 |
Travel to Western Sahara — Unbiased reviews and great deals
from TripAdvisorWestern Sahara (proposed state)
Western Sahara Total area: 102,703 sq mi (266,001 sq
km) Population (2007 est.): 382,617
(growth rate: 2.9); birth rate: 40.4; infant mortality rate: 72.6;
life expectancy: 53.5; density per sq mi: 4 Largest city (2003 est.): El Aaiun 198,200 Monetary unit:
Tala Languages: Hassaniya Arabic, Moroccan Arabic Ethnicity/race: Arab, Berber Religion: Islam Economic summary: GDP/PPP:
n.a. Inflation: n.a. Arable land: 0.02%. Agriculture:
fruits and vegetables (grown in the few oases); camels, sheep,
goats (kept by nomads); fish. Labor force: 12,000; animal
husbandry and subsistence farming 50%. Industries: phosphate
mining, handicrafts. Natural resources: phosphates, iron ore.
Exports: n.a.: phosphates 62%. Imports: n.a.: fuel for
fishing fleet, foodstuffs. Major trading partners: Morocco
claims and administers Western Sahara, so trade partners are included
in overall Moroccan accounts. Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: about 2,000 (1999 est.); mobile cellular: 0 (1999). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 0, shortwave 0 (1998). Radios:
56,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: n.a.
Televisions: 6,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 1 (2000). Transportation:
Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 6,200 km; paved: 1,350 km;
unpaved: 4,850 km (1991 est.). Ports and harbors: Ad Dakhla,
Cabo Bojador, Laayoune (El Aaiun). Airports: 11 (2006). International disputes: Morocco claims and
administers Western Sahara, but sovereignty remains unresolved;
UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since September
1991, but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties have
rejected other proposals; Mauritanian claims to Western Sahara have
been dormant in recent years; Morocco allowed Spanish fishermen to
fish temporarily off the coast of Western Sahara after an oil spill
soiled Spanish fishing grounds.. Major sources and definitions |
 |
Geography Located in
northern Africa on the Atlantic Ocean, Western Sahara is surrounded by
Algeria to the east, Morocco to the north, and Mauritania to the south.
About the size of Colorado, it is mostly low, flat desert with some small
mountains in the south and northeast. Government Legal status of the territory is disputed
and sovereignty unresolved; a UN referendum on the issue is planned. The
territory is contested by Morocco and the Polisario Front, which in Feb.
1976, formally proclaimed a government-in-exile of the Saharawi Arab
Democratic Republic, now officially recognized by about 55 countries. History Little is known about Western
Sahara before the 4th century B.C., when trade
with Europe began. During the Middle Ages it was occupied first by Berbers
and then by the Arabic-speaking Muslim Bedouins. In the 19th century the
Spanish laid claim to the southern coastal region, called Rio de Oro, and
later occupied the northern interior region, Saguia el Hamra, in 1934. The
Spanish formally united the two regions, and it became known as Spanish
Sahara in 1958. Both Morocco and Mauritania sought to control the territory,
and when the Spanish departed in 1976, they divided the territory between
them. In the meantime, the indigenous Saharawis began fighting for
independence. In 1976, the insurgents, called the Polisario Front, declared
a government-in-exile (the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic) from their
base in Algeria. Mauritania reached a peace agreement with the Polisario in
1979, but Morocco then seized the land given up by Mauritania and now exerts
administrative control over the entire region. The Polisario Front fought
Morocco to a stalemate and agreed in Sept. 1991 to a cease-fire, which was
contingent on a referendum regarding independence. For more than a decade,
however, the UN has failed to hold the referendum; disputes over voter
eligibility have been the major stumbling block, as well as Morocco's
opposition to the referendum. In Aug. 2001, former secretary of state James
A. Baker, special UN envoy to the Western Sahara, proposed that instead of a
referendum on independence, Western Sahara consider becoming an autonomous
region of Morocco. The Polisario rejected the new proposal, which it saw as
a reversal of the UN's decadelong promise to hold a referendum on
self-determination. In 2002, King Mohammed VI of Morocco reasserted that he
will not “renounce an inch of” the Western Sahara. In
Aug. 2003, a UN Security Council resolution adopted a new peace plan that
would turn Western Sahara into a semiautonomous region of Morocco for five
years, after which a referendum would be held to determine independence,
autonomy, or integration into Morocco. The Polisario agreed to the plan;
Morocco refused to consider it. In June 2004, a frustrated James Baker
resigned after seven years as UN envoy. His successor has vowed to achieve a
resolution. The UN has spent more than $600 million on peacekeeping efforts
in Western Sahara over the last 13 years. In Aug. 2005, the
Polisario freed the last Moroccan prisoners it had been holding. The 404 men
had been imprisoned for almost 20 years and were the world's longest-held
prisoners of war. See also Encyclopedia: Western Sahara.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved. More on Western Sahara proposed state from Infoplease:
- Morocco - Information on Morocco — geography, history, politics, government, economy, population statistics, culture, religion, languages, largest cities, as well as a map and the national flag.
- Western Sahara: meaning and definitions - Western Sahara: Definition and Pronunciation
- Western Sahara - Map of Western Sahara & articles on flags, geography, history, statistics, disasters current events, and international relations.
- Western Sahara - Western Sahara Western Sahara, territory (2005 est. pop. 273,000), 102,703 sq mi (266,000 sq km), ...
- Western Sahara: Bibliography - Bibliography See J. Damis, Conflict in Northwest Africa (1983); T. Hodges, Western Sahara: The ...
Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML(): Input is not proper UTF-8, indicate encoding !
Bytes: 0xED 0x74 0x69 0x63 in Entity, line: 3 in /site/html/include/elibrary_search_box.php on line 109
|
|
