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Sahrawi is a term used for a group of Hassaniya-speaking Arab-Berber Bedouin tribes traditionally located in Western Sahara, southern Saharan Morocco, Mauritania (where they are also known as Moors), Algeria and less commonly, northern Mali. The term is especially applied to and adopted by independence-minded inhabitants of the disputed Western Sahara.

Origin of word and transliterations

The Arabic word SaHrāwī literally means "of Sahara" ("Sahara" in itself meaning "desert"), and should be understood as "inhabitant of the Sahara" (Contrast this with Saharan). There are several transliterations of the word, several of which are used in English:

Sahrawis or Moors?

The term Sahrawi refers to a collection of Hassaniya Arabic speaking nomadic tribes, of Arab-Berber heritage, mainly descended from Western Sahara and surrounding territories. The Mauritanian extension of this tribal grouping is more often known as Moors (or Maure), but shares the same population characteristics. Both terms are variously employed to signify the whole group.

In modern usage, the Western Sahara conflict has brought about a redefinition of these terms, as independence-minded Western Saharan populations have appropriated the term Sahrawi in the sense of a Sahrawi people. This has given the term "Sahrawi" a nationalist connotation, and set it apart from the Mauritanian populations self-identifying as Moors. This is mainly a political distinction, signifying the political nationality (or citizenship) of a certain Hassaniya-speaking population.

Early history

Nomadic Berbers, mainly of the Sanhaja tribal confederation, inhabited the areas now known as Western Sahara, southern Morocco, Mauritania and western Algeria, before Islam arrived in the 8th century AD. The new faith achieved quick expansion, but Arab immigrants initially only blended superficially with the population, mostly confining themselves to the cities of present-day Morocco and Spain. However, they introduced the camel to the region, revolutionizing the traditional trade routes of North Africa. Caravans transported salt, gold and slaves between North Africa and West Africa, and the control of trade routes became a major ingredient in the constant power struggles between various tribes and sedentary peoples. On more than one occasion, the Berber tribes of Western Sahara/Mauritania would unite behind religious leaders to sweep the surrounding governments from power, then founding dynasties of their own. This was the case with the Almoravid dynasty of Morocco and Andalusia, and several emirates in Mauritania.

In the 11th century, the Arab Beni Hilal and Beni Sulaym tribes emigrated westwards from Egypt (the Fatimid Caliphate) and gained control of most of present-day Morocco, but Western Sahara remained largely unpenetrated by the Arab advances. However, in the early 13th century, the Yemeni Maqil tribes migrated westwards across the entirety of Arabia and northern Africa, to finally settle around today's Morocco. They were badly received by the Zenata Berber descendants of the Merinid dynasty, and among the tribes pushed out of the territory, were the Beni Hassan.

This tribe entered the domains of the Sanhaja, and over the following centuries imposed itself upon them, intermixing with the population in the process, to produce the Arabo-Berber people now known as Sahrawis or Moors. Its Arabic dialect, the Hassaniya, remains the mother-tongue of Western Sahara and Mauritania. Berber vocabulary and cultural traits remain common, despite the fact that most if not all Sahrawi/Moorish tribes today claim Arab ancestry; several are even claiming to be descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, so-called sharifian tribes.

The modern ethnic group is thus an Arabized Berber people inhabiting the westernmost Sahara desert, in the area of modern Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and most notably the Western Sahara, with some tribes traditionally migrating into northern Mali and Niger. As with most Saharan peoples, the tribes reflect a highly mixed heritage, combining Arab, Berber, and other influences, including black African ethnic and cultural characteristics.

In pre-colonial times, the Sahara was generally considered bled es-Siba or "the land of dissidence" by the authorities of the established Islamic states of North Africa, such as the Sultan of Morocco and the Deys of Algeria. The Islamic governments of the pre-colonial sub-Saharan empires of Mali and Songhai appear to have had a similar relationship with the tribal territories, which were at once the home of undisciplined raiding tribes and the main trade route for the Saharan caravan trade. Central governments had little control over the region, although the Hassaniya tribes would occasionally extended "beya" or allegiance to prestigious rulers, to gain their political backing or, in some cases, as a religious ceremony.

Colonial history

Modern distinctions drawn between the various Hassaniya speaking Sahrawi-Moorish groups are primarily political, but cultural differences dating from different colonial and post-colonial histories are also apparent. An important divider is whether the tribal confederations fell under French or Spanish colonial rule. As France conquered most of North and West Africa largely during the late 19th century, Western Sahara as well as minor parts of Morocco fell to Spain, as Spanish Sahara and Spanish Morocco respectively. These colonial intrusions brought the Muslim Saharan peoples under Christian European rule for the first time, and created lasting cultural and political divides between and within existing populations, as well as upsetting traditional balances of power.

The Sahrawi-Moorish areas, then still undefined as to exact territorial boundaries, proved troublesome for the colonizers, just as they had for neighbouring dynasties in previous centuries. The political loyalty of these populations were first and foremost to their respective tribes, and supratribal allegiances and alliances could shift rapidly and unexpectedly. Their nomadic lifestyle made direct control over the territories hard to achieve, as well as general lawlessness and an absence of a central authority. Centuries of intratribal warfare and raids for loot (ghazzu) guaranteed that the populations were well armed and versed in guerrilla-style warfare, and it was not until the 1930s that Spain was able to subdue the interior of present-day Western Sahara, with French military assistance.

The Sahrawi-Moorish tribes were largely nomadic until the colonial era in the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, when France and Spain conquered the area and imposed outside boundaries and order on the previously fluid Sahara. The traditionally wide-ranging territories (from modern Senegal, Mali and Niger in the South, to parts of modern Morocco and Algeria to the North and East) of the Sahrawi-Moorish nomads were split, and their traditional economies based on trans-Saharan trade and raiding of the northern and southern sahels were broken.

The territories under European controls were divided according to the balance of power between Spain, France and other interlocutors, with little attention paid to existing tribal confederations and zones of influence. French and Spanish colonial governments then imposed their own systems of government and education over the newly organised territories. The political arrangements differed strongly between the territories. Populations in Algeria were subjected to direct French rule, in Mauritania to a French colonial administration, in Morocco to the indirect rule of a French protectorate or direct Spanish administration, and in Spanish Sahara they were treated first as a colony, and later as an overseas province. By the time of decolonization in the 1950s-1970s, Sahrawi tribes in all these different territories had experienced roughly a generation or more of distinct experiences; often, however, their nomadic lifestyle had guaranteed that they were subjected to less interference than what afflicted sedentary populations in the same areas.

Debate on pre-colonial allegiances

The period of colonization destroyed existing power structures, leaving a confused legacy of contradictory political affiliations, European-drawn borders with little resemblance to ethnic and tribal realities, and laying the foundations for modern political conflict.

For example, both sides in the Western Sahara conflict draw heavily on colonial history to prove their version of history. The Moroccan government points to some Sahrawi tribes calling upon the Moroccan Sultan, who until 1912 remained the last independent Islamic ruler of the area, for assistance against the Europeans (see Ma al-Aynayn). Pro-independence Sahrawis, on the other hand, point out that such statements of allegiance were often given by various tribal leaders to create short-term alliances, and that other heads of tribes indeed similarly proclaimed allegiance to Spain, to France or to each other; they argue that such arrangements always proved temporary, and that the tribal confederations were in fact independent of central authority, and indeed often fought to maintain this independence.

The International Court of Justice issued a ruling on the matter in 1975, stating that there had existed ties between the Moroccan Sultan and the Western Saharan tribes (as well as ties between them and present-day Mauritania) but that these ties were not sufficient to abrogate Western Sahara's right to self-determination.

Postcolonial history

As touched on above, colonisation, decolonization, and modern national and political borders have shaped new identities among the Hassaniya tribes, in particular between the tribal groups in modern southern Morocco, the Western Sahara, Algeria and Mauritania. The conflict over the former Spanish colonial territory, the Western Sahara, and the emergence of the Mauritanian state in particular ,have created new supra- or nontribal identities.

The nomadic tribal traditions of the Saharan region were left largely unchanged until the late 19th century colonial penetration by France and Spain, although the long term decline of the trans-Saharan trade in gold, spice, slaves and other goods undoubtedly impacted the Hassaniya and other Saharan nomadic groups. Typical of Saharan Berber nomadic culture, society was divided into distinct lineage groups verging on castes, but also reflected strong roles for women in contrast with classical urban Arab culture.

Today the culture, like those of the rest of the region, is undergoing rapid transformation, but under the influence of modern media, mass communication, modern transportation networks and other changes. In addition to this, political conflicts and boundaries have had great impact on Sahrawi life and lifestyles.

The Western Sahara question

The term Sahrawi in a political context has come to be employed in the late 20th century to refer to the inhabitants of the former Spanish Sahara, a territory colonized by Spain in the late 19th century, and controversially annexed by Morocco in 1975. Today referred to as Western Sahara, it remains according to the United Nations one of the world's last remaining major non-decolonized territories. Morocco controls most of the territory as its Southern Provinces, but the legality of this is not internationally recognized, and disputed militarily by the Polisario Front, an Algerian-backed Sahrawi movement claiming independence for the territory as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). Since 1991, there is a cease-fire between Morocco and Polisario, but disturbances in Moroccan-held territories as well as the ongoing dispute over the legal status of the territory, occasionally brings international attention to the issue.

The Polisario Front

The Polisario Front is the main Western Sahara Sahrawi nationalist organization, militating for the independence of the Western Sahara since 1973 - originally against Spanish rule, but after 1975 against Mauritania and Morocco; since 1979 against Morocco only. The organisation is largely based out of Algeria, where it is responsible for the Tindouf refugee camps, but also controls about a third of Western Sahara, largely empty eastern hammada desert. The organisation maintains a cease-fire with Morocco since 1991 (see Settlement Plan), but continues to work for the territory's independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) through peaceful negotiations. The Polisario restricts its claims to the colonially-defined Western Sahara, holding no claim to, for example, Sahrawi-populated South Morocco, even though the movement presents itself as a spokesman for the Sahrawi people.

Human rights

Ethnic composition of the Sahrawi tribes

Berbers and Arabs

As described above, Hassaniya speaking Sahrawi or Moorish tribes are of a mixed Arabo-Berber heritage, and were formed out of the invasion or penetration of Western Saharan region by the Beni Hassan Arab bedouin tribes, who fused with the dominant Zenaga or Sanhaja Berber tribes, as well as black African and other indigenous populations (e.g. various indigenous Soninke speaking groups).

Some tribes, such as the large Reguibat, are primarily Berber identified; others, such as the Oulad Delim, more with Arabs; all tribes tend to claim Arab ancestry, and often descendancy from the Prophet Muhammad himself; this, however is highly unlikely. Over the centuries a great deal of intermarriage has occurred to blur ethnic lines, and groups have often re-identified to higher status identities.

Social and ethnic hierarchy

Generally speaking, the Hassaniya Arab groups are divided into aristocratic "warrior" lineages or clans, "scholarly" holy or "clerical" lineages (the shorfa), and servile or slave lineages known as Haratin - which in Hassaniya regions are generally viewed as freed slaves of predominately black African heritage. (Note that "Haratin", a term of obscure origin, has a different sense in the Berber regions of Morocco.) There are credible reports that slavery or some forms of bondage are still applied to some Haratin lineages in Mauritania. *

In summary, Hassaniya society has traditionally been divided between:

  • al-bidan (or beidan) - "The White(s)", representing lighter skinned descendants of Arabs and Berbers, and further divided between the aforementioned warrior lineages and clerical or shorfa tribes. These groups generally formed the upper caste of Sahrawi-Moorish society, and still hold social advantage in Mauritania.
  • al-haratin - "Freedmen" in Hassaniya usage, representing the descendants of former slaves. The Haratin traditionally held low status in Hassaniya tribal society, although cross-cutting blood relations can trump this status.
  • In addition to these categories, there existed slave populations - generally black-skinned - but these individuals were not counted formally as full members of the tribe. Slavery has been abolished in late colonial or postcolonial times, but as mentioned above, credible reports indicate that it remains in effect in parts of Mauritania.

Population

The exact number of Hassaniya speakers (i.e. Sahrawis and Moors) is not clear, but tallying population figures of Western Sahara and Mauritania indicates that the number is well over two million; additional populations are found in Algeria and South Morocco.

The exact number of Hassaniya speakers identifying as Sahrawi, in the modern political sense, is also unknown, due to political disputes and unclear ethnic identities. Estimates of the number of Sahrawis range up to somewhere over 500,000. These populations are centered in Western Sahara (divided between Moroccan and Polisario control), South Morocco and the Tindouf Province of Algeria, where large number of refugees from Western Sahara are located.

As the states of the area gained independence from French colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s, large Sahrawi populations were to be found in Western Sahara, Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria. A portion of the Sahrawi or Hassaniya Arabic speaking tribes in Morocco were refugees from the 1957 fighting in what was then Spanish Sahara, and previous rebellions in Western Sahara, all of which had been harshly suppressed - notably the early 20th century uprising under the Smara-based shaykh Ma al-Aynayn.

The refugees

The Moroccan-Mauritanian invasion of Western Sahara following the collapse of Spanish colonial rule in 1975 produced an exodus of refugees fleeing the violence, with substantial numbers ending up in the Polisario Front movement's base areas in the Algerian Sahara, where refugee camps were set up south of Tindouf, and a smaller number in camps in Mauritania. These refugee populations form the base and recruiting grounds for the Polisario Front, contesting Moroccan control of the territory.

The UNHCR indicates that approximately 150,000 people are resident in the Algerian refugee camps, c. 2002 although the Moroccan government contends that the figure is much lower. An additional 25,000 Western Sahara refugees reside in Mauritania, according to UNHCR figures.[http://www.ecoi.net/pub/dh1164_01572mau.htm This population is comprised both of original refugees to the territory, and of former Tindouf dwellers who have since migrated to Mauritania.

Moroccan Sahrawis

Southern Morocco holds a large Hassaniya-speaking tribal population, defined both by themselves and by the official media as "Sahrawi". Most of the Moroccan Sahrawis have been resettled, more or less voluntarily, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara, in an attempt to bolster Morocco's claims to the area. The attitude of this group towards independence is complicated: Morocco maintains that they are strictly loyal to the crown, but there have been numerous instances of Moroccan Sahrawis displaying solidarity with the independence movement, and a couple of the most high-profile independence activists (such as Ali Salem Tamek) are actually from South Morocco rather than Western Sahara.

This seems to have fuelled Moroccan suspicion of these Sahrawis, and possibly contributed to the Moroccan King's decision to refuse to hold the referendum on independence that he had previously promised the United Nations (see Baker Plan). Moroccan Sahrawi settlers in Western Sahara have for more than a decade been confined to impoverished "temporary" camps such as the al-Wahda (Unity) in El-Aaiun, while other Moroccan settlers move about freely. This appears to have alienated some Moroccan Sahrawis from the government , but in the absence of a referendum, it is impossible to say where the loyalties of this group lie.

Culture

Religion

Religiously, Hassaniya speaking or Sahrawi-Moorish tribes are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki rite or school. Historically, religious practice has been pragmatically adapted to nomad life. Also, since the late medieval period, various Sufi Turuq or orders have played an important role in popular religious practice. Further, among the Hassaniya tribes, certain lineages reputed to be descended from the Prophet Mohammed, shurfa, have played an important role in inter-tribal religious society.

Tribalism

''See article on tribalism and the Sahrawi tribes.

Tribe was the historical basis of social and political organisation among the Hassaniya Arabic speaking and Berber tribes of the Sahara, well into the colonial and arguably post-colonial period. Traditionally, Hassaniya Sahrawi society was completely tribal, organized in a complex web of shifting alliances and tribal confederations, with no stable and centralized governing authority.

Lawmaking, conflict resolution and central decision-making within the tribe, was carried out by the Djema'a, (Arabic, gathering) a gathering of elected elders and religious scholars. Occasionally, larger tribal gatherings could be held in the form of the Ait Arbein (Hassaniya Arabic: Group of Forty), which would handle supratribal affairs such as common defence of the territory or common diplomacy. During colonial times, Spain attempted to assume some of the legitimacy of these traditional institutions by creating its own Djema'a, a state-run political association that covered for its claims to the territory.

Historically, a constantly changing kaliedescopic hierarchy existed between the Hassaniya Arabic speaking and various Berber tribes, as well as black African groups, existed. Within Arabo-Berber society, tribal groupings were divided into warrior lineages of various prestige, while non-fighting zwaya or chorfa religious lineages supposedly descended from the Prophet Muhammad played a mediating role, while various subaltern, servile or slave groups such as the Haratin existed alongside.

See also

References

  1. International Court of Justice - WESTERN SAHARA - Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975.
  2. Western Sahara Online - Marrakesh Treaty (1767)
  3. Western Sahara Online - Anglo-Moroccan Treaty (1895)
  4. Western Sahara Online - Meknes Treaty (1799)
  5. Speech delivered by H.M. King Mohammed VI on the 28th anniversary of the Green March
  6. Sahara Marathon: Host Interview Transcript
  7. ZMAG - Western Sahara - An interview with Stephen Dunes
  8. Amnesty International - Morocco/Western Sahara - Covering events from January - December 2002
  9. Human Rights Watch - The United Nations Operation in Western Sahara
  10. BBC News - Last Moroccan war prisoners freed
  11. Morocco: Human Rights at a Crossroads
  12. US State Department - Western Sahara - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000
  13. Amnesty International - Morocco/Western Sahara - Covering events from January - December 2004
  14. Amnesty International - 1999 - MOROCCO /WESTERN SAHARA "Turning the page": achievements and obstacles
  15. Western Sahara Online - Pictures depicting one of the darkest places of Moroccan occupation, the infamous "Black Prison" in El Aaiun
  16. US State department Morocco - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000
  17. Freedom House - Freedom in the World - Western Sahara, Morocco (2005)
  18. Telquel - Les ghettos du Sahara (in French)

Further reading

  • Tony Hodges (1983), Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill Books (ISBN 0882081527)
  • Anthony G. Pazzanita and Tony Hodges (1994), Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, Scarecrow Press (ISBN 0810826615)
  • Toby Shelley (2004), Endgame in the Western Sahara: What Future for Africa's Last Colony?, Zed Books (ISBN 1842773410)
  • Erik Jensen (2005), Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate, International Peace Studies (ISBN 1588263053)
  • Akbarali Thobhani (2002), Western Sahara Since 1975 Under Moroccan Administration: Social, Economic, and Political Transformation, Edwin Mellen Press (ISBN 0773471731)

External links

Bedouin groups | Ethnic groups in Africa | Ethnic groups in Algeria | Ethnic groups in Mauritania | Ethnic groups in Morocco | Ethnic groups in Western Sahara | History of the Maghreb | History of Western Sahara | Sahara | Stateless people | Western Sahara | African nomads

Saharaui | Sahrawi | Sahrawi | Sahrawi

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Sahrawi".

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