Washington Post and the Guardian - Women On Frontline in Struggle for Western Sahara

Laiun ? the widespread American newspaper "The Washington Post" and the British "Guardian" have published this week an Article on the role of Sahrawi women in their struggle for independence, under the title "Women on frontline in struggle for Western Sahara"

The article confirmed that "Sahrawi women are leading the disputed territory's fight for independence from Moroccan rule"

Loveday Morris who has realized the report for the Washington Post highlighted that "As dusk enveloped the salmon-pink houses of Laayoune, the brightly coloured robes of women stood out in a mass of protesters in the centre of the capital of Western Sahara chanting for independence from Morocco".

While other African colonies threw off occupiers one by one, this desert expanse on the continent's north-western coast remains a disputed territory controlled primarily by next-door Morocco and locked in a nearly 40-year struggle for the right to choose its fate. women play a prominent role in Western Sahara's independence movement, reported the article

"This is a pride for us, that this is led by women," said Arminatou Haidar, a Nobel peace prize nominee and the most recognisable face of Western Sahara's nationalist movement.

the report noted that "no nation, including the US, do not recognise Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, but calls by the Sahrawi people for a referendum on independence have made little traction. Experts say that is due to a combination of Moroccan lobbying against the proposal, lack of international will to upset one of the region's most stable countries and arguments between Morocco and the Sahrawis' rebel movement-turned-government-in-exile, the Polisario Front, over who should vote".

"Even if I don't reach that day when the Sahara is independent, I am completely convinced that the next generation is going to live the day of independence," Haidar said.

Instead of the dozens of people that most protests draw, the May march drew well over 1,000, hundreds of them women. Some activists described it as the largest in the history of the independence movement, and they attributed the crowd in part to anger over a recent UN security council decision not to approve a US proposal to grant the UN peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara a mandate to monitor human rights. The United States later abandoned the proposal after strong opposition from Morocco, which cancelled a joint military exercise between the two countries in protest.

The role of women can be partially attributed to the Sahrawis' nomadic background, said Djmi El Ghalia, a prominent activist. While men travelled, women controlled household finances and ran the community. That legacy was consolidated in the refugee camps in Algeria, home to the Polisario Front and an estimated 165,000 Sahrawis who fled during the 16-year war with Morocco, which ended in 1991. Women are responsible for much of the administration of the camps.

" women in Western Sahara enjoy significant advantages," said Jacob Mundy, an assistant professor at Colgate University and co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution.

"The war gave women in the camps more opportunities to become involved in the daily operations of the independence struggle and the effort to build a state in exile," he said, while across the border in the territory, female activists play a "huge role".

Sahrawi female activists say they generally have freedom to express their political views, and women divorce without stigma.

Women have paid a high price for their role in the struggle. Both El Ghalia and Haidar spent years in detention centres in the late 1980s, when forced disappearances of Sahrawis were widespread.

Sitting in a traditional tent erected on the rooftop of her Laayoune home, El Ghalia pulled back her headscarf to show her scarred scalp, which she said was doused in chemicals while in detention. She said she spent most of nearly four years blindfolded and was often stripped naked and subjected to torture. "I still have the scars from the dogs biting my flesh," she said.

Though the darkest abuses are over, they still go on. Last month, Human Rights Watch reported that Moroccan courts have convicted Western Saharan activists on the basis of confessions obtained through torture or falsified by police.

In a hotel in Laayoune, another activist, Sultana Khaya, recalled a 2007 protest during which she said a policeman beat her face, causing her to lose one eye. She showed bruises from a recent run-in with police.

"This is just small testament compared to the testaments of other Sahrawi women since 1975," said Khaya, 32. "The Sahrawi woman is very great; she's very powerful. I don't even think about getting married until the Sahrawi women become independent."

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201307171024.html

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