Voices of the desert

After learning about the situation of the people of Western Sahara, I got involved in a local support group, where I fell in love with the warmness of their people and their rich culture. Here’s their history.

Western Sahara is the strip of territory along which the famous African desert meets the Atlantic Ocean. By 1975 it was the only African land still in hands of an European power, Spain. After a hundred years of colonialism, due to the internal conflicts caused by Dictator Francisco Franco’s death, Spain left the country in a rush. This chaotic freeing was seized by Morocco to establish its own people, quickly taking control of a land that was literally left without an organisation or administration. The Saharawis tried to fight back for the power in a war that lasted fifteen years, but that led most of them to move further inside the desert, settling in "temporary" refugee camps that have lasted until today, thirty-six years later.

The situation now is as critical as ever. People in refugee camps can only think about moving back to their land. And the only solution they can think of is returning to arms. Their pledge has been pretty much ignored by international powers since the end of the war in 1990, and they receive very little media coverage. Spain and the EU don’t openly support the Saharawis as they want to keep in good terms with Morocco, a country that holds the key to African immigration into Europe and administrates Western Sahara’s rich natural resources, which the EU exploit. In addition to all this, the first Moroccans born in the occupied territory are now 35 years old, and can truly say that Western Sahara is their land.

Saharawis living in refugee camps are caught in a terrible political situation, and only survive in the harsh desert thanks to food and water supplies from the UN and the generous volunteer work that many individuals offer. So if you are ever thinking of volunteer Africa, why not give a hand to this suffering but warm and generous people?