-speaking 'free-men'. Around 700 B.C.. the immigrant Phoenicians founded Carthage (in Tunisia). The destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C., was followed by the Roman colonization of the Maghreb. In A.D. 439, a Germanic people called Vandals, crossed from Spain into Africa and destroyed the coastal zone called Carthage till they were displaced by the Byzantines in 535. In A.D.

587, the Berbers captured Carthage and occupied it until A. D. 642, when the Arabs invaded North Africa from the East. The Arabs reached the Western extreme of the Maghreb in A.D. 680 under Uqba ibn Nafi, and defeated the final armed resistance from the Christian tribe 'Awreba' under Kosaila and the Jewish Berber tribe 'Jerawa' under its queen Kahena. With their defeat, the Berber tribes accepted Islam rather than pay tributes to the Arabs. The Islamized Berber traders of the Mediterranean spread the Muslim faith down the trans-Sahara desert caravan routes and into the bilad as Soudan

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(the Black Africa south of the Sahara). The Berber people were divided into three main groups - Zenata. Masmuda and Sanhaja. It is the Sanhaja. also called Zenaga or Azenaga. which inhabited the Western Sahara which is the vast triangle between the Moroccan Sus. the Trarza (now West Mauritania) and the settlement of Timbuktu (now in Mali). The Sanhaja were a confederation of a number of tribes like Lamta. Juddala.

Massufaq and the Lamtuna. ⁸ These tribes had played a very important role in the Trans-Sahara trade and traffic. They helped in handling gold, ivory and negro slaves from the south in lieu of the horses and salt from the north. The Arabs had intermarried freely with indigenous Berbers and Blacks, thereby producing a mixed people of Arabic speech and of Muslim faith. The earliest routes from the Maghreb-ai-Aqsa to Bilad-as- Sudan (i.e. Black Africa) crossed the Sahara not far from the Atlantic coast. While in the desert the human life, depended on scattered oases, in the coastal zone the harsh conditions of the Sahara desert was tempered by the intluence of the ocean and its currents. The Sanhaja nomads could thus tind pasture for their animal throughout the western most Sahara. This provided a unbroken link between Morocco and the Senegal. ⁹ During the eighth and ninth centuries A.D., the Sanhaja's were also called Anbiya: The Sanhaja's were sandwitched between the Sijilmasa Kingdom in the north and Soninke Kingdom of Ghana in the south during the eighth and ninth centuries.

8 Mercer, John, "The Cycle of Invasion and Unification in the Western Sahara".

in Africa Affairs, vol. 75, 1976, p. 499.

9 Fage, J.D., ed., The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 2 (Cambridge 1978). p.

648.

During the tenth century, the politico-religious movement under the combined leadership of the spiritual authority and the tribal amirs, mobilized the resources of the Sanhaja which led to the Sanhaja confederation between Lamtuna and Juddala which flowered into Almoravid movement later. Islam enjoins all Muslims to undenake pilgrimage (Hadj) to Mecca and Medina once in a life time according to his/her means.

It was during the pilgrimages, that the tribal chiefs had to pass through Kairouan, which was the centre of propagation of Islam among the Berbers. The fuqaha (jurists) of Kairovan were helped by the 'people of the ribat' i.e. Almoravids. It was Abdallah b. Yasin, who imposed the strict application of the Sharia, abolished illegal taxes, levied the legally prescribed tax (sadaqa). established public treasury (bayt at-mal) and carefully distributed the booty according to the law. It was to crush influence of the lbadiyya and the unislamic tendencies among the tribes that the Almoravids split into two military streams -- towards the north under Ibn Tashtin and to south under Abu Bakr. In the north, the Almoravids conquered the whole of present Morocco and defeated the Castillian army at Zalaqa in 1086. In the south, they pacified Sahara, conquered Ghana and part of western Sudan. After the death of Abu Bakr in 1087, Ibn Tashtin absorbed even the Muslim Spain in the Almoravid empire but the Saharan al-Murabitun maintaine<!

their independent character.¹⁰

The death of Ibn Tashtin resulted in revolts by Berber chiefs, Christian mercenaries, Andalusians etc., which weakened the Almoravid empire. It was Masmuda Berbers under··teadership of Mohammed Ibn Tummart, who finally sealed the fate of Almoravids and, founded the Almohad Empire under Abdul-Mumin by 1150's. The

10 Jamil M. Abun-Nasr A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge, 1971), p. 96.

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Almohads concentrated towards the East and North which resulted in the unleashing of Beni Hilal and Beni Soleim tribes by Fahmid rulers in Egypt towards the Maghreb. The arrival of Arab tribes resulted in the displacement of Berber languages by Arabic in most rural areas except mountain ranges. During the thirteenth century, another bedouin Arab tribe, the Maqil originally from Yemen. migrated across north Africa and reached as far West as the oases of the Draa valley on the Atlantic coast. With the decline of the Almohads, the Zenata Berbers (Beni Merin) from the south-east Morocco allied with the Maqil tribes to defeat the Almohads and captured Fez in 1248 and Marrakesh in 1269.

After the Merinids settled in power, they took punitive action against the Maqil and besieged Sijilmasa from the Maqil dominance. The Maqil tribes (also known as Beni Hassan) were forced to migrate southwards to Dra'a-Tafilalet region and then to western Sahara. This process of slow migration by groups of Beni Hassan tribes continued over the next few centuries, who were either 'defeated, submerged, or vassalized or fused and intermarried with the Sanhaja to give rise to a new Arabic-speaking people known as 'Moors' .¹¹ The 'Moors' are the miscegenation of Arab, Berber and Blacks, who live as pastoral nomads from the Ora' a river in the north to the banks of the Senegal river, and from the Atlantic coast to the present eastern Mauritania. By 1400, the Delim and Udaya Arab.tribes were in control of the coastal desert. The Oulad Delim claims descent from the Beni Hassan and they consider themselves as purest Arabs of the Sahel.

In the fifteenth century, the Portuguese and then the Spanish landed at different places on the Saharan Atlantic coast, to control the trans-Saharan route with the aim of

11 Tony Hodges Western Sahara- The Roots of a Desert War (Connecticut. 1983), p. 8.

conquering the famous 'Gold mine of Sudan' and of monopolising the fishing. In 1405.

the Norman, Jean de Benthancart Castillanese, landed at Boujador, looted the fishing villages. but was pursued and thrown out by the Saharawis. In 1445. Joan Fernandez was captured by the Saharawi tribe while entering the Saharawi territory.¹¹ In 1476.

the Castillian master of the Canaries. Diego Garcia de Herrera, ·sent an armed force to the Saharan coast to build a fortress, Santa Cruz de Marpequena, which became a centre for trade and a base for slave-trading. ¹³ The Spanish Portuguese treaties were signed in Alcacovas (September 1479), Toledo (May, 1480), Tordesillas (June, 1494) and Cintra (September, 1509), which agreed on the spheres of influence along the coast. The 1494 Treaty granted Spain the 'right of conquest' of territories between Boujador and Cape Blanc. During this time, trade was developing between Europeans. Saharawis and the Songhai empire. In 1524, the Saharan tribes sacked the fortress Santa Cruz de Mar Pequena and the Spanish imperial interest shifted to Americas.

In the early sixteenth century, a member of the Hassaniya family from Wadi Dra'a was hailed as the Mahdi and took-over Morocco as the Saadian dynasty. As the Berbers revolted and the Songhai Kingdom controlled the trans-Saharan trade, the Saadian rulers tried to establish sovereignty over desert tribes and took military expeditions to the Sudanese empire to take control of gold trade and the desert salt mines. The Saadian rulers were encouraged by their success in the battle of El-Ksar el-

12 'The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic - Past and Present, published b~

Ministry of Information and Culture of SADR, 198~.

13 Hodges, Tony, "The Western Sahara File" m Third World Quarterly 60 ).

January 1984, p. 79.

ln

Kebir (Alcazar) in 1578 when the forces of Abdei-Malek annihilated the Portuguese forces. The battle of Alcazar not only changed the course of history of Europe, but its consequences to Africa spanned the Sahara, stretching a bloody hand from Fez to the Niger and beyond. ¹⁴ The new Sherif. Mulai Ahmed ei-Mansoor in 1591. sent a desert army under a Islamized Spaniard. Pasha Judar to invade Sudan ahd conquer the Songhai Kingdom. Though the invasion was successful. it failed in its purpose of obtaining control of the sources of gold. The profitless Moroccan expeditions and its intluence lasted from 1591 to 1612, as from 1612 onwards the Pashas of Timbuktu were not appointed by the Sultan. By 1618, the traffic in gold and slaves from Niger to Morocco had been reduced to a trickle or diverted elsewhere to the Turkish controlled cities of Algiers and Tunis via the Touat oases 'which had slipped from the Saadian control after the death of Ahmed ei-Mansour, or to the Europeans on the Atlantic coast, notably at Arguin'. ¹⁵

While anarchy prevailed in Soudan, the Alawites gained control of the strategic Touat oases in 1645, captured Fez in 1666 and Marakkesh in 1669. under the first Alawite Sultan Moulay Rashid (1664-1672). He sent expeditions into the Sahara to pursue the rebellious marabouts, who had become ·quasi-independent rulers. The hostilities between the Sanhajas under Nasser-ed-din and the Beni Hasan went on for thirty years (1644-1674), called as War of Shar Boubah before the Yefdad Agreement was signed, under which the Sanhaja 'abandoned the sword for the book' and came to

14 E.W. Bovill, The Golden Trade of the Moors (London. 1958). p. 135.

15 Nasr, n 10, p. 217

be known as Ahel Ktub (people of the book). The religious fraternities among the tribes came to be known as Zwaya.¹⁶ After the death of Moulay Rashid. Moulay Ismail (1672-1727) played a major role in the Sahara, as he organized a series of expeditions into the desert to obtain additional recruits for the abid (slave) regiments and to reorient the trans-Saharan trade caravans towards Morocco.¹⁷ Moulay- Ismail was successful in increasing his intluence in trab-el-beidan (i.e. in Souss, Tagant, Trarza. etc.) and the tribal leaders recognized his suzerainty to buttress their own independent position. With his death in 1727, the blad-es-makhjen shrunk and blad-es-Siba reverted to its old status.

The trade route shifted to the east in favour of Turks and in the south-west to French.

The town of Tazeroualt and Noun in Goulimine emerged as new caravan trading centres.

By the end of eighteenth century, the Alawites lost their control or intluence over the inhabitants of the coast of the river Noun and beyond. This is borne out by the various treaties signed between the Alawite Sultanate and such maritime powers as Spain, Britain and US during eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in which the Sultan had accepted his 'non-control' in 'Wad-Noun and beyond' and the insertion of the 'shipwreck clause'.

The treaties were signed between Morocco and Spain in 1767, 1799 and 1861; with US in 1836 and 1856, Europeans shipwrecked off the Western Sahara early in the nineteenth century had to reach Noun before they could be ransomed. The ransoming of the ship- wrecked sailors was a lucrative business for the rulers of Goulimine and Tazeroualt.

--They had a considerable stake in the Saharan caravan traffic. Sheikh Beyrouk was

16 Hodges, n. 13, p. 9.

17 Charles Andre Julien, History of North Africa (London 1970), pp. 249-51.

18

represented by commercial agents in all the main market towns of Mauritania and the 'Sudan' The Beyrouk's continued their trading links with the French. Spanish and Mackenzie's northwest Africa company till 1892, despite intermittent threats from the Moroccan Sultans. Since 1844. when the Moroccan Army was defeated by French at Oujda, the Sultanate was unable to do much to control the Europeans from having trading link with Beyrouks and the Teknas. Their trading link were founded on mutual self- interest and they avoided the heavy customs duties levied by the Makhzen in its part at Mogador.

In the Western Sahara, the Requibat emerged as the largest and most powerful of all the tribes in the nineteenth century. They defeated many tribes in the northern stretch of the Trab-el-beidan. They defeated the Tadjakant (a trading people) in 1895 at Tindouf, with whom they were in contlict since 1820's. In 1866, the Requibat defeated an invading force from Adrar and Hodh (south-eastern Mauritania) led by a Marabout Sidi Ahmed el-Kounti, with the help of Oulad Bou Soaa. In 1888. they joined Oulad Tidranin's war against Oulad Delim. In 1897, they struggled against Oulad Jerir of Adrar whom they finally crushed in 1909. Simultaneously, they had been t1ghting against the Oulad Ghailan ofAdrar during 1899-1904 and during 1905-10 against Oulad Bou Sabaa, whom they severely defeated at the battles of Foucht ( 1907) and Lemden el- Hauat. ¹⁸

18 Julio Caro Baroja, Estudios Saharianos (lnstituto de Estudios Africanos. Madrid) pp. 350-359, as quoted in Hodges, n. 13, p. 13.

DURING COLONIAL ERA

The diminished trans-Saharan trade, the trading links of Europeans with the Saharan tribes, the refusal of the Emirs of the Saharan tribes to recognize the Moroccan Sultan's authority, etc., alarmed the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Hassan (1873-94). He wanted to restore the Makhzen's administration on the fringes of.the southern pan of the empire. In 1882. he controlled Tarfaya and stopped Mackenzie from operating his trade.

In· 1886, he established a permanent garrison in Goulimine and appointed the chiefs of Tekna's, Tadjakant as official caids, sent envoys to the oases of Gourara, Touat and Tidikent. By 1892, he established Moroccan administration over blad-es-Makhzen but he was unable to control the nomads, south of the Noun. The emirs of Trarza, Adrar.

Tagant and Brakna refused to recognize his authority. The Requibat, Tekna tribes south of Noun, the lzarguien, Air lahsen and Yagout also did not submit to the Sultan. As per the Anglo-Moroccan agreement of 13 March 1895, the trading post of nonh-west Africa Company at Tarfaya was sold to Sultan for 50,000 British Pounds.

The Congress of Berlin, 1884 inspired the Spanish government to proclaim a protectorate over the 'territories of Rio de Oro, Angra de Cintra and the Bay of the West'. Though the Spanish founded Villa Cisneros (at Dakhla) in 1885 and placed the whole coast between Cape Bojador and Cape Blanc under their administrative responsibility, it could not occupy its allotted zone of territories, as per the treaties signed between France and Spain (in 1886, 1900, 1904 and 1912) upto 1916. In 1916.

the Spanish established their second post at Tarfaya in 'Spanish South Morocco'. A third

20

settlement was founded at La Guera, at the tip of Cape Blanc in 1920. But, no attempt was made to occupy the interiors until as late as 1934.¹⁹

While Morocco was trying to preserve the blad-as-Makhzen, the Saharan nomads were alarmed at the northward progress of the French through the Mauritanian region during 1890's. The Saharan nomads in north-west were unified under the magnetic appeal of Mohammad Mustafa Ould Sheikh Mohammed Eadel, nick-named as Ma-el- Ainin. By 1858, he had established relations with the ruling Alawite family of Morocco.

In 1887, the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Hassan named him as the Caliph (Khalifa) in the Western Sahara. In 1895, Ma-el-Ainin proclaimed holy war against the Europeans and built his own fortress-monastery at a strategic point high up in the Saguia-el-Hamra known as Smara. He encouraged the Ahel-es-Sahel to harass the Spanish settlements and tried to prevent the Emir of Adrar and several Saharawi sheikhs to trade with the Spanish. But the continuous French penetration in Sahara forced him to seek allies in all quarters like Germans, Spanish and even Morocco. Morocco, which itself felt threatened by the French, saw in Ma-el-Aineen, an ally who could be useful in checking the French armies which were encircling from the south. ²⁰ In 1905, Ma-ei-Aineen declare_d Jehad against the Europeans in Sahara. With the help from Sultan Moulay Abdel Aziz, the French were defeated at Neimilane in October 1906, but had to leave and retreat to Adrar when they began a long seige of the French post at Tidjilka. In

-~''

----~( ~.., 'y ^{7}-1- 65 .3} 8

19 Tony Hodges, "The _W~stern Sahara File" in Third World Quarterly 6(1), January 1984, p. 81. . "

20 Nasr, n.10, p. 301. Sahara Occidental, Western Sahara, Advisory Opinion of I CJ , I 97 5, p. 160.

THESIS

320.9648

Al415 We 21

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1906, the Sultan accepted the Act of Algeciras, an agreement reached by the thirteen powers in April 1906 which amounted to placing the Morocco's ports, pol ice and finances under Franco-Spanish control. ²¹ In May 1907, Abdel Aziz recalled Moulay ldris from the Sahara. The Sultan's compromises with the French dismayed the Chiefs of the Saharan tribes as well as Ma-el-Aineen and they declared support for Moula~

Hafid when he rose in rebellion against the Sultan in August 1907. But, once Moula~

Hafid became victorious, he signed the Act of Algeciras on 5 January 1909. to obtain the European power's recognition. Ma-el-Aineen was forced to abandon Smara and. h~

settled in southern Souss. When Morocco entered into an agreement with France on 4

March 1910, the net result was that Morocco was prevented from providing any assistance to Ma-ei-Aineen. At this, Ma-ei-Aineen proclaimed himself Sultan and marched against Fez, with a force of 6.000 troops. But he was halted by General Moiniers Army and defeated at Tadla. ²² He died on 28 October 1910.

After the death of Ma-ei-Aineen (Blue Sultan), his sons kept the French at ba~

till 1934. His son Ahmed ei-Hiba, proclaimed himself as Sultan in 1912 and invaded Morocco. He captured Marakkesh on 15 August, 1912 but was eventually defeated by the army of General Manguin. Fleeing south, EI-Hiba held out against the French in the Souss for a year, when the forces under General Lyautey seized Agadir and Taroudant.

El-Hiba then retreated to the Anti-Atlas from where he waged guerilla struggle against French. After 1912, the Sahrawis began to loose the unity. Due to lack of choice and

21 Sahara Occidental, Western Sahara Advisory Opinion of 10. 1975, p. 160.

22 Ibid .. p. 160.

22

inter-tribal animosity the Mauritanian tribes fought for French while the Hassaniya Delim were brought over by the Spanish. In 1913. the French forces under Lt. Col. Mouret indulged in wanton vandalism and damaged Smara. The Spanish added Cape of Juby in 1916 and La Guera in 1920. to Villa Cisneros. ²³ The ami-French raids continued during 1920's. The important Saharawi leaders were Mohammed el-Mamoun (nephew of Ma-ei-Aineen), El-Aissawi et-Tibari (a Requibi). Mohammed Laghdaf etc The French were able to set one tribe against another by exploiting traditional nvalries.

mutual fears and suspicious. In 1934. Contins Algero-Marocains (CAM) tinished the remaining centres of dissidence in Anti-Atlas and the valley of the Dra'a. The French Pacification of Southern Morocco, enabled the Spanish to venture into the desert. who founded El-Ayoun, fortified Smara and the scattered wells. It is interesting to note that in 1934, while the Requibat made contacts with the French authorities in Tindouf and Goulimine for economic reasons, the anti-French leaders including Mohd. Laghdaf and Mohammed el-Mamoun, preferred to establish relations with the Spanish.

From 1934 to 1946, the Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara) was governed as an appendage of the Spanish Protectorate in northern Morocco. From 1946 to 1958. the Spanish Sahara formed part of African Occidental Espanola (AOE) with Ifni. The Franco-Spanish relations became more antagonistic in 1953 after Madrid had openly encouraged Arab nationalism in the Maghreb and refused to recognize the Sultan that French had installed in Morocco after exiling Ben Youssef to Madagascar. ²⁴ The

23 Mercer, n. 8, p. 503.

24 Virginia Thomson and Richard Adloff, The Western Saharans. (London 1980).

p. 312.

Independence of Morocco in 1956 aroused the anti-colonial sentiments among Saharawi's who took up the task of decolonization more seriously after Morocco acquired its complete independence from France and Spain.

CONCLUSION

The historical analysis of the Western Sahara region makes it explicitly clear that this region was situated on the traditional Saharan Caravan route connecting Morocco to the blad-as-Soudan (i.e. black Africa). The Almoravids and Almohads role amply goes to prove that during that period it is the Saharawis from the western Sahara region who controlled Morocco and it is the 'desert culture' which dominated the Moroccan life prior to the invasion by Europeans and their cross-culture. The all round assimilation of various peoples which took place due their trade relations, exploring new trade routes and their invasion of blad-es-Soudan. While Spain did land on the coastal areas of Western Sahara, it was only for the purpose of trade. As the value/importance of the Saharan trade route diminished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. the rulers in Morocco lost their interest in controlling the region. Consequently, the region beyond river Dra'a in the south part of the Morocco was treated as blad-as-Siba while the urban/metropolitan Morocco was considered as blad-as-Makhzen i.e. well within the -cbntrQI_of Moroccan rulers. The traditional bay'a was only nominal or religious in nature and it dia·-relate to the sovereignty question of their subjugation. It was under such conditions that the Spanish established their control over the western Sahara region with the help of French and simultaneously maintained their hold/role in Ifni, Cueta.

Mel ilia, -Spanish protectorate in Tarfaya in southern part of Morocco and northern part of Morocco. What differentiates the western Sahara issue from the other territories held in possession by Spanish in Ifni, northern and southern pan of Morocco was that the

24

former was not under the control or subjugation of any sovereign authority when the European colonialism penetrated the region during nineteenth and early twentieth century while the latter was ceded to the colonial masters under some or other agreement.

The Moroccan independence in 1956 brought new dimensions to the boundary dispute of frontier of the nation state. During the French control of Algeria. the borders of Morocco with Algeria beyond south of Figuig was undetined. Spain controlled the region beyond Tarfaya in the southern part of Morocco. Hence, the handing over of the French controlled territory by French to Morocco left the latter to struggle to get its borders detined. Instead of settling its border questions amicably with its neighbours.

the 'successor state' Morocco challenged virtually all the existing 'colonial borders· by proclaiming and espousing 'Greater Morocco'. Such a claim throws a number of questions to be solved. Whether the treaties signed earlier between French and Spain regarding the areas out of the French Protectorate in Morocco becomes redundant or void on the principle of 'rebus sic stanti bus'? Whether the Moroccan claim of 'Greater Morocco' has any legal, ethical, historical or Islamic sanctity?

Chapter II

CLASH OF NATIONALISMS

Chapter II

CLASH OF NATIONALISMS

With the declaration of the cessation of the ·Protectorate Treaty of 1912 · (also called the Treaty of Fez) by the French, the Kingdom of Morocco was restored to the Sultan Mohammed-V on 2 March 1956. The French protectorate covered an area of 162.120 sq. miles. The granting of independence to Morocco was prompted by the fa~.:t

that Tunisia was also in the process of achieving independence and more than that, the French wanted to concentrate on keeping Algeria as part of the Metropolitan France while the Algerians were tighting a grim battle with French to achieve independence.

In the Maghreb, the nationalist feelings were at the peak, in the form of anti-colonial movement. Nationalism as a mass emotion and social phenomenon was chartering its way to the future.

On 7 April 1956 the protectorate acquired by Spain in the northern zone of Morocco was terminated by the Joint Declaration of Morocco and Spain on Moroccan independence. Thus, the Northern Protectorate, having an area of 10,808 sq. miles along the Strait of Gibralter, was also integrated into Morocco. In October 1956. the Tangier International Committee of Control transferred the international zone covering an area of 144 sq. miles with more than 200,000 inhabitants to Moroccan administration.

Finally, Spain transferred control over the southern zone of the former Spanish Protectorate in Morocco to the Moroccan authorities with effect from 10 April 1958.

According to the 'Spanish Memorandum on the transfer to the Moroccan authorities of control over the southern zone of the former Spanish Protectorate in Morocco-New York

15th April 1958' the southern zone is de tined in the last paragraph of Article 2 of the

Agreement dated 27 November 1912; as located between the sea, the river Draa.

meridien II west of Paris and parallel 27/40 latitude north and administered by Spain as a Protectorate since 1916, the date of its actual occupation. With the transfer of the said region to Morocco, Spain complied fully with the commitments under the Madrid Declaration of 7 April 1956 by which Spain obliged herself 'to respect the territorial unity of the Empire guaranteed by international treaties'. The memorandum further stated that the Spanish government considers that its mission had been accomplished.

The process of Moroccan unification, a consequence of its independence was completed in so far as Spain was concerned. ¹ The memorandum and the subsequent transfer of the Southern Protectorate was the result of the talks between the Foreign Ministers of Morocco and Spain. It should be noted here that in the Convention of 27 June 1900 the southern and eastern limits of Spanish interest in Rio de Oro were determined, but the northern limit was left vague. The Franco-Spanish Convention of 3 October 1904 vide Article VI, allocated the area between the Atlantic seaboard and 26° north. 27° 40' north and 8° 40' west to the Spanish sphere of freedom of action. Similarly, the Franco- Spanish Convention of 27 November 1912, conferred or purported to confer title in this zone, called Saquiet el Hamara upon Spain. The northern limit of Saquiet el Hamra was the frontier of the former province of Spanish Sahara. ² Thus, the straight line border between Morocco and Spanish Sahara, which follows latitude 27° 40' north for a distance of some 275 miles from the Atlantic to the meridian SO 40' west of Greenwich is

1 'r63.,British and Foreign State Papers (London) 973 as quoted in Ian Brownlie.

African Boundaries (London 1979), pp. 154-55.

2 Ian Brownlies, African Boundaries (London 1979), p. 149.

27

Morocco's only completely detined land border to dati3 according to Anthony S.

Reyner.

CONCEPT OF GREATER MOROCCO & ISTIQLAL PARTY

The nationalist feeling in Morocco was quite feverish during 1950's. The lstiqlal (independence) Party in Morocco had played a leading role in the national movement or Morocco and its leader, Allal-al-Fassi, was acknowledged as the leader of natiYe nationalism and after the King was perhaps the chief architect of independence' .⁴ It was he, who gave the call in a speech on 27 March 1956 for regaining the real borders of the Fatherland. He claimed that only parts of the historic Alawite Empire had been freed.

He also announced that so long as Tangier was not liberated from its international statute.

so long as the 'Spanish deserts of the south, the Sahara from Tindouf and Atar and the Algerian-Moroccan borderlands are not liberated from their trusteeship. our independence will remain incomplete and our tirst duty will be to carry on action to liberate the country and to unify it'. ⁵

The most striking manifestation of Moroccan nationalism -- rather territorial nationalism -- was when on 7 July 1956 the front page of the lstiqlal Party daily, AI

3

5

Anthony S. Reyner, "Morocco's International Boundaries : A Factual Background" in The Journal of Modern African Studies, I, 3 (1963), pp. 313-14.

4 Ram Landau, Morocco Independent (London 1961), p. 95.

Bertrand Fessard de Foucault, "La question du Sahara espanol" in Revue Francaise d'Etudes Politiques Africaines, 10 (119) 1975, p. 78 as quoted in Tony Hodges, "The Western Sahara File" in Third World Quarterly. 6( 1 ), January 1984, pp. 87-88.

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Alam (The Banner) carried a map of 'Greater Morocco' by Abdel-kebir el Fassi. with a commentary on the economic importance of the mineral resources in the western Sahara. Allal-el Fassi reiterated what he had been advocating from Cairo and elsewhere since 1948 that for reasons of geography. history and international law the ·natural frontiers' of Moroccan Sahara should end where Mauritania meets Senegal. Allal el Fassi's thinking appears to have been intluenced by Kitab AI Wasit published in Cairo during 1911. whose author Ahmed Ould Lamin al Chenguitti. asserted that the "Chenguiti region (Mauritania) belonged to Morocco rather than to the 'Land of the Blacks' (Soudan. now Mali Republic). ⁶ While Sultan was the symbol of unity for the Moroccan nationalists, it was the activists of the lstiqlal party, and its leader, Allal-el Fassi, who propagated and popularised the notion of Moroccan nationalism during the independence struggle and the concept of Greater Morocco after the independence. He argued that the Moroccan nation, serving as the successor-state to the great Berber empires of north Africa, had a legitimate right to exercise its sovereignty over former territories of those emp1res. According to him, the Greater Morocco constituted a national, historical, geographic and social unity.⁷

In effect, what Morocco acquired after the termination of Treaty of Fez (1912) was the territory which was under the Sultan's control during 1912. In fact Sultan's authority was only around Fez. It was France that determined what area to be conquered in the name of Sultan and not the Sultan. The Sultan was a mere figurehead during

6

7

Reyner, n.3, p. 314.

John Damis, Contlict in North-West Africa (Stanford, 1983), p. 15.

The Western Sahara Dispute

1912. The same territory was the subject matter of protectorate treaties with France and Spain. With the French relinquishment of its protectorate in Morocco. Spain felt itself bound to cede its protectorate in Northern Morocco in 1956 and the southern region of Tarfaya (or Tekna) in 1958. One important external factor in the French and Spani~h

action was their intention to control and assimilate Algeria and Spanish Sahara respectively under their sovereignty. It is not uncommon during the surge of nationalism that several competing forces in the region starts articulating the national interest ar!d nationalism in their own interest. In Morocco, the Istiqlal party was way ahead in this respect as, much of the ground-work for Moroccan nationalism was done by Istiqlal party. But, ultimately it was Sultan Mohammed-V who emerged as the focus of Moroccan unity and for independence especially after his exile in August 1953. Even France gave up Morocco in their interest to the Sultan, as the colonial conflict could ha,·t:!

generated a take over of the nationalist movement by radicals. Allal-ei-Fassi had been making the demand for restoration of Chenguiti (Shanquit) to Morocco for a long time and carried the Istiqlal party with his views when the 'lstiqlal party endorsed his terrimr:ial_ demands at its first post-Independence Congress in August 1956' .s This· was the time when Moroccan Sultan was consolidating the Moroccan regime. As dlt:!

monarchy had support only within the traditional elements/sections and the rural areas of the Morocco. it 'took up the Saharan claim as its own lest the monarchy be outflank<td by lstiqlal party as the standard bearer of the Moroccan nationalism' .⁹ The monarchy

8

9

Tony Hodges, Western Sahara Connecticut 1983), p. 86.

Damis, n. 7, p. 23.

The Roots of a Desert War (Westpmt.

30

thereby took the peoples' imagination to the past glory of Morocco's pre-colonial Sultans and thus undermined the position of the Istiqlal party.

In April 1957. Allal-el Fassi founded a weekly newspaper. Sahara ai-Maghrib (The Moroccan Sahara) to help ·our Mauritanian brothers to free themselves and rejoin Morocco. our common fatherland. Cells of the Istiqlal Party spread this message among the Moroccan public and a map showing the frontiers of Greater Morocco was distributed widely throughout the country. Their call was based upon the contention that foreign officials had arbitrarily detined the protectorate's boundaries in secret agreement, ignoring areas historically, ethnically and popularly regarded as parts of the Sheri tian Empire. This claimed territory included Tarfaya, the Spanish Presidio and a vague area referred to as the Moroccan Sahara, which included Ifni, the Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, parts of south-west Mali.¹⁰

The movement for Greater Morocco remained unofficial, until Spain rejected a Moroccan request for the immediate return of Ifni and Tekna (or Tarfaya) in 1957.

Thenceforth, the concept of Greater Morocco was embraced officially by Morocco towards the end of 1957, which proves that the efforts of Allal el-Fassi for the Greater Morocco were being given credence by the people. On 15 October 1957, Morocco formally laid claims over Mauritania. Ifni and Western Sahara before the United Nations.

On 12 November 1957 the Moroccan government passed a Dahir (decree) creating a 'Saharan and Frontier Affairs' in the Interior Ministry with the brother of Allal el-Fassi, Mr. AbdelkeQir el-Fassi, as its director. Sultan Mohammed V endorsed the Saharan claim publicly on 25 February 1958 in M 'hamid in the Valley of the River Draa when

-

10 Mark I. Cohen and Lorna Hahn. Morocco Old Land New Nation (London 1965), p. 215.