Saharan leader tries to recruit EU to freedom cause: Its allies dwindling, his
movement wants Brussels to lean on Moroccan occupiers

From THE GUARDIAN, November 25th, 2000

 By IAN BLACK IN BRUSSELS
 It has been a long march for Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, president of the
  Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. But he still believes - in the
  face of repeated reverses - that his people will win independence.
 Marking the 25th anniversary of the occupation of his desert
  homeland by Morocco, the leader of this phantom state refuses to
  acknowledge that the years of struggle have been in vain even as
  world support slips away and the status quo solidifies.
 Mr Abdel-Aziz, now 51, was a founder of the Polisario Front, formed
  in 1973 to oppose the claim of King Hassan of Morocco to the then
  Spanish colony. Two years later, General Franco pulled out, the king
  got his chance, and instead of independence, the Sahrawis got
  Moroccan occupation.
 He has been president of the notional Saharan republic since 1982,
  but still has to live in exile in neighbouring Algeria, long at odds
  with Morocco and thus Mr Abdel-Aziz's staunchest backer.
 Now seeking to regain lost ground after what really does seem to be
  the final collapse of a UN plan for a referendum on the future
  status of the disputed Saharan region, Mr Abdel-Aziz blames Morocco
  for the impasse. He argues that the late King Hassan's successor,
  King Mohammed, though a liberaliser in some ways, is his father's
  son on the Sahara.
 'We had hopes of cooperation with the new king, but he is not
  dealing with the issues in a new way,' he said yesterday.
 Mr Abdel-Aziz, a powerfully built man, speaks passionately - in
  careful classical Arabic with a distinctive Sahrawi Hassaniya accent
  - of the right to self-determination of a small people it sometimes
  seems has been simply forgotten by history.
 'No, nothing has changed,' he says defiantly. 'Twenty-five years of
  sacrifices and hardship have made us more determined than ever to
  win our legitimate rights.' But much has changed. Back in the
  mid-70s and early 80s, Polisario fighters made the Moroccans pay a
  heavy price for taking over the phosphate-rich territory along the
  Atlantic seaboard.
 Using language inspired by the Palestinians, the Sahrawis attracted
  wide support as a Third World liberation movement betrayed by a
  world that preferred to look the other way.
 Morocco, like Indonesia, mattered more to the US and its allies than
  the fate of a few hundred thousand nomads who happened to believe
  they were a distinct people with their own identity.
 In their refugee camps in Tindouf in remote south-western Algeria,
  the Polisario fighters impressed visitors with their high morale and
  motivation as guerrillas in all-terrain vehicles scoured the gravel
  plains to mount hit-and-run raids on Moroccan forces.
 Yet fighting stopped under a ceasefire nine years ago, and last
  month the UN as much as admitted that referendum plans were stalled
  after years of Morrocan procrastination over how to register voters.
  Support dwindles
 Diplomatic recognition of the would-be republic has dwindled, too,
  though its leader said that India, a big player in the non-aligned
  world, had only 'frozen' links. And Nigeria remained loyal.
 The phantom state is still a member of the Organisation of African
  Unity. But Algeria - anxious to mend its fences with Morocco -
  leaned heavily on its leaders not to insist on attending the
  EU-Africa summit in Cairo earlier this year. They stayed away.
 Mr Abdel-Aziz insists he will not accept autonomy under Moroccan
  rule - an idea quietly encouraged by the US and France. He has urged
  the EU to make its relations with Morocco - the largest single
  recipient of aid from the union - conditional on movement on a
  referendum. But the fact is that none of the 15 want to upset the
  new king, praised for reforms since assuming power last summer.
 'European countries decided from the start not to use their
  influence to bring about a settlement and instead they are
  bolstering a colonial enterprise,' said Mr Abdel-Aziz. 'But they
  should convince the Moroccans to support the referendum.'
  Copyright 2000 The Guardian.
  Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark) - FT McCarthy.
THE GUARDIAN, 25th November 2000

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Ronny Hansen
Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara
Tel: +47 92 80 86 07 mob.
             23 03 05 71 priv.
Fax:      92 97 86 07
ronh@...
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