Sahrawi

Sahrawi, in full the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية‎, Spanish: República Árabe Saharaui Democrática) is a partially recognised state, dating from 1976, which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara.

The Sahrawi government currently controls about 20% of Western Sahara. It calls the territories under its control the "Liberated Territories" or "Free Zone".

Morocco controls and administers the rest of Western Sahara 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".

The temporary (in theory) capital is Bir Lehlou while El Aaiún remains the capital of an (in theory) independent Western Sahara. Day-to-day business of the Sahrawi government is however conducted in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which house most of the Sahrawi exile community.

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, Tifariti and other cities in Sahrawi. Effective independence is unclear. It is also unclear how much government of Sahrawi activity actually takes place within the Sahrawi territory of Western Sahara

The Republic is currently recognized as a sovereign representative of Western Sahara by 81 states, mostly African and other governments in the developing world. 22 states have withdrawn their former recognition, and 12 have "frozen" their diplomatic relations with the republic pending the outcome of the UN referendum. Sahrawi embassies exist in 14 states. On the other hand, Moroccan territorial integrity, apparently meaning including Western Sahara, is explicitly recognized by the Arab League and by 25 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.[9]

In 2006, the Republic participated in a conference of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of the Latin American and the Caribbean.

The Republic is not a member of the Arab League, nor of the Arab Maghreb Union, both of which include Morocco as a full member.

Is it a country?

The usual Re.ViCa tests for a country look both at "permanent population" and "effective control". The arguments for Sahrawi are finely balanced, but in the light of the fact that many governments recognise Sahrawi we have come down in favour of treating it as a country. This is also what Wikipedia appears to do.

Education

The only information that is easy to find concerns education in the Tindouf camps. These are not part of Sahrawi but the approach may give some clue to how the Republic would organise things if it ever came to an agreement with Morocco. The site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_camps_in_Tindouf_Province,_Algeria says (our italics and wiki links):

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The camps are considered very well organized by international refugee experts. They are divided into sub-units electing their own officials to run the camps, and to represent the neighbourhoods in political decision-making. The largest unit is called a "wilaya" (like the Algerian region), and consists of one single camp (Wilaya El-Aaiun, for example). Then comes larger sections of the camps called "daira", meaning "circle", in their turn divided into several "hay" or quarters (sometimes called "barrio", a Spanish word). Local committees distribute basic goods, water and food, while "daira" authorities made up by the representatives of the "hays" organize schools, cultural activities and medical services. Some argue that this results in a form of basic democracy on the level of camp administration, which is considered to have improved the efficiency of aid distribution. All camp units are named after the refugees' abandoned towns and villages in Western Sahara.

During the war years (1975-1991) Sahrawi women ran most of the camps' administration, with the men fighting at the front. This together with literacy- and professional education classes produced major advances in the role of women in Sahrawi society, although the return of large numbers of Sahrawi men since the cease fire has again hindered this development. Women still run a majority of the camps' administration, and the Sahrawi women's union UNMS is very active in promoting their role.

Six years of schooling are guaranteed and obligatory for all children. After that, many go to Algerian schools, and some pass on to universities in Algeria, Cuba, Spain or other countries that provide scholarships for Sahrawi students. Camp-wide literacy programs and education efforts directed specifically towards women have improved the literacy rates tremendously. According to a study by the Belgian branch of OXFAM, some 90% of the refugees are now considered literate, compared with below 10% in 1975, and the regional average of about 50%.

Men perform military service in the armed forces; during the war years, at least some women were enrolled in auxiliary units guarding the refugee camps

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References

1. http://sandblast-arts.blogspot.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_camps_in_Tindouf_Province,_Algeria

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For OER policies and projects in Sahrawi see Sahrawi/OER

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