CIRESP - Grupo Conflitos, Paz e Democracia

In the North of Africa, between Mauritania and Morocco, lies one of the remaining non-self-governing territories whose decolonisation process lingers unfinished and unresolved: the Western Sahara. After thirty years of illegal Moroccan occupation and fifteen of ceasefire, one deliberation by the International Court of Justice, several resolutions and various peace plans from the United Nations, the exile of the Saharwi people persists as well as the denial of self-determination in clear violation of international law. The result is a ‘state in waiting’ considering the possibility of the return to the armed struggle in light of the continued deadlock.
Besides being one of the long-lasting conflicts in world affairs, the Western Sahara has strained relations between Algeria and Morocco and has been a main impediment to Maghribi integration and Mediterranean Basin stability, a crucial issue for the EU from a strategic point of view.


2- The EU involvement

The EU’s positioning regarding the Saharwi question over the last two decades seems to have been hesitating between a compromised silence and the nominal support to role and the efforts of the UN initiatives. When compared with Israel-Palestine, Bosnia or Cyprus issues, the EU has been playing a relatively inactive role or a low profile stand in the Western Sahara. Indeed, the Saharwi conflict has been placed on the back burner by the EU authorities given the prevailing economic interest as well as geo-political and geo-strategic concerns that have been taking the upper-end to the detriment of human rights and international legal concerns. An aggravating factor is that the Western Sahara has been a revealing example of the inner disunity existing among the EU members which is also supportive of the frail nature of the organisations’ common foreign policy which hinders the European pro-active pillar towards the conflict resolution.

3- Topics for further development

The EU has defined the Maghreb as a priority both in terms of security and politico-economic since 1989. Evidence shows, however that that this has not yet transcended the declaratory front. More recently, the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) aimed at involving a ring of friends with the aspiration of enlarging the EU’s zone of peace and stability encompassing its Eastern and Southern neighbours has reinforced that tendency. Such security partnership for the Mediterranean, based on a positive conditionality and using a number of economic and political incentives, should, first and foremost commit Europeans to resolve ongoing disputes and conflicts. This would only succeed if the EU is able to assume itself as a credible global actor by enhancing its common action capacity in crisis management field on the world stage. In view of the consolidation of the new approach to foreign policy of the EU, which is still in its infancy, this article will discuss the potential role that this organisation can play in the resolution of the Western Saharwi conflict. What strategy should the EU adopt? Bearing in mind the opposing views prevailing within its members towards the Western Sahara, will the EU assume itself as a collective actor or will continue to act on the basis of an alliance of member states because of lack of agreement between them? Will it be able to play a more decisive role, a positive part in the Western Mediterranean as an honest-broker? Can the EU facilitate the dialogue and create a new regional order, an atmosphere in which existing regional conflicts such as the Western Saharwi one can be resolved in a lasting manner?