In the fall of 1975, the International Court of Justice rejected Moroccan claims to Western Sahara and ruled that the Sahrawis were entitled to self-determination. Morocco invaded the territory that same year, when the region was scheduled to gain independence from Spain. The Moroccan invasion forced most of the indigenous Sahrawi population across the border, into refugee camps in Algeria and a guerilla war has continued since that time, led by the guerillas of Polisario (the Western Saharan People's Front).

In response to the invasion by Morocco, the UN Security Council passed resolutions 379 and 380, which called for Morocco to withdraw from Western Sahara. Since then, however, the United States and the French have ensured that the Security Council remains unable to enforce these resolutions. In addition to thwarting the UN from acting, the US and France have supplied major military aid, including training and equipment for counter-insurgency efforts to Morocco, for use against Polisario. In addition, the two nations assisted Morocco in constructing a wall to keep the Sahrawi populace out of the territory, much like the 'apartheid wall' being built in Palestine today by the Zionists.

A cease-fire between Morocco and Polisario was concluded in 1990, which was to have been followed by a UN supervised referendum on the status of the territory. The referendum identified eligible voters on the basis of the 1974 Spanish census of the territory, but Morocco sought to include Moroccan settlers who could trace their ancestry to tribal groups from the region in the distant past. Polisario appropriately rejected these demands, but the US and France stepped in to keep the UN from compelling Morocco to comply with the original agreement, leaving the situation in a stalemate.

In an effective, but unusual, shift of tactics, Polisario aligned itself with the recent US resolution before the UN, which forced the Moroccan government to oppose the US on the issue, thereby causing a rift which deprived Morocco of one of its staunchest allies. Ahmed Boukhari, the Polisario representative to the UN, said of this tactical ploy: "We are in the weakest position, so of course, they always want us to compromise, regardless of the law."

Recognising their precarious position, the guerilla movement opted for a pragmatic approach and the gamble appears to have been effective.

Polisario has widespread diplomatic support, with their government-in- exile of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic having been recognised by over seventy countries around the world. In addition, the Sahrawi republic holds full member status in the Organisation of African Unity. Polisario has created effectively functioning democratic institutions in the self-governing refugee camps in Algeria over the years and maintained its struggle to regain their homeland.

Whether the United States will remain at odds with Morocco is far from certain, however, as the imperialist power has long seen the Moroccan monarchy as an important regional ally, first during the Cold War and now in their campaign against militant Islamicists. Many suspect that if Morocco were to lose the referendum on Western Sahara, the result would be serious instability for the regime. Beyond this, the primary reason for Moroccan and western imperialist interest in the Saharan territory stems from its considerable mineral wealth, much of it still unexploited and recently the Moroccan government awarded an oil exploration contract to the US corporation Kerr McGee, which is one of the corporations with strong ties to the oil-related interests within the Bush Administration. These contracts have, however, prompted the Security Council to ask for a legal opinion from the UN Under-Secretary General for Legal Affairs. In response, Under-Secretary Hans Corell issued a devastating report from the Moroccan perspective, though it ultimately upheld the legality of the contracts. The report also reminded the Security Council that the Moroccan occupation was being maintained in defiance of rulings by both the International Court of Justice and the Security Council itself.

France, the primary imperialist ally of Morocco, even attempted to proclaim a new diplomatic principle in response to the report, claiming that the Security Council cannot impose its decisions on parties if the parties disagree with those decisions. It is dubious that the French will succeed in having this newly minted 'principle' accepted, but as an Irish diplomat on the Security Council, who had miraculously retained enough clarity on attempts by imperialists to disregard the will of the indigenous populace, said: "The original draft was utterly one-sided in its approach: it was in violation of international legal principles, and had already been rejected by one party to the dispute. It was also clear that the movers could not muster more than six or seven votes in the Council, so they could not get a majority for it."

Accordingly, the US returned with the revised proposal, passed at the close of July. This version provides for a degree of autonomy for the five-year interim stage to a much greater extent that did the earlier draft and includes stronger international guarantees against Moroccan interference. The resolution, as passed, ensures that only Sahrawis could vote for the interim authority, though it leaves open the question of the Moroccan colonists voting in the final referendum.

We in the IRSP believe that Morocco has been allowed to disregard the agreements previously concluded with Polisario for far too long and denounce the actions of the United States, France, and Morocco to shore up the occupation and deny self-determination to the Sahrawi people. We applaud the Algerian government and the government of Libya for the consistent assistance they have provided to the Sahrawis and Polisario, and especially the Algerians having permitted the Saharawis refugees to maintain a system of self- government in their refugee camps, rather than attempting to impose Algerian law on these embattled people.

We believe that it is essential that the Sahrawis and the Sahrawis alone be enabled to make known their wishes regarding self- determination and once a plebiscite has taken place, we call upon the Security Council and especially all of its permanent member states to ensure that Morocco immediately honour the expressed will of the Sahrawi people.

As with Palestine and Puerto Rico, imperialist machinations have too long impeded the will of the international community and the indigenous people of Western Sahara. We salute the heroic campaign of Polisario against a formidable alliance of the reactionary Moroccan monarchy and its imperialist allies and express our solidarity with Polisario's struggle for national liberation and social justice.

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