He has lived many years in difficult conditions, he says. All the same, he sometimes dreams of going far away, to Europe. "The most beautiful sky in the world," he says. "The people say: 'No, they are just playing games with us."Īs night falls in Awserd, Omar makes his way home from the little grocery business where he sells water, a little meat and tea to those who can afford it. "How can one convince the Saharawi people to hold out and accept that the UN is working on a referendum with which they can exercise their right to self-determination?" Salek said in a DW interview. Western Sahara is a member of the African Union but only few countries recognize it as independent. His office is half an hour's drive from Awserd, in Rabuni - the seat of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Mohamed Salem Salek, the foreign minister of the government-in-exile, knows that. Horst Köhler, Germany's president from 2004 to 2010, was appointed UN special envoy to Western Sahara in 2017 Read more: UN to vote on Western Sahara mandate Many people of Western Sahara want independence for their homeland, or at least this long-promised referendum. Despite numerous requests by DW to the Moroccan embassy in Berlin, an interview did not come about. An offer from Morocco is already on the table: The kingdom wants to grant Western Sahara autonomy. Lead negotiator is Horst Köhler, Germany's ex-president and UN special envoy for Western Sahara. It is this tension that representatives of the Polisario Front took with them to the resumption of negotiations in Geneva on March 21, 2019. We are peace-loving people, but when nothing is resolved, we are prepared to take up arms." No one has made a move in 43 years we have waited for more than 27 years for a resolution via the UN. Among them is Addou al-Hadj who leads tours at the Museum of Resistance in the nearby Smara camp.
Some people in the camps make no secret of where the dissatisfaction can lead. Read more: Morocco mulls 'all options' over Polisario Front's alleged Western Sahara incursions All this breeds dissatisfaction that can lead to anything," Hamda says. One hears daily about a mother, sister or brother being kidnapped and abused. With this standby situation of 27 years – with no peace or war and doubt and mistrust of the UN – this situation arises in the occupied areas. "But since1991 the young people born here see no solution on the horizon. It should actually be overseeing a referendum on independence for Western Sahara. A United Nations mission has since been monitoring the zone adjacent to Morocco. "The youth is in despair because in this situation, in which we are for more than 43 years, they see no light at the end of the tunnel," Hamda says. The food aid supply has declined, infant mortality is double that of Europe, and water is limited to 10 liters (2.6 gallons) per day. Now, after more than four decades of conflict, hopelessness is spreading, Awserd governor Mariem Salek Hamda told DW. The camp has been in existence since the outbreak of the civil war. Schooling, health care and the distribution of relief supplies has to be organized. They set up their own city quarter, communities and regions. People in the camps have tried to make the best out of their situation. "I had problems because I'm the eldest in the family and the family needs me to earn money and much more. He attended school until he turned 18 and went on to an Algerian university. Omar lives with his parents and five siblings somewhere between the camp's areas two and three. Most of the Sahrawis who fled the fighting in the mid-1970s ended up in refugee campsĪwserd alone houses some 50,000 people – in tents, mud shacks and brick houses.
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