Series “Autodétermination” of the “Cultures Monde” Podcast hosted by Florian Delorme on France Culture
Episode 2 : “Sahara Occidental : le mirage de l’État nation” (0h58) – 07.12.2021
Listen : https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/cultures-monde/sahara-occidental-le-mirage-de-l-etat-nation
Abstract
• CONTENT : Brief overview of the discussed topics
Registered on the United Nations (UN) list of territories which have yet to be decolonized, in regard to international law, the residents of Western Sahara should therefore be guaranteed the right to self-determination of peoples. As well as express themselves on the matter of their sovereignty through a self-determination referendum. But geopolitical matters have disrupted the UN theory and prevented the ballot to be held, though it was scheduled for the first time in 1992. The ballot Morocco – which now controls 80% of this territory – opposes. King Mohammed VI rather favours the option of a regional autonomy for Western Sahara, which would officially become Moroccan property.
In the face of such political deadlock, tensions have recently resurfaced in Western Sahara, where the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front has been broken in November 2020. Armed with a certain military advantage, the Moroccan troups battle sporadically against the army of the Polisario Front – a Sahrawi liberation movement. As this low intensity conflict threatens the regional balance of the Maghreb, the rivalry between Algeria and Morocco centers around the Sahrawi question. How far would these two historical ennemies go ? In a larger sense, what role are the big global powers – the United-States, Israel but also France – playing in this issue ? And finally, what outcome can Sahrawi people hope for, 45 years after the beginning of the conflict ?
• GUESTS : Set of experts
Florian Delorme welcomes Khadija Mohsen-Finan, professor at Paris 1 University and Western Sahara specialist, as well as Thierry Desrues, researcher and Morocco specialist at the Cordoue Institute of Social Studies.
• AUDIO REFERENCES :
Testimony of Moulay Dadi, Sahrawi refugee in the Tindouf camp, in Algeria (AFP, 03 November 2017)
At the beginning of last Novembre, Mohammed VI claimed that Western Sahara was not a “negociable” (AFP, 07 novembre 2021)
On June the 13th of this year, Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, diplomacy leader of the Sahrawi independantist movement Polisario Front, claimed that an actual war had been taking place with Morocco for months in the Western Sahara region (France 24, interview by Marc Perelman, 13 juin 2021)
Mohamed Sidati, representative of the Polisario Front, spoke in last January about the self-determination process, the negociations and the role played by the UN during those (France 24, 24 janvier 2021)
Archive in which young Polisario Front soldiers speak about their fight in December 1976 (BNF, director : Bruno Muel, 20 December 1976)
• END OF THE SHOW : Broadcasted songs during the Podcast
« Hulie and Candy » by Boards of Canada (Label : Warp)
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