The Western Sahara War

The seven-year-old war between Morocco and guerrillas seeking an independent "Sahara Arab Democratic Republic" is still alive, but only barely.

For about a year, there have been no major battles between the Moroccan armed forces and fighters from the "Polisario," an acronym for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia al Hamra and Rio de Oro. Even skirmishes have been rare.

The reason for the slowdown in the fighting has not been a shift in the political or diplomatic winds: the Polisario still wants to set up a state in that part of the Sahara vacated by Spain in 1975, and Morocco is just as determined to have the area under its own sovereignty. But since early last year, Morocco has been able to impose a virtual stranglehold on Polisario's military operations.

What has given the Moroccans their dominance is the construction of a 380-mile wall of rock and sand which encloses that part of Western Sahara containing almost all of the population as well as the phosphate deposits which are the sole source of economic wealth for the territory. The wall is not only a formidable physical barrier in itself but is equipped with U.S.-supplied radar gear that can detect the approach of any large guerrilla forces long before they reach it. The barrier has proved so effective that the Polisario has not seriously challenged it, and has had to content itself with control over tracts of practically uninhabited desert outside of the walled area.

U.S. Getting the Blame

Polisario leaders, who depend for their own military supplies on Algeria and Libya, are blaming the U.S. for their predicament. They note that the Reagan Administration, since shortly after taking office, has tilted strongly towards Morocco by providing a larger flow of weapons and by dropping the Carter Administration's policy of making arms sales contingent upon efforts by Morocco to negotiate a settlement of the war. They also argue that without the special equipment furnished by the U.S., the desert barrier that is stymying their effort would not be effective.

Until the wall went up, the Polisario had been inflicting some serious losses on Morocco ever since 1976, when Spain evacuated what had been its colony and turned it over to joint administration by Morocco and Mauritania. At first, the Polisario fought both those countries—but Mauritania withdrew from the war in 1979 and gave up its claimed share, which was promptly taken over by Morocco. During the years of often fierce fighting which lasted until early 1982, Morocco got the worst of it in many of the battles, losing aircraft as well as troops. Some of the fighting took place on the territory of Morocco proper.

Diplomatic attempts at a settlement have been going on fruitlessly for many years. In the summer of 1981 some observers believed there had been a big breakthrough when Morocco agreed to a suggestion by the Organization of African Unity that a referendum be held to decide the Western Sahara's future. But the initiative has been bogged down since the beginning largely because of disagreement over the size of the territory's population—with the Polisario's estimate being ten times greater than that of the Moroccan government.

Back when it all started—after Spain had agreed in 1975 to withdraw from its colony—a United Nations investigative mission which visited Morocco reported that the majority of Saharans favored independence. On October 16 of that year the World Court at The Hague backed up the U.N. by ruling in favor of self-determination. But after Morocco's King Hassan ordered a march of 350,000 unarmed civilians to take possession of the territory—in what became known as the "Green March"—the Spaniards agreed to hand over West Sahara to the Moroccans and Mauritanians. The move led not only to a violent reaction from the Polisario, but also from Algeria, which fought some pitched battles with Morocco along their common border. But prospects of a general war between those two countries soon faded, and Algeria limited itself to arming and training Polisario guerrillas and providing camps for civilian refugees from the area. Recently, King Hassan of Morocco and President Chadli Benjedid of Algeria met to discuss improvement of relations and a solution to the West Sahara conflict.