Shaheed El Hafed (Sahrawi refugee camps), November 10, 2013 (SPS) - The Western Sahara issue has always been under United Nations (UN) which had, from 1963 to 1964, put the country on the list of non-autonomous territories to be decolonized, by dedicating through this status the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence.
Since then, the legitimate right was supported and endorsed by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), as part of its policy of total decolonization of the continent.
In 1966, the first resolution on the self-determination of the Saharawi people through a referendum was adopted by the UN, a resolution which became part of a series of resolutions and mechanisms that support self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
Western Sahara (266,000 km ²), which was colonized by Spain in 1884, has never ceased to fight against colonialism through fierce and sometimes bloody resistance, marked by numerous rebellions that led the United Nations, in 1964, to include the Western Sahara in the list of countries to be decolonized, pursuant to Resolution 15-14 (XV).
The resolution stated in part that "all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom, the exercise of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory" and "solemnly proclaimed the need for rapid and unconditional end of colonialism in all its forms and in all its manifestations."
"All States shall faithfully and strictly observe the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of states and respect for the sovereign rights and territorial integrity of all nations," the resolution stated.
The resolution of the United Nations encouraged the Sahrawi resistance for independence in the wake of the liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s, which gave rise to the Polisario Front in 1973 and devoted the option of armed struggle .
Given the determination of the Sahrawi to gain their independence, Spain which colonized the country had finally abandoned and announced its intention to hold a referendum in 1975, when Morocco asserted its right on the territories of Western Sahara. (SPS)
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