Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No. 28, April 1983
The people of Western Sahara have been fighting an armed struggle for national liberation against imperialist-backed Morocco for the past seven years. For Morocco and the imperialists these have been years of defeat and despair. For the Saharan people under the leadership of the POLISARIO Front they have been years of immense military and political advances. POLISARIO forces have now liberated over 90% of Western Sahara’s 127,000 sq miles.
Yet the Saharan peoples’ liberation struggle began many years before. At the 1884 Berlin Conference, when the European imperialist powers partitioned Africa, Spain seized the Sahara. The people resisted fiercely and it was only in the 1950s with French assistance that Spain was able to maintain its rule. The Sahara was of little interest to Spain and the other imperialist nations, until the tremendous mineral wealth of the area became known. Huge deposits of high-grade phosphates were discovered, along with oil, iron and copper. Imperialist firms from the UK, France and West Germany began to invest in the mining of the phosphates. The profits were enormous — and to protect them Spain’s fascist ruler Franco carried out savage repression of the Saharan people with a garrison of tens of thousands of police and soldiers. Popular resistance was met with brutality: peaceful demonstrations were fired on and political prisoners murdered and tortured.
Repression gave birth to more organised resistance, and in 1973 the people founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguiet el Hamra and Rio de Oro — the POLISARIO Front. POLISARIO quickly won the allegiance of the people in the towns and villages for their demands of self-determination and an independent democratic republic. An immediate and effective armed struggle was launched, forcing Spain to withdraw from whole areas. POLISARIO set up its own administration, councils, justice, health and education schemes in the liberated areas.
Spain could not contain the liberation war and her neo-colonial manoeuvres were soon in tatters. Under pressure from her imperialist backers she agreed to transfer the Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania, who had both long nurtured territorial ambitions in the area. By 1976, with Spanish withdrawal complete, Morocco embarked on the first of its attempts to annex the Sahara and control the phosphate mines. POLISARIO responded by proclaiming the independence of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. Morocco and Mauritania began a bloody war against the Saharan people causing over 100,000 to flee as refugees to the liberated zones and Algeria.
The imperialists have given their full backing to that war. In particular US imperialism, ever-anxious to protect its economic and strategic interests in the region, has targeted Morocco for a massive injection of military and economic aid. The Western Sahara is valuable to the US for its strategic position astride the Straits of Gibraltar, and the allegiance of Morocco is vital to the US for bases for its Sixth Fleet and the new Rapid Deployment Force. Morocco is also used by the US to channel arms to the counter-revolutionary UNITA in Angola.
Alarmed at the military successes of POLISARIO, the Reagan administration has despatched a string of senior officials to Morocco over the past year, and has granted a 3-fold increase in military aid. Huge consignments of tanks, counter-insurgency aircraft and helicopter gunships have been sent along with military instructors and advisers. The Moroccan forces are also trained and armed by apartheid South Africa.
Against the military might of imperialism, POLISARIO has successfully hit back with such deadly blows that in 1979 Mauritania was forced to withdraw from the conflict. Morocco itself has suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the POLISARIO guerrillas. Famous victories were scored in August 1979 at Lebouirate and at Ouarkziz in March 1980. But it was in October 1981 that POLISARIO won their most significant military success. A 3,000 strong guerilla force overran the Moroccan stronghold of Guelta Zemmour, killing hundreds of the defenders and taking 230 prisoners.
POLISARIO has also made impressive political and diplomatic advances. In February 1982 the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic was admitted as the 51st full member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), dealing a further blow to Morocco’s claims to sovereignty on the area. However, the 19th OAU summit meeting in the summer of 1982 in Tripoli was effectively sabotaged by US pressure on neo-colonial African countries, designed to thwart POLISARIO’s attendance at the summit. Progressive African nations (including Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique) continue to support POLISARIO who have recently reaffirmed their OAU membership and announced their intention to attend all future OAU meetings.
At what is now a decisive stage in the liberation struggle, imperialism has significantly increased its support for the demoralised Moroccan forces. With massive US assistance Morocco has constructed a 280 mile-long defensive wall of sandbanks, minefields, barbed wire and sophisticated electronic detection equipment, designed to keep POLISARIO forces out of the phosphate mining area in the North-West of the country. As a POLISARIO leader has stated: ‘Morocco created the wall just when we were about to liberate our country. Without US intervention we would have freed our country by now’.
As 1983 began, POLISARIO declared it was commencing the ‘final push’ to liberate the Western Sahara. Renewed attacks have been made on Moroccan positions, leading to heavy casualties for the enemy and the destruction of an oil and ammunition depot. As the Western Saharan peoples’ revolution continues its advance to certain victory, now is the time for all anti-imperialists strenuously to oppose all imperialist intervention. The victory of the Western Saharan revolution will be a tremendous victory for all oppressed people fighting imperialism.
LONG LIVE THE SAHARAN ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC! VICTORY TO POLISARIO!
Bill Hughes
