LONDON - 6 June 2007 - 960 words
Children of the Clouds - exhibition on the Saharawi people
An exhibition of photos by Carlos Reyes-Manzo and Bill Samuel, from their recent visit to the camps of refugees from the Western Sahara in Algeria was opened last night at Foyles Bookshop, 113-119 Charing Cross Road, London WC2. It runs to 23 June. In the following article, Carlos Reyes-Manzo tells the story of the Saharawi people and describes his recent visit.
For the tourists who go to Morocco to enjoy the beautiful blue skies and the sun, the desert is very romantic. But there is nothing romantic about living as an exile for over 30 years in the desert in one of the harshest environments on earth, completely forgotten by the international community.
Western Sahara came under Spanish rule in 1884. In 1965 the UN requested Spain to decolonise the territory and in 1966 to organise a referendum on self-determination. The Polisario Front was formed in 1973 with the purpose of obtaining independence from Spain. In 1975 Spain withdrew from the Western Sahara following a secret agreement with Morocco and Mauritania, handing the administration of territory over to them.
On 6 November 1975 the king of Morocco, Hassan II, ordered 350,000 civilians to invade Western Sahara, and when Morocco attacked the Saharawis with cluster bombs, thousands of people were forced to flee, many on foot, into exile in Algeria. The Polisario Front continued to fight for independence from Mauritania and Morocco, and in 1979 Mauritania withdrew from the territory. About 20% of Western Sahara was liberated by the Polisario Front during the war with Morocco.
In 1991 Morocco and the Polisario Front accepted the UN mediated ceasefire and the promise of a referendum which has still to take place. Since then, a UN mission, MINURSO, with 240 observers has been based in Western Sahara. In May 2003 a new UN plan proposed by James Baker was accepted by the Security Council and the Polisario Front, but Morocco has refused to accept this plan. Western Sahara has rich phosphate deposits and the fishing waters on the Atlantic coast are some of the most abundant in the world. In July 2005 the EU signed a fishing agreement with Morocco allowing it to issue fishing licenses for four years to 119 European fishing vessels, mainly Spanish, in waters off the coast of Western Sahara, which it does not legally hold.
In January I visited the Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf in Algeria with Susana España and Bill Samuel. At a short distance from the guesthouse in Rabouni, the administrative centre of the refugee camps and of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) government in exile, I met Moktazar Zalama tending his goats near a small oasis of muddy water. Moktazar is hoping to be reunited one day with his family in Western Sahara. He says: "Here I am, watching the days go by, looking after the goats, waiting to return to my land".
The youth are particularly affected by the lack of opportunities. There are primary schools in each camp and the literacy rate among Saharawis is 95%, the highest in Africa. There are also two secondary boarding schools. Some students go on to study at universities in Algeria and abroad, training as doctors, engineers and teachers.
Over 200,000 people, officially recognised as refugees by the UNHCR, live in four main camps named after a city in the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara: Al Aaiun, Ausserd, Smara and Dakhla.
In a haima in Dakhla, I met Mariam holding a baby in her arms, her two other children were playing nearby. She studied nursing in Cuba and was now working in the local hospital, She said: "My family arrived in exile in 1977, and my grandparents died soon after, badly affected by the harsh conditions of life in the desert. I worry about my children becoming ill. The hospitals are equipped to deal with accidents and emergencies, but a more serious illness means a long journey over hostile terrain either to the nearest city, Tindouf, or even as far as Algiers."
One image which remains in my mind is of a mother and her daughter, Fatima, walking in the sand under the sun. Fatima has learning difficulties but she can leave the security of the haima and walk around on her own as she is protected within the community. Her mother took me to meet her community, the women were laughing and working together dismantling and moving the haima to new clean surroundings nearby.
Women are the spirit of the family and community, handing down traditions through the generations, and at the same time the first to welcome social changes in the Saharawi society. When they were first exiled, the women took charge of the day to day running of the camps and created day care centres, schools and clinics and formed committees for health, education and childcare.
Five miles from Rabouni is the rehabilitation centre for people wounded during the war and from landmines. Bachari Daf has been lying on a bed for 19 years with a broken spine, his only means of keeping in touch with the outside world a television set which only works when electricity is available. He sees his family two or three times a year, and although he is saddened by the lack of communication with his family, at the centre he is protected from the extremes in temperature of a haima.
After visiting the centre I went to see the wall from a distance. It is impossible to get closer due to the millions of landmines on the ground waiting to explode, thousands have lost their feet and hands, thousands have died. The wall crosses the whole of Western Sahara, 120,000 Moroccan soldiers guard it.
For more information on the Western Sahara see: http://wsc.members.gn.apc.org/
More work by Carlos Reyes-Manzo can be
seen at: http://www.andespressagency.com/
© Andes Press Agency 2007
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