First of all, I would like to give my opinion on this delicate topic. I say delicate because I am from Morocco, and I strongly feel that the Western Sahara should be officially reintegrated with the rest of Morocco and internationally recognized as such. On the web, I found a lot of information on this topic from the Sahrawi perspective, but very little from the Moroccan one. Hence, I decided to add one more Moroccan perspective. After all, this is what the web is for.
The Sahara has been part of us for a very long time. It is true that colonization had stripped us of it for a number of years. But now it is over, so it is time for us to get back to the pre-colonization boundaries. Furthermore, we are of the same race, so ethnicity is not an issue. Religion is not a problem either because we are all muslim. However, I do think that in order to be fair, a referendum must be held. Unfortunately, it is being postponed all the time, and I think that we should soon come up with a list of voters that both sides will be able to agree to.
Yet, I strongly feel that it is not the right solution for Morocco to be "blackmailed" on the referendum issue. Some countries and organisations are suggesting to cut aid to Morocco; others propose that the EU stop fishing agreements with Morocco until it showed real progress toward the referendum. I am of the opinion that if an agreement with the referendum has not been reached yet, it is because both parties disagree about the numbers of voters, and not Morocco alone. Furthermore, Morocco cannot be held responsible for this problem because if the numbers of voters that Morocco presented cannot be proven to be definitely wrong, then Morocco should not give them up. It would be unfair towards the voters, since every Sahrawi has the right to vote on this issue, whether he is living in Morocco or elsewhere.
With this note, I would like to add that the purpose of this page is to give you a taste of the unfortunate Western Sahara Conflict, especially since it has been going on for a very long time, yet not many people know about it. I also wanted to introduce you to the Arabic culture, as you will probably notice. I also want to bring your attention to the fact that some links are in French, and so I'm sorry about that, but I really could not help it. Thank you for your visit, and I hope you will enjoy it. Again, if you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to email me at: wtazi@mtholyoke.edu.