Western Sahara

Western Sahara

Sven Simon’s chapter appears in a book that compares self-determination claims in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh with other cases. He argues that Western Sahara is unique and cannot easily be compared with these post-Soviet disputes, because it is a case of unfinished decolonisation.

He traces the territory’s history from Spanish colonisation through the 1975 ICJ advisory opinion, the Green March and the Madrid Agreement that divided the territory between Morocco and Mauritania. In his view Morocco is legally an occupying power, not a lawful administering power, because its annexation is unlawful and unrecognised and Spain could not transfer a sovereignty it never held. The Sahrawi people therefore hold a right to self-determination that the UN has repeatedly affirmed. Simon describes how the referendum planned under the Settlement Plan was blocked by Morocco, and he finds the UN’s later shift towards direct negotiations troubling in light of the law of self-determination.

He also argues that Morocco may use Western Sahara’s resources only for the benefit of the Sahrawi people and in line with their wishes, as the dispute over the EU fisheries agreement showed.

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