Western Sahara

Western Sahara (EH in ISO 3166-1) is a territory of northwestern Africa, bordered by the internationally-understood boundaries of Morocco to the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. The largest city is El Aaiún (Laayoune), containing the majority of the population of the territory. Western Sahara is arguably the most sparsely populated territory in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands.

Politics

Main articles: Politics of Western Sahara

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The legal status of the territory and the question of its sovereignty is unresolved; the territory is contested by Morocco and Polisario Front.

Related Topics:
Legal status - Sovereignty - Morocco - Polisario Front

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The government of Morocco is a monarchy, with a parliament of elected officials. The occupied parts of Western Sahara are divided into several provinces treated as integral parts of the kingdom. El Aaiún (Laâyoune) has been rapidly built-up, in an investment drive to showcase the city to Sahrawi citizens and foreigners, and to settle Moroccans in the area in preparation for a referendum. Morocco opposed to the utilization of the original Spanish ID cards (Documento Nacional de Indentidad, in Spanish) and the last colonial census as the basis for the voters registration for any referendum, as this would mean any Moroccan settler would be automatically excluded from the process.

Related Topics:
Morocco - Monarchy - Parliament - El Aaiún - Spanish

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The practice of treating Western Sahara as a "normal" part of Morocco is however contradicted by numerous human rights reports that point out that there is a sharp difference in the way the authorities act in the occupied territories and in Morocco proper. Whereas Morocco has seen notable progress lately in the field of human rights, Western Sahara remains one of the most politically repressed territories in the world according to the democracy monitoring organization Freedom House . In practice, settlement activities and anti-independence policing has taken precendence over normalizing the situation in the "southern provinces".

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The exiled government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a form of single-party parliamentary and presidential system, not unlike Germany, but according to its constitution, this will be changed into a multi-party system at the achievement of independence. It presently controls only the Tindouf refugee camps and the area east of the Moroccan Wall, which is more or less unpopulated.

Related Topics:
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic - President - Germany

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See also Foreign relations of Morocco, Foreign relations of Western Sahara

Related Topics:
Foreign relations of Morocco - Foreign relations of Western Sahara

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