ABSTRACT

The decolonisation of the territory of Western Sahara has not been completed, almost forty-two years after it was designated a non-self governing territory by the United Nations Decolonisation Committee. The self-determination referendum, promised to the Saharawi people in 1963, which would determine the status of the territory, never took place. The Saharawis have lived as a divided people, some inside the territory controlled by Morocco, others as refugees in neighbouring countries and Europe, since the withdrawal of Spain and the invasion by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations peace process has been stalled and the referendum delayed for the last 14 years; the conflict and protracted refugee situation long forgotten in the western world.