A 29-year United Nations (UN)-brokered ceasefire in the ongoing conflict for Western Sahara came to an end last week in the Sahara Desert when Moroccan forces clashed with the nationalist Polisario Front. On today's show, Jason talks with Ms. Katlyn Thomas, a New York-based and practicing international attorney who served as the first legal advisor to the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). She is also the former Chair of the United Nations Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York.
Invaded and unlawfully occupied by Morocco in 1975, Western Sahara remains the only colonized African nation. For sixteen years, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and its people, the Sahrawi, have fought the Moroccan invaders. In 1991, when it appeared that the Sahrawi would win their freedom and Western Sahara would finally be free, the King of Morocco brought in the United Nations and pressed for a cease-fire.
In good faith, the Sahrawi laid down their arms and agreed to a cease-fire only because the United Nations promised them the only thing they had ever asked for: the right to vote on self-determination. The Sahrawi have been waiting since 1991 for the vote. A member of the African Union, the SADR has been recognized by over 80 nations. The United States does not recognize Moroccos's claim to Western Sahara.
Further Reading
Defense Forum Foundation, Free Western Sahara
Floor speech by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.)
Stealing the Sahara, Sam T. K. Neel (Amazon)
The Legal Issues Involved In The Western Sahara Dispute, The Principle of Self-Determination and the Legal Claims of Morocco; New York City Bar (link opens a PDF file, June 2012)
UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)
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The Western Sahara & Self-Determination for the Sahrawi People, with Katlyn Thomas