United Nations Photo

Headline Disputed Corner of the Sahara

Caption Description The narrow strip of desert in north-west Africa known as Western or Spanish Sahara is presently ruled as an overseas province of Spain. It is the last outpost of colonialism in the area, the only corner of the vast Desert that is not part of an independent State. Spain has recently indicated its willingness to transfer power to the people of Shara. But that transfer of power has been complicated by the conflicting claims and interests of three neighbouring countries: Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. In May this year a three-member mission of the UN Special Committee on decolonization visited the area to gather first-hand information on the situation. In the course of more than a month's travelling, the Mission members talked to a wide cross-section of the people involved in the Territory's fate: Government officials in Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria as well as in the Territory itself, sheiks and notables, mothers and wives, refugees and political prisoners, Partido de la Unión Nacional Sharaui (PUNS), and of the clandestine liberation movement, the Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el Hamra y de Rio de Oro, popularly known as Frente Polisario, as wall as representatives of other political groups and liberation movements active in the three neighbouring countries. The Mission's report will be taken up the UN General Assembly at its 30th session beginning in September.
People lined up to greet the UN Mission at Guelta Zemmur, a town in the southern part of the Territory near the Mauritanian border. According to a census taken by the Spanish authorities in 1974, there are 73,497 indigenous Saharans now in the Territory. Estimates of the number presently living in the three neighbouring countries vary widely. [No exact date]

Unique Identifier UN7684467

NICA ID 158207

Production Date 05/01/1975 4:22:00 PM

Country Spanish Sahara

Credit UN Photo

File size 2.51 MB