From refugees to returnees
From refugees to returnees
Western Sahara's empty villages are filling up again, after waves of their former residents return home following decades of hardships in Polisario run camps.
6 min read
25 Nov, 2014
Many refugees from Western Sahara returned back to their homes in the Moroccan territory [AFP-Getty]
Two months ago, I wrapped up the filming of my latest documentary The Returnees. The film focuses on the disputed land of Western Sahara, which is currently under Moroccan control, and the return of Sahrawis back to the territories after living for decades in Polisario-run refugee camps in western Algeria.
Up until this point, the focus of my efforts had been the Palestinian cause, due in part to my return home to Ramallah where I became part of the complex, bewildering events that had enwrapped the city.
After time, I found myself needing a break from the city, and this is how I ended up in Western Sahara. The conflict taking place on the other side of the Arab world was somehow aligned to my own interests and experiences.
The dispute on this coastal strip of the Sahara has been ongoing for the past four decades. Conflict first erupted when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro, better known as the Polisario Front, demanded an end to Moroccan control over the territory, and the establishment of an independent republic in Western Sahara.
From my conversations and telephone interviews with film directors and journalists across the Arab world, I realised that there was a distinct lack of understanding about the Western Sahara conflict, which was another motive for the making of the film.
Rebels in tents
The Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, western Algeria, are governed by the Polisario Front who oppose Rabat’s rule of Western Sahara. Inside the disputed territory, however, I found that rather than resisting the authorities, the Sahrawis actually support Morocco’s side in the dispute.
I came to frequently visit a desert region when filming The Returnees, and found Moroccan influence tangible across the territories. A sense of stability and regularity prevails over daily life and during my strolls through the streets of Western Sahara, not once did I notice the presence of UN peacekeeping forces.
Various construction projects have been initiated by the Moroccan government in the territory, and Western Sahara clearly appears to be going through a phase of economic development. Evidence of this can be seen in the impressive port in the city of Dakhla.
Women in these parts of Western Sahara enjoy privileges unknown to women in many other Arab societies. During my interviews with Sahrawi women, I found many composed poetry, both in classical Arabic and in the oral Arabic tradition of Hassani. Their command of French and Spanish was as good as their Arabic, while in the south women have parties held in their honour when they divorce. A woman who has received no marriage proposals will see her dowry double in size.
I managed to meet with some of Western Sahara’s 'returnees'. Once inhabitants of the Tindouf refugee camps, they had returned to their homes in Western Sahara. Among them were former Polisario Front leaders, who now occupy senior positions in the Moroccan government or serve as ambassadors for the kingdom.
Rising up
Finally, there were those who had left Western Sahara with their parents at a young age, but decided to flee the camps when they became disillusioned with the rebel group and its cause. The 1980s saw a huge wave of Sahrawis return back to the Moroccan administered territory.
The returnees spoke of the tremendous hardship they endured in Tindouf. There was no running water, electricity, or infrastructure to cater to the refugees and entry into the camps required a licence from Algerian security forces. The complete dependence of these camps on foreign aid meant that young Sahrawi had no opportunities for work.
One young Sahrawi told me he left his camp in Tindouf "in search of a future". As I sat amongst the leaders of a Sahrawi tribes at one camp, they seemed to constantly discuss the return of another tribe to the 'homeland'. One of the most prominent members of the camps I came across was Mohamed Cherif, who had worked in the Polisario Front since the first days of its formation. When he joined, he was appalled by the favouritism within the organisation, and the mistakes and abuses of power committed by the leadership.
Up until this point, the focus of my efforts had been the Palestinian cause, due in part to my return home to Ramallah where I became part of the complex, bewildering events that had enwrapped the city.
After time, I found myself needing a break from the city, and this is how I ended up in Western Sahara. The conflict taking place on the other side of the Arab world was somehow aligned to my own interests and experiences.
The dispute on this coastal strip of the Sahara has been ongoing for the past four decades. Conflict first erupted when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro, better known as the Polisario Front, demanded an end to Moroccan control over the territory, and the establishment of an independent republic in Western Sahara.
From my conversations and telephone interviews with film directors and journalists across the Arab world, I realised that there was a distinct lack of understanding about the Western Sahara conflict, which was another motive for the making of the film.
Rebels in tents
The Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, western Algeria, are governed by the Polisario Front who oppose Rabat’s rule of Western Sahara. Inside the disputed territory, however, I found that rather than resisting the authorities, the Sahrawis actually support Morocco’s side in the dispute.
I came to frequently visit a desert region when filming The Returnees, and found Moroccan influence tangible across the territories. A sense of stability and regularity prevails over daily life and during my strolls through the streets of Western Sahara, not once did I notice the presence of UN peacekeeping forces.
Various construction projects have been initiated by the Moroccan government in the territory, and Western Sahara clearly appears to be going through a phase of economic development. Evidence of this can be seen in the impressive port in the city of Dakhla.
Women in these parts of Western Sahara enjoy privileges unknown to women in many other Arab societies. During my interviews with Sahrawi women, I found many composed poetry, both in classical Arabic and in the oral Arabic tradition of Hassani. Their command of French and Spanish was as good as their Arabic, while in the south women have parties held in their honour when they divorce. A woman who has received no marriage proposals will see her dowry double in size.
I managed to meet with some of Western Sahara’s 'returnees'. Once inhabitants of the Tindouf refugee camps, they had returned to their homes in Western Sahara. Among them were former Polisario Front leaders, who now occupy senior positions in the Moroccan government or serve as ambassadors for the kingdom.
Rising up
Finally, there were those who had left Western Sahara with their parents at a young age, but decided to flee the camps when they became disillusioned with the rebel group and its cause. The 1980s saw a huge wave of Sahrawis return back to the Moroccan administered territory.
The returnees spoke of the tremendous hardship they endured in Tindouf. There was no running water, electricity, or infrastructure to cater to the refugees and entry into the camps required a licence from Algerian security forces. The complete dependence of these camps on foreign aid meant that young Sahrawi had no opportunities for work.
One young Sahrawi told me he left his camp in Tindouf "in search of a future". As I sat amongst the leaders of a Sahrawi tribes at one camp, they seemed to constantly discuss the return of another tribe to the 'homeland'. One of the most prominent members of the camps I came across was Mohamed Cherif, who had worked in the Polisario Front since the first days of its formation. When he joined, he was appalled by the favouritism within the organisation, and the mistakes and abuses of power committed by the leadership.
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Like many other Sahrawi children, she was kidnapped without the consent of her parents and shipped out to Cuba. |
"I resented the situation. They had fooled us into believing that we were taking part in a revolution, when there wasn't actually one at all. I began to criticise them, so they imprisoned me for six years under horrendous conditions. I was put in a tiny room, less than an arm's length in width and with a ceiling that grazed the top of my head. They put masks on our faces, and used numbers, instead of names, to tell us apart."
Two of Cherif’s close friends died under these appalling conditions. In jail, he says he prayed for the preservation of his health, body and mind so that he might one day leave and expose the abuses of the Polisario. One day in the 1990s Cherif says he finally escaped the prison. Since he made it to freedom, he has made it his duty to show the world the sinister side of this rebel group.
Terror in the camps
Maghlaha Dlimi went with her parents to the Tindouf camps as a child. Like many other Sahrawi children, she was kidnapped without the consent of her parents and shipped out to Cuba. In the morning the children would study, while the rest of the day were spent in the fields as unpaid labour. They received military training, carried arms, and shown how to operate bombs.
Their families in Tindouf would not see their children again until they had completed their studies in Cuba, which could be as long as five years. Only children who really excelled in training would be allowed to pay their families in Algeria a visit.
Zineb al-Kuri took part in the 1988 uprising against the Polisario along with her parents. She says that young people began to feel exploited and deceived by the leadership of the rebel group they called the 'Beneficiary Front'. Many people in the camps had thrown in their lot in with the Polisario, in communities blighted by illiteracy.
When the extent of corruption within the organisation finally transpired, refugees, particularly the young, rose up against the Polisario Front’s leadership. "Even in this day and age, some people are still providing the Polisario with assistance. I can’t understand why the world is just sitting back and watching. They rely on the support of Western countries working against Morocco."
The struggle of the Polisario now appears to lack justification. The decision of a number of African countries to withdraw their recognition of the Polisario state - the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) - is evidence thatthe group is fast losing its legitimacy on the continent.
What smacks of desperation is the Polisario Front's attempts to link their fight to the Palestinian struggle. They may well fly the Palestinian flag and vocally support the struggle against the Israeli occupation. In reality there is not a single political group, organisation or party affiliated with the Palestinian cause within the organisation. When they try to pass off photos of Palestinian infants, injured and martyred at the hands of the Israelis in the 2008-9 Gaza War, as their own Sahrawi children, nobody is fooled, today.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of al-Araby al-Jadeed, its editorial board or staff.
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