Testimony Before the United States Congress on Western Sahara
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Thursday, November 17, 2005 Thank you Chairman Congressman Chris Smith and Members of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations for this important and timely hearing on the ongoing conflict over the Western Sahara. This is an especially critical time because of the increased violence against the Sahrawi people in occupied Western Sahara which has resulted in death, torture and imprisonment. It is my fervent hope that this hearing will spur the United States to pressure Morocco to end its brutal occupation and withdraw from the Western Sahara. Inaction on this issue has resulted in escalating violence and has thwarted efforts by the Sahrawi Republic to return to their homeland and establish a pro-West Muslim democracy in North Africa. Worse yet, inaction on this issue calls into question whether the Sahrawis should have laid down their weapons and trusted the United Nations to fulfill their promise of a referendum. It should not be lost to this Committee, that a Muslim people are being violently crushed for peacefully demonstrating for the very ideals on which this country was founded and the very ideals for which we are expending great blood and treasure to instill in the populations of Afghanistan and Iraq. If the United States had used its great influence with Morocco to press for the long-promised referendum, this issue would have been resolved in 1991. This referendum was actually first promised in 1966 when the United Nations adopted a resolution calling on Spain to organize a referendum. Yet, today, the year 2005, a referendum has yet to be held. Instead the Sahrawi people, who have placed their trust in the United Nations and the goodwill of the international community, have seen their country invaded by Morocco, their civilians brutally killed, their families separated for thirty years, and the UN continue to fail year after year in following through on its promises. Why has there been no referendum? Because Morocco has reneged on every agreement beginning with the UN-OAU Settlement Plan, the Houston Accords, and the most recent compromise, the Peace Plan, set forth by Former Secretary of State James Baker in 2002. We are currently at a stalemate: Morocco will not allow a referendum to occur and the Sahrawi people will never give up their dream of returning to their homeland as a free people. The fact that the Sahrawi people would rather live as free people in one of the most inhospitable places on earth rather than under Moroccan rule is a testament to the human spirit and the ideal of freedom. It is also a testament to the cruelty of Morocco. Because while most Sahrawi have waited in the Algerian desert for their promised referendum, a large number live under virtual house arrest in Occupied Western Sahara. Today, they are jailed, beaten, tortured and killed for peacefully demonstrating for the right to self-determination. Morocco’s brutal occupation of Western Sahara has repeatedly led to Moroccan-Occupied Western Sahara to be listed as one of the world’s worst regimes by Freedom House, the non-governmental organization which measures political rights and civil liberties worldwide. Because of the many years of broken promises by the UN on the promised referendum, it is time now to look for other solutions. The only solution that is consistent with international law and consistent with the ideals to which our country represents is to call for the transfer of Western Sahara back to the Sahrawi people. Currently, our friendship with Morocco has made us look the other way as the Moroccan government brutally beats, jails, and tortures the Sahrawis in occupied Western Sahara while preventing the refugees in Algeria from returning to their homeland through the construction of a heavily fortified wall patrolled by Moroccan troops in a desert it has littered with U.S. manufactured land-mines. But if we continue to look the other way, we will never convince young Muslims that what we truly want for them is democracy with freedom, human rights, and economic prosperity. As Condoleezza Rice boldly stated on her trip to the Middle East this summer, “The fear of free choices can no longer justify the denial of liberty. It is time to abandon the excuses that are made to avoid the hard work of democracy.” Just last month, Hamdi Lembarki, a young Sahrawi was beaten to death for fifteen minutes by Moroccan police for participating in a peaceful protest. What sets this death apart from the violence occurring around the world is what this young Muslim was protesting FOR. He was not protesting against Israel, he was not protesting against American troops, he was not protesting against Western culture. He was, in fact, protesting FOR the right to vote. There is great significance in the struggle by the Sahrawis, because what they represent is the key to winning the war on terror. Hamdi’s people embody everything that is hoped for in a world where Muslim, Christians, and Jews can live in peace. We will never win the war on terror unless we prove to the Hamdi’s of this world that we truly believe what we state. Currently, over one hundred Sahrawis are in prison, including Mrs. Aminatu Haidar, who was beaten severely and arrested after a peaceful demonstration in May, and Ali Salem Tamek, who was arrested when he arrived by plane in July. All of them were advocates for democracy and the right to self-determination and were peacefully advocating for these ideals. The Sahrawi people long ago established the Sahrawi Republic founded on democratic principles, equal rights for women and freedom of religion. In fact, the President of the Sahrawi Republic, President Mohamed Abdelaziz, has not only openly welcomed Christians into their refugee camps, but has asked Christians to establish churches in their homeland once the refugees return. Furthermore, they have long sought greater ties to the Jewish community. Because they believe in a personal relationship with God, they do not believe the state should intervene in this relationship and hence, they have long been banned from Mecca by the Whabbists Muslims. And this also explains Morocco’s desire to erase them politically. An illustration of the respect the Sahrawi Republic has gained in the international community is its recognition by over seventy-five nations and its membership in the African Union. It is also interesting to note that one of the first actions by the government of East Timor when it finally gained its independence was to recognize the Sahrawi Republic. Here was a predominately Catholic country who had been invaded by predominately Muslim Indonesia, recognizing the predominately Muslim Sahrawi Republic. The East Timorese could relate to the Sahrawis – they too had been invaded by a neighbor right at the point at which they were being decolonized. As part of the war on terror, the United States and the Coalition forces have contributed great blood and treasure to try to establish in Afghanistan and Iraq stable democracies. Had we stood for these values in the past and pressured Morocco to end its occupation of Western Sahara, there would already be a peaceful, democratic, pro-West Muslim country in North Africa that would have opened the way for greater economic prosperity for all of the Maghreb. It is not too late. I urge this Subcommittee: Do not let Hamdi Lembarki’s death be in vain. It is time for the United States to stand up for the Sahrawi people and demand Morocco end its brutal occupation and free the Western Sahara. It is the only viable solution that remains absent a free, fair, and impartial referendum. The withdrawal of Morocco from Western Sahara will bring about the following : –the ability of the Sahrawi Republic to flourish as a peaceful, democratic state of Muslim progressives who renounce all forms of terror; –the reunification of families separated for 30 years and the immediate reduction of the refugee population; – the fulfillment of a great goal of the African Union: stability in the Maghreb and the chance to develop the region economically for the benefit of the people; -billions of dollars currently spent on Morocco’s occupation force in Western Sahara could be instead utilized to help the Moroccan people, rather than subjugate the Sahrawi people; and -millions of dollars currently spent on Morocco for lobbyists around the world to try to convince people there is no such thing as a Sahrawi, could be spent building ties between Morocco and other countries for mutual benefit and goodwill. It is interesting to note that despite the long history of cruelty by the Moroccan government against the Sahrawi people, the Sahrawi people have continued to promise to live in peace and literally “turn the other cheek” and work with Morocco as a peaceful neighbor. Failing to get Morocco out of Western Sahara will mean this continued stalemate and the subjugation of the Sahrawi people in the occupied territory while hundreds of thousands of refugees will continue to live in camps simply because they desire freedom and the right to self-determination. Failing to get Morocco out of Western Sahara will mean that invasion and aggression and war are the means to achieve one’s end. It will prove to Morocco and other would be aggressors that invasion and aggression are the answer. It will prove to the Sahrawis that laying down their weapons and agreeing to the cease fire was a terrible mistake. They will have felt better off fighting a war for their liberty rather than trusting democratic nations to uphold their own values. I urge this Subcommittee to work to free Western Sahara and show the world that the United States is just as serious about the hard work of democracy in the Maghreb as it is in the rest of the world. |