Morocco: Whether Saharawis who refuse to join the Polisario are perceived as supporters of the Moroccan government; whether Saharawis in general are perceived as members of the Polisario by the Moroccan authorities; and situation of the Lahalaleef tribe

No information on whether Saharawis who refuse to join the Polisario are perceived as supporters of the Moroccan government, on whether Saharawis are generally perceived as members of the Polisario by the Moroccan authorities nor on the situation of Lahalaleef tribe members could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, a 15 December 1999 Africa News report states that the process to identify eligible voters in view of a referendum on the future of Western Sahara is being delayed due to disagreement between the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y de Ore (Frente Polisario) and the Moroccan government on the status of three ethnic groups identified by the UN as H41, H61, J51/J52. The Polisario Frontconsiders that these groups, totalling 42,774 members, are Moroccans who would likely vote against the independence of the territory (ibid.). According to the United Nations, those differences could delay the referendum beyond 2002 (ibid.).

An October 1995 HRW document entitled Keeping it Secret – The United Nations Operation in Western Sahara states that:

Polisario has expressed major reservations with respect to three tribal groupings: "Chorfa," "Tribes of the North" and "Coastal and Southern" tribes. The secretary-general's September 8, 1995 report notes that "at the time of the census, these groups were not individually represented in the Territory by a large number of people," adding that, "with respect to applicants residing in southern Morocco [i.e. the 100,000 applications submitted by Morocco in October 1994], some 50 percent belong to these contested groups." (REFWORLD)

A 10 March 1998 Index on Censorship report on the identification of eligible voters in Western Sahara states that:

The two parties have never agreed on whom exactly is to decide whether Western Sahara become independent or be integrated into Morocco. Polisario argued for only those counted in the 1974 census - 74,000 - by the former colonial power Spain while King Hassan's kingdom insisted that the voices of 65,000 other genuine Sahrawi, the so-called 'contested tribes' whom have returned having fled north into Morocco from Spanish repression, cannot be ignored.

The UN came out in favour of the 1974 census reasoning but, in the Houston accords, also identified other criteria, most importantly that members from the 'contested tribes' be registered if they come forward as individuals and under their own will. Also eligible are those listed on the census and their close relatives; close relatives from the contested tribes; people whose Sahrawi father was born in Western Sahara and those who have lived there for six consecutive years or 12 cumulative years since 1December 1974.

Polisario maintains, however, that Morocco is not playing fair, having, it claims, cajoled and transported at least 12,000 people, most likely to be pro-Morocco, to identification centres operated by the UN observer group, Minurso. There are two centres in the major city of Laayoune, one in Dakhla, two in Tan-Tan, Gueliem and in the camps of Tindouf, the Polisario stronghold.

This is 'just the tip of the iceberg of the Moroccan deliberate sabotage strategy' according to Mahamed Fadel Kamal of London-based Polisario UK Office, who dismissed as propaganda a recent letter sent to Kofi Annan by Sahrawi sheikhs protesting Polisario's own fraudulent tactics at the identification centres.

Kamal told Index that the sheikhs' lives might have been threatened to get them to sign the letter, which accuses Polisario of falsifying figures by, amongst other ways, changing birth dates and birth places on registration forms. Kamal also argues that over the years Morocco has prohibited the entry of some international media and controlled the movements of those journalists who do gain entry to the disputed territory.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Africa News [London]. 15 December 1999. "West Africa: IRON-WA Update of Events in West Africa." (NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch/Middle-East (HRW). October 1995. Vol. 7. No. 7. Keeping it Secret – The United Nations Operation in Western Sahara. (REFWORLD)

Index on Censorship [London]. 10 March 1998. Penny Dale. "Western Sahara: Number-Crunching in the Desert." [Accessed: 20 Jan. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases

Internet sources, including:

Amnesty International

ARSO - Association de soutien à un référendum libre et régulier au Sahara Occidental

Collectif d'initiatives pour la connaissance du Sahara Occidental

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

International Association of Jurists for Western Sahara (IAJWS), Alicante, Spain.

Relief Web. United Nations. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

Western Sahara. Pages donated by OneWorld Online to Tower Hamlets Humanities Education Centre

Western Sahara Update, Leeds, UK

World News Connection (WNC)

Oral sources:

Two oral sources could not provide information within the scheduled deadlines.