Konflikt o Saharę Zachodnią – próby politycznego rozwiązania

Abstract

CONFLICT OVER WESTERN SAHARA – ATTEMPTS AT A POLITICAL SOLUTION

This article aims to trace the evolution of the failed process of resolving the Saharan conflict between 1975 and 2024, by distinguishing five stages of its resolution. It also tries to explain why decolonization in Western Sahara failed to be achieved by organizing a referendum – despite such a procedure practiced successfully elsewhere in Africa – and this despite the subsidiary opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague in October 1975 and many years of negotiations conducted under the auspices of the United Nations. It emphasizes that Morocco’s revisionist policy is proving to be effective, mainly because it is supported by some great powers, for which their own or group interests in the Maghreb region are more important than international law and the right to self-determination of nations. And the world public opinion has mostly forgotten about the more than 170,000 Saharan refugees vegetating in the Algerian Sahara, who once believed in the referendum and independence. The presented content results from the analysis of official printed documents – mainly resolutions of the Security Council and reports of the UN Secretary General – and a critical interpretation of the achievements of world literature, as well as materials available electronically.