Sahrawi

Sahrawi and Saharawi are terms most commonly used for the natives of the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. Ethnic Sahrawis are however found in southern Morocco and northern Mauritania as well, the Western Sahara conflict having fractured this tiny nomad people into several communities forced to exist under wildly differing cultural and political conditions. The exact size of the Sahrawi ethnic group is unknown, and due to the political dispute it is hard to find neutral accounts, but it is probably somewhere over 500,000. Of these, 200-250,000 are or are descended from original inhabitants of Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
Morocco - Western Sahara - Mauritania - Nomad

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This group, the Western Saharans, has been bloodily split between their occupied homeland and the refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, where some 165,000 refugee Sahrawis have lived in exile since being driven out of Western Sahara in 1975. A smaller number managed to stay behind under Moroccan occupation, but remains fiercely loyal to the cause of the Sahrawi republic and refugee return. Most of the Moroccan Sahrawis have been resettled, sometimes with harsh measures, in the occupied parts of Western Sahara in an attempt to bolster Morocco's claims to the area. The attitude of this group towards independence is complicated: several tribes are pro-Moroccan, but there has also been numerous instances of Moroccan Sahrawis displaying their solidarity with the anti-occupation movement, and a couple of the most high-profile independence activists are actually from southern Morocco rather than Western Sahara.

Related Topics:
Refugee camp - Tindouf - Algeria - 1975 - Sahrawi republic

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The Sahrawis in Morocco and Mauritania are not claiming their home areas as part of an independent Western Sahara, but minority life in Morocco has been difficult, and Sahrawi culture and traditions have been challenged not only by government neglect, but occasionally also by open and violent hostility. In contrast, the situation of the Sahrawis in Mauritania has been relatively unproblematic, and they tend to support a Sahrawi state in Western Sahara. During Mauritania's brief occupation of southern Western Sahara (1975-79) the rebel ranks were swelled by ethnically Sahrawi sympathizers who deserted from the occupation army, and the community in general termed it a "fratricidal war".

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In Arabic, the word "Sahrawi" means "of the Sahara", the word sahara itself meaning desert. Thus, the literal meaning is "desert inhabitant." They are presumed to have descended from the Beni Hassan, a Yemeni Arab tribe who migrated into Western Sahara about one thousand years ago, although they are today of mixed Arab-Berber descent. They speak the Arabic dialect of Hassaniya, notoriously difficult to understand for non-Sahrawi Arab speakers, and they also see Spanish as part of their cultural legacy, Spain having colonized Western Sahara whereas the rest of North Africa was under French rule. Religiously, they are sunni muslims of the malikiya school. Their way of life has always been nomadic and tribal, and they have developed a bedouin culture distinct from the settled Arabs in Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco. Especially notable is the relative emancipation of women and the heavy emphasis on social equality, spurning kingship and centralist governments.

Related Topics:
Arabic - Sahara - Desert - Beni Hassan - Yemeni - Arab - Berber - Hassaniya - Sunni - Muslims - Malikiya - Bedouin

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The Polisario Front is the main Sahrawi nationalist organization, fighting for Western Sahara's independence since 1973. It is based in the Tindouf camps among refugee Sahrawis, but also controls about a third of Western Sahara. Since backing a cease-fire in 1991, it is presently trying to bring about a Sahrawi state through peaceful negotiations, but so far with little success.

Related Topics:
Polisario Front - Nationalist - Western Sahara

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Contrast this term with Saharan.

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