Thousands of miles from any major civilisation and with temperatures as high as 50℃, two armies are prepared to resume a war. On one side there are over 100,000 heavily armed Moroccan conscripts, drafted from coastal cities and temperate mountain valleys, waiting behind a huge fortified rubble wall. This wall runs for nearly 2,500 km, is surrounded by razor wire, minefields and forts, costing over 2 million US dollars per day to maintain and protect. On the other, there are less than 20,000 lightly armed and highly mobile Polisario guerrillas, dark-skinned desert nomads who have fought their more numerous opponents to a standstill in a bloody 34 year long war.

 

 

This war has been characterised by Polisario’s hit-and-run guerrilla tactics using highly mobile heavily armed jeeps. At one time it was so successful that it mounted attacks on the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, leading to the collapse of the government there. However, the main war with Morocco ended in a stalemate finally grinding to a halt under a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991.

Under the UN’s plan, the two sides were due to agree to a referendum on the area’s future. Put simply did the Sahawaris want to live under Moroccan control or as a separate nation? Despite the United Nations’ efforts, the plans have been disrupted time and again by the Moroccan decisions to reject any sort of diplomatic solution.

Yet the Sahawaris do not seem intimidated by the possibility of war nor the enemy’s superior firepower. Aisa Sidahmed, commander of the Second Battalion from the Second Military Region - stationed on the Tifariti region near the Moroccan wall - is convinced that resuming the war is most likely the only solution at this point. He affirms that the Saharawi “are a peace-loving people, but when it is a question of dignity and sovereignty and our own land, we have no option. If there is no choice we will go back to war”. With regards to the military capabilities the commander states with confidence that they “are ready, and thousands more of Saharawi will come from Mauritania, Spain and the occupied zones to fight for our independence.”

 

The commander goes further and says that “the Saharawi people are getting tired of waiting for a diplomatic decision that seams to go nowhere.” In 1991 “Morocco asked for the ceasefire because they were losing the war, and they will lose it again”. Voicing the opinion of many new young volunteers and their aged seasoned counterparts on the ground, Aisa Sidahmed comments “this war is not against the Moroccan people, it is only against their imperialist government”.

As the time passes, a growing sense of unrest and anticipation is clearly evident amongst these men living in the harsh backdrop of the formidable desert landscape.