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{{userspace draft|date=November 2011}}
{{userspace draft|date=November 2011}}
{{Politics of Syria}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict=Western Sahara conflict
|partof=
|image=[[File:Polisario troops.jpg|260px]]
|caption=Gathering of Saharawi troops, near Tifariti (Western Sahara), celebrating the 32nd anniversary ot the Polisario Front (2005).
|date=1975 –present
|place=[[Western Sahara]], [[Morocco]], [[Mauritania]]
|territory=
|casus belli=Decolonization of Spanish Sahara, Invasion by Morocco & Mauritania
|result=
*Spanish withdraw under the [[Madrid Accords]] (1976)
*Mauritanian retreat under the [[Algiers Agreement (1979)]]
*Cosolidation of [[Sahrawi refugee camps]] in Algere
*Polisario Front - Morocco ceasefire (1991)
*Construction of the [[Berm (Western Sahara)|Western Sahara Berm]]
*Continuing violent protests
|combatant1={{flag|Morocco}}<br>{{flag|Mauritania}} (1975–1979)<br>{{flag|France}} (1977-78)
|combatant2={{flagicon|SADR}} [[Polisario Front]]<br>{{flag|Algeria}} (1976)<br>{{flag|Libya|1977}} (1975-1984)
|commander1={{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Hassan II]]<br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Ahmed Dlimi]]<br/>{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Abdelaziz Bennani]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Mokhtar Ould Daddah]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}}[[Mustafa Ould Salek]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}}[[Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah]]<br />{{flagicon|France}} [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]]
|commander2={{flagicon|SADR}} [[Mohamed Abdelaziz]]<br />{{flagicon|SADR}} [[El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed]]{{KIA}}<br />{{flagicon|SADR}} [[Lahbib Ayoub]]<br />{{flagicon|SADR}} [[Brahim Ghali]]<br />{{flagicon|Algeria}} [[Houari Boumediène]] (1976)<br />{{flagicon|Libya|1977}} [[Muammar Gaddafi]] (1975-84)
|strength1=Morocco: 30,000 (1976)<ref name = "Jstor76" /> - 150,000 (1988)<ref name = "NYtimes">{{cite news | title = Sahara foes move to end their war | url = http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/31/world/sahara-foes-move-to-end-their-war.html | publisher = [[NY Times]] | date = 31-08-1988 | accessdate = 13-08-2010 | first=Paul | last=Lewis}}</ref><br>Mauritania: 3,000<ref name = "MarruecosMauritania">{{cite news | title = Marruecos incrementa su presencia en Mauritania | url = http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/MAURITANIA/MARRUECOS/SAHARA_OCCIDENTAL/MARRUECOS/SAHARA_OCCIDENTAL/FRENTE_POLISARIO_/RASD/Marruecos/incrementa/presencia/Mauritania/elpepiint/19770721elpepiint_2/Tes | publisher = [[El País]] | date = 21-07-1977 | accessdate = 11-09-2010}} {{es icon}}</ref>-5,000<ref name = "Jstor76">{{cite web |title= With the Polisario Front of Sahara |url= http://www.jstor.org/pss/3011206 | publisher = MERIP reports, JSTOR |year= 1976 |accessdate= 06-08-2010}}</ref> (1976) - 18,000 (1978)<ref>Jose Ramón Diego Aguirre, ''Guerra en el Sáhara'', Istmo, Colección Fundamentos, Vol. 124, 1991, Page 193</ref>
|strength2= 5,000 (1976)<ref>{{cite news | title = North Africa: Shadow war in the Sahara | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947810,00.html | publisher = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = 03-01-1977 | accessdate = 13-08-2010}}</ref>
|casualties1= Morocco: 7,000<ref name = "Onwar">{{cite web |title= The Sahara War 1975-1991 |url= http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/polisario1975.htm |publisher= OnWar.com |date= 16-12-2000 |accessdate= 06-08-2010}}</ref>, - 15,000 soldiers killed {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}};
2,155<ref>{{cite news | title=Western Sahara, the facts | url=http://www.newint.org/features/1997/12/05/facts/ | publisher=[[New Internationalist]] Issue 297 | date=01-12-1997 | accessdate=01-10-2010}}</ref> - 2,300 captured<ref>{{Cite news |title= El misterio de la guerra del Sáhara |url= http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/misterio/guerra/Sahara/elpepiint/20060910elpepiint_9/Tes |publisher= [[El País]] |date= 10-09-2006 |accessdate= 06-08-2010}} {{es icon}}</ref>
<br>Mauritania: 2,000 soldiers killed<ref name="S&S">{{cite book|last=J. David Singer|first= & Melvin Small|title=Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816-1980|publisher=Sage publications inc.|location=Beverly Hills|year=1982|isbn=0803917775}}</ref>
|casualties2= 1,000{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} - 4,000 combatants killed<ref name = "Onwar" />; 200 captured{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}
| casualties3='''Civilian Casualties:'''<br/>
3,000 killed (Eckhardt,1985)<ref name="Willian Eckhardt">{{cite book|last=Leger Sivard|first=Ruth|title=World Military and Social Expenditures
12th ed. (1987-88)|publisher=World priorities|location=Washington D.C.|year=1987|isbn=0-918281-05-9}} War statistics table by William G. Eckhardt.</ref>, 650 missing.<ref name="desaparecidos.org">[http://www.desaparecidos.org/sahara/eng.html Project Disappeared: Western Sahara]</ref><br/>
18-38 killed; 173-738 injured (2010 protests)


==Subjects of criticism==
40,000 (1976)<ref name="Red Cross Journal">[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6453784 Asistencia en favor de las víctimas saharauis. Revista Internacional de la Cruz Roja, 1, pp 83-83 (1976)] {{es icon}}</ref> - 80,000 (1977)<ref name="soros.org">[http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/equality_citizenship/articles_publications/publications/struggles_20091009/struggles-ch8_20091009.pdf Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria: Sahrawi refugees stateless for three decades] [[Open Society Foundations]]</ref> refugees
===Syrian displaced and refugees===
}}
{{main|Syrian refugees}}
{{Campaignbox Western Sahara conflict}}
{{Western Sahara history}}
The '''Western Sahara conflict''' or the '''Polisario Front dispute for Independence''' is an ongoing conflict, developed from past armed [[Western Sahara War|confrontation]] between the [[Polisario Front]] and [[Morocco]] into current unarmed civil campaigns of Sahrawi people to gain independence for Western Sahara. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of [[Spain]] from the [[Spanish Sahara]] in accordance with the [[Madrid Accords]]. The [[Polisario Front]], backed by [[Algeria]] and [[Libya]] engaged into a 16 year [[Western Sahara War|war]] against [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]]. In 1979, [[Mauritania]] withdrew from the conflict and a cease-fire agreement was reached with [[Morocco]] in 1991, with most of the territory is under Moroccan control.


===Treatment of citizens===
The conflict reemerged as the Independence Intifada in 2005, a [[Saharawi]] [[Polisario]] activist coinage for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the [[Morocco|Moroccan]]-held [[List of disputed or occupied territories|parts]] of [[Western Sahara]]. In late 2010, the protests re-erupted in [[Gdeim Izik protest camp|Gdeim Izik camp]] in [[Western Sahara]]. While the protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between civilians and security forces, resulting in dozens of causalties. Another series of [[2011 Sahrawi protests|protests]] began on 26 February 2011, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-[[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] looting in the city of [[Dakhla]], [[Western Sahara]], and blossomed into protests across the territory. The protests were related to the earlier [[Gdeim Izik protest camp]], the previous fall, which had resulted in violence between Sahrawi activists and [[Morocco|Moroccan]] security forces and supporters. 2011 protests largely dimmed by May 2011.
{{main|Human rights in Syria}}
====Sectarianism====


To date, large parts of Western Sahara are controlled by the Moroccan Government, and related as southern Moroccan provinces, whereas some 20-25% of the Western Sahara territory are controlled by the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]] (SADR), the Polisario controlled state with limited recognition. Issues of mutual recognition, establishment of the Sahrawi state and solution to the [[Sahrawi refugees]] problem are among the key issues of the Western Sahara peace process.


====Imprisonments====
==Background==
===Spanish Sahara===
{{Main|Spanish Sahara}}
In 1884 Spain claimed a [[protectorate]] over the coast from [[Cape Bojador]] to [[Cap Blanc]]. Later, the Spanish extended their area of control. In 1958 Spain joined the previously separate districts of [[Saguia el-Hamra]] (in the north) and [[Río de Oro]] (in the south) to form the province of [[Spanish Sahara]].


===Lack of Democracy===
Raids and rebellions by the [[Indigenous peoples of Africa|indigenous]] [[Saharan]] population kept the Spanish forces out of much of the territory for a long time. [[Ma al-Aynayn]] the Saharan pro-Moroccan caïd of Tindouf and Smara named by the [[List of rulers of Morocco|Moroccan]] sultan started an uprising against the [[France|French]] in the 1910s, at a time when [[France]] had expanded its influence and control in North-West Africa, he died in the same year and his son [[El Hiba]] succeded him. French forces defeated him, when he tried to conquer [[Marrakesh]], and in retaliation destroyed the holy city of [[Smara]] in 1913.{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} Not until the second destruction of Smara in 1934,{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} by joint Spanish and French forces, did the territory finally become subdued. [[Ifni War|Another uprising in 1956 - 1958]], initiated by the [[Moroccan Army of Liberation]], led to heavy fighting, but eventually the Spanish forces regained control, again with French aid. However, unrest simmered, and in 1967 the [[Harakat Tahrir]] arose to challenge Spanish rule peacefully. After the events of the [[Zemla Intifada]] in 1970, when Spanish police destroyed the organization and "[[disappeared]]" its founder, [[Muhammad Bassiri]], Sahrawi nationalism again took a militant turn.
{{see|Ba'athism}}


===Conception of the Polisario Front===
===Civil War and stagnated peace process===
In 1971 a group of young Sahrawi students in the universities of [[Morocco]] began organizing what came to be known as ''The Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro''. After attempting in vain to gain backing from several Arab governments, including both [[Algeria]] and [[Morocco]], but only drawing faint notices of support from [[Libya]] and [[Mauritania]], the movement eventually relocated to Spanish-controlled Western Sahara to start an armed rebellion.


===Military practices===
===The beginnings of armed struggle===
The Polisario Front was formally constituted on 10 May 1973 in the Mauritanian city of Zouirate, <ref>http://www.telquel-online.com/210/maroc3_210.shtml</ref> with the express intention of militarily forcing an end to Spanish colonization. Its first [[Secretary General of the Polisario Front|Secretary General]] was [[El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed]]. On 20 May he led the Khanga raid, Polisario's first armed action,{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} in which a Spanish post manned by a team of [[Tropas Nomadas]] (Sahrawi-staffed auxiliary forces) was overrun and [[rifle]]s seized. Polisario then gradually gained control over large swaths of desert countryside, and its power grew from early 1975 when the [[Tropas Nomadas]] began deserting to the Polisario, bringing weapons and training with them. At this point, Polisario's manpower included perhaps 800 men, but they were backed by a larger network of supporters. A [[United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara|UN visiting mission]] headed by [[Simeon Aké]] that was conducted in June 1975 concluded that Sahrawi support for independence (as opposed to Spanish rule or integration with a neighbouring country) amounted to an "overwhelming consensus" and that the Polisario Front was by far the most powerful political force in the country.{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}


==Criticism at the United Nations==
==Conflict==
===Western Sahara War===
The [[Western Sahara War]] was an armed conflict, lated between 1975 - 1991, primarily between the [[Polisario Front]] and [[Morocco]]. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of [[Spain]] from the [[Spanish Sahara]], in accordance with the [[Madrid Accords]], by which it gave administrative control of the territory to [[Morocco]] and [[Mauritania]]. The [[Polisario Front]], backed by [[Algeria]] and [[Libya]] desired to establish an independent state in the territory, successively fought [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]]. In 1979, [[Mauritania]] withdrew from the conflict and a cease-fire agreement was reached with [[Morocco]] in 1991. The war resulted in 14,000-21,000 fatalities, and some 40,000-80,000 Sahrawi refugees, housed to date in the [[Sahrawi refugee camps]] in Tindouf province of Algeria.


==Analogies==
===Independence Intifada===
The [[Independence Intifada (Western Sahara)|Independence Inttifada]] was a [[Saharawi]] [[Polisario]] activist coinage for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the [[Morocco|Moroccan]]-held [[List of disputed or occupied territories|parts]] of [[Western Sahara]]. This event has also been called "The El-Aaiun Intifada" . International coverage of the disturbances has been limited because restrictions placed by the Moroccan authorities on international journalists, and Moroccan official sources have downplayed the events.


==Responses to criticism==
===Gdeim Izik and 2011 protests===
{{main|Gdeim Izik protest camp|2011 Sahrawi protests}}
The [[Gdeim Izik protest camp]] was established in [[Western Sahara]] on 9 October 2010 and lasted into November, with related incidents occurring in the aftermath of its dismantlement on 8 November 2010. While protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between civilians and security forces, ending with dozens killed and hundreds injured.

In 2011, [[2011 Sahrawi protests|new protests]] erupted since 26 February, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-[[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] looting in the city of [[Dakhla]], [[Western Sahara]], and blossomed into protests across the [[United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories|territory]]. They were related to the [[Gdeim Izik protest camp]] in Western Sahara established the previous fall, which had resulted in violence between Sahrawi activists and [[Morocco|Moroccan]] security forces and supporters. The protests also purportedly drew inspiration from the Arab Spring and successful revolts in [[Tunisian revolution|Tunisia]] and [[2011 Egyptian revolution|Egypt]],<ref>{{cite news|date=14 February 2011|accessdate=29 May 2011|url=http://tindouf.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81:a-popular-revolt-is-being-meditated-in-tindouf-camps-against-abdelaziz-and-his-junta&catid=1&Itemid=19|title=A popular revolt is being meditated in Tindouf Camps against Abdelaziz and his junta|first=Abdelhak|last=Kettani|agency=Tindouf}}</ref> The 2011 protests dimmed by May 2011.

==Western Sahara peace process==
{{see|Politics of Western Sahara|Western Sahara peace process}}

Moroccan Initiative for Western Sahara}}

===Cease fire===
The cease fire, ending the hostilities of the Western Sahara War were officially signed in 1991, and attempts were made since to resolve the conflict, though no solution has been achieved to date.

===Referendum and Houston agreement===
{{main|Settlement Plan|Houston Agreement|MINURSO}}
The referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, foresaw giving the local population the option between independence or affirming integration with Morocco, but it quickly stalled. In 1997, the [[Houston Agreement]] attempted to revive the proposal for a referendum, but likewise has hitherto not had success. {{As of|2010}}, however, negotiations over terms have not resulted in any substantive action. At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies to be registered to participate in the referendum, and, since about 2000, Morocco considers that since there is no agreement on persons entitled to vote, a referendum is not possible,meanwhile Polisario still attached with insistence to the referendum with independence as a clear option, without trying to give a solution to the problem of who is qualified to be registered to participate in the referendum.

Both sides blame each other for the stalling of the referendum. The Polisario has insisted on only allowing those found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below) to vote, while Morocco has insisted that the census was flawed by evasion and sought the inclusion of members of Sahrawi tribes which escape from Spanish invasion to the north of Morocco by the 19th century.

Efforts by the UN special envoys to find a common ground for both parties did not succeed. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the [[Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf Province, Algeria|Tindouf refugee camps]], Mauritania and other places of exile. Polisario accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused and, as rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. This again brought the process to a halt.

According to a NATO delegation, MINURSO election observers stated in 1999, as the deadlock continued, that "if the number of voters does not rise significantly the odds were slightly on the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|RASD]] side".<ref>{{cite web|author=iBi Center |url=http://www.nato-pa.int/archivedpub/trip/as79gsm993-morocco.asp |title=NATO PA – Archives |publisher=Nato-pa.int |accessdate=13 November 2011}}</ref> By 2001, the process had effectively stalemated and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other, third-way solutions. Indeed, shortly after the Houston Agreement (1997), Morocco officially declared that it was "no longer necessary" to include an option of independence on the ballot, offering instead autonomy. [[Erik Jensen (politician)|Erik Jensen]], who played an administrative role in MINURSO, wrote that neither side would agree to a voter registration in which they were destined to lose.

===Baker plan===
The [[Baker Plan]] (formally, '''Peace Plan for Self-Determination of the People of Western Sahara''') was a [[United Nations]] initiative, led by [[James Baker]], to grant [[self-determination]] to [[Western Sahara]], formulated in 2000. It was intended to replace the [[Settlement Plan|Settlement Plan of 1991]] and the [[Houston Agreement|Houston Agreement of 1997]]. Since early 2005, the UN [[Secretary General]] has not referred to the plan in his reports, and by now it seems largely dead. No replacement plan exists, however, and worries persist that the political vacuum will result in renewed fighting. Morocco has proposed autonomy for the territory as a final solution to the conflict.

===Moroccan initiative and Manhasset negotiations===
{{main|Moroccan Initiative for Western Sahara|United Nations Security Council Resolution 1754|Manhasset negotiations}}
In 2006 the [[Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs|Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs]] (CORCAS) has proposed a plan for the [[autonomy]] of [[Western Sahara]] and made visits to a number of countries to explain the proposal. The Spanish approach to regional autonomy has been named as a possible model for Western Saharan autonomy, mentioning specifically the cases of the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Andalusia or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007,<ref> full text of the plan: http://moroccanamericanpolicy.com/MoroccanCompromiseSolution041107.pdf</ref> and has received the backing of the USA and France.<ref>[http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN27291872.html News | Africa - Reuters.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In a letter to president Bush, 173 members of US congress endorsed the plan.<ref>Copy of the letter with commentary: http://moroccanamericanpolicy.com/documents/173_sig_letter.pdf</ref> This initiative constituted the main ground for the Moroccan proposal at [[Manhasset negotiations]].

In 2007-2008, the parties engaged in the [[Manhasset negotiations]] at [[Manhasset, New York]]. The talks between the [[Morocco|Moroccan government]] and the representatives of the [[Polisario Front|Saharawi liberation movement]], the Polisario Front, to resolve the [[Western Sahara conflict]] were considered the first direct negotiations in seven years between the two parties.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/10/news/UN-GEN-UN-Western-Sahara.php |title=Morocco and Polisario Front to hold second meeting to resolve 32-year dispute |accessdate=2007-08-13 |format=pdf |work=[[International Herald Tribune]] }}</ref> Also present at the negotiations were the neighboring countries of [[Algeria]] and [[Mauritania]].

The negotiations were a result of the [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1754]] of April 30, 2007 which urged both parties to "enter into direct negotiations without preconditions and in good faith." The resolution also stipulated the [[United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara]] (MINURSO) mission extension until October 31, 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N07/325/21/PDF/N0732521.pdf?OpenElement |title=Resolution 1754 (2007) |accessdate=2007-08-13 |format=pdf |work=[[United Nations Security Council]] }}</ref>

The first round of talks took place on June 18-19, 2007,<ref>Report of the Secretary General on the status of the negotiations on Western Sahara, 29 June 2007</ref> during which both parties agreed to resume talks on August 10-11. The second round ended with no breakthroughs but parties agreed again to meet for another round though no date has been fixed yet. During the last round which took place between January 8 and 9, 2008, parties agreed on "the need to move into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=25251&Cr=western&Cr1=sahara |title=Western Sahara: UN-led talks end with parties pledging to step up negotiations |accessdate=2008-01-09 |format= |work=UN News Centre }}</ref> A fourth round of talks was held from 18 March to 19 March 2008.<ref>[http://www.afrol.com/articles/28359 afrol News - W. Sahara talks continues<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The negotiations were being supervised by [[Peter van Walsum]], [[UN Secretary General]] [[Ban Ki-moon]]'s personal envoy for [[Western Sahara]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sga935.doc.htm |title=Secretary-General appoints Peter van Walsum of the Netherlands as Personal Envoy for Western Sahara |accessdate=2007-08-13 |format=pdf |work=[[United Nations]] }}</ref>

==Current situation ==
===Polisario controlled areas===
{{main|Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|Sahrawi refugee camps}}
The Polisario controlls about 20-25% of the Western Sahara territory,<ref>[http://suevia2008.googlepages.com/CUADROZONASDIVISINDELSHARAOCCIDENTAL.pdf Cuadro de zonas de división del Sáhara Occidental] {{es icon}}</ref> as the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]] (SADR'), which is a [[List of unrecognized countries|partially recognised state]] that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of [[Western Sahara]], a former [[Spain|Spanish]] colony. SADR was proclaimed by the [[Polisario Front]] on February 27, 1976, in [[Bir Lehlu]], Western Sahara. Polisario calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the [[Free Zone (Western Sahara region)|Free Zone]], while [[Morocco]] controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its [[Southern Provinces]]. The SADR government considers the Moroccan-held territory occupied territory, while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a [[buffer zone]].<ref>[http://www.maroc.ma/NR/exeres/FBCB0A23-2230-4D0E-87B9-E07B305A6CD7.htm Numerous reports from the Official Portal of the Government of Morocco refer to the area as a "buffer zone".]</ref>

In addition, the Polisario have a full autonomous control of the [[Sahrawi refugee camps]]. The [[refugee camp]]s were set up in the [[Tindouf Province]], [[Algeria]] in 1975-76 for [[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] refugees, fleeing from [[Royal Moroccan Armed Forces|Moroccan forces]], who advanced through [[Western Sahara]] during the [[Western Sahara War]]. With most refugees still living in the camps, the refugee situation is among the most protracted ones worldwide.<ref name="unhcr_2010"/><ref name="hrw_2008"/> Most affairs and camp life organization is run by the refugees themselves, with little outside interference.<ref name="fmo_2004_c"/>

===The Western Sahara Berm===
{{main|Moroccan Wall}}
The Berm of [[Western Sahara]] ([[Moroccan Wall]]) is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure, mostly a sand wall, running through [[Western Sahara]] and the southeastern portion of [[Morocco]]. It ''de-facto'' acts as a separation barrier between the [[Morocco|Moroccan]]-controlled areas and the [[Polisario Front|Polisario]]-controlled section of the territory (SADR), that lies along its eastern and southern border. According to maps from [[MINURSO]]<ref>[http://www.minurso.unlb.org/MINURSO_Ceasefire.pdf Deployment of MINURSO]</ref> or the [[UNHCR]],<ref>[http://www.unhcr.org/453f1b104.html Western Sahara Atlas Map - June 2006]</ref> part of the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory. The Wall is often related as an aparteid wall, depreiving the Sahrawis of their sovereign rights and a humanitarian disaster.

===Human rights in Western Sahara===
{{main|Human rights in Western Sahara}}
The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human rights abuses, most notably the aerial bombardments with [[Napalm]] & [[White phosphorus]] of the [[Sahrawi refugee camps]], the consequently [[Emigration|exodus]] of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, and the forced expropriation and expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria in reaction to the [[Green March]], as well as violations of human rights and serious breaches of the Geneva convention by the Polisario Front, the Moroccan government and the Algerian government.<ref name=autogenerated2>http://freethemnow.org/FranceLiberte.pdf The Conditions of Detentions of the Moroccan POWs Detained in Tindouf (Algeria)</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
{{portal|Syria|Politics|Syrian Civil War}}
*[[Ifni War]]
*[[International reactions to the Syrian Civil War]]


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Criticism Of The Syrian Government}}
==External links==
[[:Category:Syrian Civil War]]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/229007.stm Chronology of the Saharawi struggle] (BBC)
[[:Category:Criticisms of political philosophy|Syrian foreign policy]]
[[:Category:Human rights in Syria]]


[[Category:History of Western Sahara]]
[[Category:History of Morocco]]
[[Category:Secession in Morocco]]
[[Category:Sahara conflict]]


{{userspace draft|date=November 2011}}
[[de:Westsaharakonflikt]]
[[pt:Conflito do Saara Ocidental]]

Latest revision as of 09:04, 16 December 2019

Politics of Syria

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

Constitution
Human rights
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Subdivisions
Elections
Foreign relations

Subjects of criticism

[edit]

Syrian displaced and refugees

[edit]
Main article: Syrian refugees

Treatment of citizens

[edit]
Main article: Human rights in Syria

Sectarianism

[edit]

Imprisonments

[edit]

Lack of Democracy

[edit]
Further information: Ba'athism

Civil War and stagnated peace process

[edit]

Military practices

[edit]

Criticism at the United Nations

[edit]

Analogies

[edit]

Responses to criticism

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]


Category:Syrian Civil War Syrian foreign policy Category:Human rights in Syria


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