Nomads want independence, but colonialism can survive if it is not European colonialism. It can get totally entrenched once there is a wall. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Todays stamp looks real enough. They were printed in Britain and some issues were labeled Sahara Occidental. At the insistence of the Moroccan Postal Authority the Universal Postal Union has condemned these issues based on the fact that there is no Sahara republic and no postal service in rebel areas. They have gone so far as to declare dealers in these issues which have been issued now for 30 years as disreputable. The old Spanish Sahara issued stamps long enough. So a Sahara stamp that omits Spain makes some sense. However the country is more an aspiration than a reality. Given the trajectory of some African nations post independence, perhaps hope is better than the later reality.
Catalogs do not recognize stamps of Sahrawi. The UN both recognizes the Polisario Front as the spokesman for the Sahrawi people and Morocco as the administrative power. So stamps are not official although they may be available for postage in Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and the few towns the Polisario controls. I am going to guess the value at 25 cents.
The Spanish Sahara was a mainly nomadic area of about 100,000 people. Spain was under a lot of pressure from Morocco and to a lesser extent Mauritania to exit their colony. Spain also faced a movement within the colony for independence. When Franco died in Spain, the new Spanish government withdrew it’s officials and declared to the UN it’s administration over. Spain left an ungoverned vacuum. There had been a secret deal stuck though that divided the Spanish Sahara between Morocco and Mauritania. The people were not consulted.
A Spanish military asset in the colony had been the Tropas Nomadas. This was an indigenous military force that formally had Spanish officers. A quite large number of Saharan tribesman had served with the force and during the last year of the colony the force had transferred it’s allegiance to the local pro-independence Polisario political front. Being a desert force, it was fairly lightly armed and mainly dependent on camels and a few Spanish Land Rovers for mobility.
The day after the Spanish declared their administration over, the Polisario declared the Sahrawi Arab republic. The laid claim to the entire territory but with a temporary capital until Laayone was liberated. The Moroccan army tried to enforce the deal and occupied most of the coastal area. Many of the Sahrawi people decamped for refugee camps in sympathetic Algeria. Mauritania gave up it’s territorial gain after 2 years unable to fight the Polisario but Morocco took over their area. Morocco than built a long wall that left the Polisario out with just the landlocked dessert. Many African and Arab countries recognize Saharawi but the wall has seemed to make the situation permanent.
Former American Secretary of State James Baker tried to mediate at the UN’s suggestion. He proposed a joint administration between Polisario and Morocco for four years allowing the return of refuges. This would be followed by self determining elections that most thought Polisario would win. Morocco refused to accept the peace plan.
My drink is empty. By all accounts the disputed area is a fairly desolate place, so economically the people are probably better off with Morocco as they were with Spain. That said, it is amazing that the people were never given their say. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.