Western Sahara, Lost Land

News from West­ern Sahara is rarely cov­ered by the inter­na­tion­al media. Every April, since the peace accord in 1991, the UN Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil man­date for orga­niz­ing a ref­er­en­dum to decide the future of West­ern Sahara is extend­ed for anoth­er year. But noth­ing ever hap­pens. The ref­er­en­dum is sab­o­taged by Moroc­co, over and over again. Moroc­co still con­trols two-thirds of the west­ern part of the coun­try, where the impor­tant phos­phate deposits are locat­ed, while the Polis­ario Front con­trols the less eco­nom­i­cal­ly impor­tant inte­ri­or. Rough­ly 180,000 refugees – the major­i­ty of the pop­u­la­tion – live in camps in south­ern Alge­ria, where they con­tin­ue to depend on relief sup­plied by the EU, the UN, and var­i­ous NGOs since their escape in 1976. There is no solu­tion in sight.