Everything about Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic totally explained
The
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (
SADR) is a
partially recognised state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of
Western Sahara, a former
Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the
Polisario Front on
February 27,
1976. The SADR government currently controls about 20% of the
territory it claims. It calls the territories under its control the "Liberated Territories" or "
Free Zone".
Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its
Southern Provinces. The SADR government considers the Moroccan held territory "Occupied Territory" while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a "Buffer Zone".
History
Following the
Spanish evacuation of
Spanish Sahara, Spain, Morocco, and
Mauritania signed the
Madrid Accords, leading to both Morocco and Mauritania moving in to
annex it. Neither state gained international recognition and war ensued with the
independence-seeking
Polisario Front, claiming to represent the
Sahrawi people. The creation of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was announced in
Bir Lehlou in Western Sahara on February 27, 1976, as the Polisario declared the need for a new entity to fill what they considered a political void left by the departing Spanish
colonizers. Bir Lehlou remained in Polisario-held territory under the 1991
cease-fire (see
Settlement Plan) and has remained the government in exile's symbolic
capital of the
exiled republic, while Polisario continues to claim the Moroccan held city of
El Aaiún, as the capital of a would-be independent Western Sahara. Day-to-day business is, however, conducted in the
Tindouf refugee camps in
Algeria, which house most of the Sahrawi exile community.
Government structure
The highest office of the republic is the
President of Western Sahara, now
Mohammed Abdelaziz, who appoints the
Prime Minister of Western Sahara, now
Abdelkader Taleb Oumar. The SADR's government structure consists of a Council of Ministers (a cabinet led by the Prime Minister), a judicial branch (with judges appointed by the President) and the
parliamentary Sahrawi National Council (SNC, present
speaker is
Mahfoud Ali Beiba). Since its inception in 1976, the various
constitutional revisions has transformed the republic from an
ad hoc managerial structure, into something approaching an actual governing apparatus. From the late 1980s the parliament began to take steps to institute a
division of powers and disentangle the republic's structures from those of the Polisario party, although without clear effect to date.
Its various ministries are responsible for a variety of services and functions. The
judiciary, complete with trial courts,
appeals courts and a
supreme court, operates in the same areas. As a
government-in-exile, many branches of government don't fully function, and has affected the constitutional roles of the institutions. Institutions parallel to government structures also have arisen within the
Polisario Front, which is fused with the SADR's governing apparatus, and with operational competences overlapping between these party and governmental institutions and offices.
The
SNC is presently weak in its legislative role, having been instituted as a mainly consultative and
consensus-building institution, but it has strengthened its theoretical legislative and controlling powers during later constitutional revisions. Among other things, it has added a ban on the
death penalty to the constitution, and brought down the government in 1999 through a
vote of no-confidence.
Current ministers
- Prime Minister: Abdelkader Taleb Oumar
- Minister of Occupied Territories and Emigration: El Khalil Sidi M'Hamed
- Minister of the Interior: Bellahi Sid
- Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mohamed Salem Ould Salek
- Minister of Cooperation: Salek Baba Hacena
- Minister of Public Health: Sid'Ahmed Tayeb
- Minister of Population and Reconstruction of the Liberated Territories: Salek Babih
- Minister of Economic Development: Nema Saaid Joumani
- Minister of Materials: Sid' Ahmed Batal
- Minister of National Defense: Mohamed Lamine Bouhali
- Minister of Education: Mariem Salek H'mada
- Minister of Information: Mohamed El Mami Tamek
- Minister of Commerce: Selama Mohamed Youssef
- Minister of Justice and Religious Affairs: Abdelkader Hamada Selma
- Minister of Culture: Khadija Hamdi
- Minister of Transportation: Babiya Chiia
- Minister Counsellor of the Presidency for Europe: Mohamed Sidati
- Minister Counsellor of the Presidency for the Asian Countries: Malainine Sadik
- Minister Counsellor of the Presidency for the Arab Countries: Ahmedou Soueilim
- Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Latin America: El Haj Ahmed
- Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Africa: Mohamed Yeslem Beyssat
- Secretary of State for Youth and Sports: Mohamed Mouloud Mohamed Fadel
- Secretary of State for Hydraulics and the Environment: Abda Cheij
- Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Employment: Ahmed Vall Mohamed Yahdih
- Secretary of State for Social Assistance and Women's Emancipation: Mahfouda Mohamed Rahal
- Director of Protocol: Habiboullah Mohamed Kori
- Secretary-General of the Presidency: Daf Mohamed Fadel
- Secretary-General of the Government: Moulay Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed
Legislative branch
Area of authority
The SADR acts as a government administration in the Sahrawi
refugee camps located in the
Tindouf Province of western
Algeria. It is headquartered in Camp Rabouni, south of
Tindouf, although some official events have taken place on Western Saharan territory in the provisional capital of
Bir Lehlou and
Tifariti, both in Polisario controlled territories. Effective independence is unclear with Polisario and Algerian authorities claiming Algerian authorities respect the
autonomy of the government in exile, and stay outside the Sahrawi refugee camps. This however is disputed by
former members of Polisario and questioned by outside observers. Several
foreign aid agencies, including the
UNHCR, are continually active in the camps.
Constitution and characteristics
A new 1999
Constitution of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic took a form similar to
parliamentary constitutions of many
European states, but with some paragraphs suspended until the achievement of "full
independence". Among key points, the
head of state is constitutionally the Secretary General of the Polisario Front during what is referred to as the "pre-independence phase," with provision in the constitution that on independence, Polisario is supposed to be dismantled or separated completely from the government structure. Provisions are detailed for a transitory phase beginning with independence, in which the present SADR is supposed to act as Western Sahara's government, ending with a constitutional reform and eventual establishment of a state along the lines specified in the constitution.
The broad guidelines laid down for an eventual Western Saharan state in the constitution include eventual multi-party
democracy with a
market economy. The constitution also defines Sahrawis as a
Muslim,
African and
Arab people, and the
Arabic language as the official language of the SADR, as well as declaring a commitment to the principles of
human rights, and to the concept of a
Greater Maghreb, as a regional variant of
Pan-Arabism.
International recognition and membership
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is currently recognized as a
sovereign representative of Western Sahara by
forty-three states, mostly
African and other governments in the developing world. Twenty-two states have withdrawn their former recognition, and twelve have "frozen" their diplomatic relations with the republic pending the outcome of the
UN referendum. Sahrawi
embassies exist in
thirteen states. On the other hand, Moroccan territorial integrity, apparently meaning including Western Sahara, is explicitly recognized by the
Arab League (External Link
) (External Link) and by
twenty-five states.
Although it has no representation at the
United Nations, the republic has been a full member of the
African Union (AU, formerly the
Organization of African Unity, OAU) since 1984. Morocco withdrew from the OAU in protest and remains the only African nation not within the AU since
South Africa's admittance in 1994. The SADR is also a member of the
Asian-African Strategic Partnership formed at the 2005
Asian-African Conference., over Moroccan objections to SADR participation.
In 2006, the SADR participated in a conference of the
Permanent Conference of Political Parties of the Latin American and the Caribbean (COPPAL).
The SADR isn't a member of the
Arab League, nor of the
Arab Maghreb Union, both of which include Morocco as a full member.
A Western Sahara Authority?
In the peace plan, the UN-endorsed
Baker Plan, created by
James Baker, former UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's personal envoy to Western Sahara, the SADR would have been replaced with a five-year transitional
Western Sahara Authority (WSA), a non-
sovereign autonomous region supervised by Morocco, to be followed by a
referendum on independence. However, as Morocco has declined to participate, the plan appears dead.
In April 2007 the government of Morocco suggested that a self-governing entity, through the
Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007. A stalemate over the Moroccan proposal led the UN in an April 2007 "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution.
Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara (13 April 2007)(ped). UN Security Council. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. )
National holidays
Islamic dates
Dates kept according to the
lunar Islamic calendar.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://sahrawi_arab_democratic_republic.totallyexplained.com">Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
