The Independence Intifada or the Second Sahrawi Intifada (''intifada'' is

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for " uprising") and also May IntifadaWestern Sahara Between Autonomy and Intifada
/ref> is a Sahrawi activist term for a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan- controlled parts of

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

and south of Morocco. This event has also been called The El-Aaiun Intifada by the same sources.

Background

, formerly

Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara (; ), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain bet ...

, was annexed by

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in 1975, as Spain pulled out. A war with the

Polisario Front The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (Spanish language, Spanish: ; ), better known by its acronym Polisario Front, is a Sahrawi nationalism, Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to end the occupatio ...

, which according to the UN represent the indigenous Sahrawi population, and was backed by neighboring

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, ensued. In 1991 a cease-fire was agreed upon, on the condition of a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

(including the options of independence or integration into Morocco). Since 1991 the terms of a referendum have been subject to years of dispute between the parties, although the cease-fire continues to hold despite remaining tensions. Morocco controls the majority of the territory, with Polisario forces controlling a rump. A UN mission MINURSO mission patrols the demarcation line. Sahrawi political activity in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara remains severely restricted, and police crackdowns and

forced disappearances An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

were a frequent response to civil protest. The political climate gradually relaxed in the 1990s, after the cease-fire, and following considerable liberalization in Morocco proper. Since political liberalization, intermittent protests have broken out and pro-Polisario groups have declaring minor "intifadas" in 1999 and 2000, often resulting in dozens of demonstrators being arrested.

Demonstrations and arrests

Demonstrations began on 21 May 2005 in El Aaiún, after relatives protesting the transfer of a Sahrawi prisoner accused of drug dealing and insulting the Moroccan monarchy to a prison in

Agadir Agadir (, ; ) is a major List of cities in Morocco, city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Sous River, Souss River flows into the ocean, and south of Casabla ...

were violently dispersed by police, provoking further demonstrations over the next several days. Protests spread by the end of May to other towns in the Western Sahara, such as Smara and Dakhla, and were accompanied by demonstrations by Sahrawi students living in Moroccan cities such as Agadir,

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, Fes,

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

and

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

. Moroccan public security units quelled the disturbances, although some subsequent pro-independence demonstrations have subsequently flared up, most recently reported in November 2005. On 30 October 2005, a first fatality was recorded when 31-year-old Hamdi Lembarki died after what human rights organizations assured was police brutality during his arrest, although at first Moroccan authorities attributed his death to an accident. Over a hundred pro-Polisario Sahrawi protesters were reported arrested by Moroccan authorities by international human rights, and approximately thirty demonstrators and well-known Sahrawi human rights-activists have been imprisoned after summary trials. Among them are the former political prisoner Ali Salem Tamek (who did not partake directly in any demonstrations, but was arrested when returning from abroad), human rights-activist Mohamed Elmoutaoikil, and Aminatou Haidar, a former disappeared. An international campaign for her release was signed by 178 members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

, and she was nominated as a candidate for the Sakharov Prize. A 50-day hunger strike of all the arrested Sahrawis put the health of several at risk, and the action was aborted. On 14 December 2005, 14 pro-independence Sahrawis and human-rights activists, including the activists mentioned above and most of the remaining pro-Polisario Sahrawi political leadership, were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison by an El-Aaiún court, on charges of disturbing public order, membership of illegal associations, incitement to unrest, damaging public property and rioting. They denied the charges of using violence. Both

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

had expressed serious concern over the trials, pointing to reports of torture and previous abuse of some of the prisoners.

International reactions

Several international human rights-organizations have shown interest in alleged Moroccan abuse of Sahrawi demonstrators.

has demanded an investigation into reports of torture of prisoners and called for fair trials, and the release of political prisoners. This has been echoed by

and others. Morocco has limited journalists' and diplomats' access to the territory, claiming that their public presence is used by pro-Polisario activists to trigger more riots. Investigative missions from European countries have been denied access to the territory, including several high-ranking parliamentary delegations and foreign ambassadors to Morocc

Several foreign journalists, mainly European, but also Al Jazeera Media Network, al Jazeera correspondents, were expelled after interviewing protesters, and others have been prevented from visiting it. In November 2005, Moroccan authorities shut down a number of pro-independence or pro-Polisario Internet sites. This was condemned by

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

as an example of

internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as ''Wikipedia.org'', for example) but exceptionally may ...

. The

voted 98 in favor, 1 abstention and 0 votes against an October 2005 resolution that "deplored" expulsions of journalists covering the uprising and demanded the "immediate release" of political prisoners.

Aftermath

References

An Urgent Appeal

# ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071127145906/http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/mar-summary-eng Amnesty International – Morocco / Western Sahara – Covering events from January – December 2003
U.S. Department of State – Western Sahara – 2001 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

Amnesty International – Morocco / Western Sahara – Sahrawi human rights defenders under attack

# ttp://www.arso.org/aminatoucamp.htm Western Sahara Human Rights – FREE AMINATOU HAIDAR
Western Sahara Human Rights – Members of the European Parliament who support the International Campaign for the liberation of AMINATOU HAIDAR and of all Saharawi political prisoners

Reuters – Morocco jails Western Sahara activists over riots

# ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090211075309/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15809 Reporters without borders – Morocco puts US censorship busting site Anonymizer.com on its black list
European Parliament resolution on human rights in Western Sahara

External links