Rehana Rossouw
THE Department of Foreign Affairs has been blasted for=20 “embarrassing” South Africa by not affording diplomatic=20 recognition to fellow Organisation of African Unity=20 member, the Sahrawi Republic.
African National Congress executive committee member=20 Jeremy Cronin, writing in the South African Communist=20 Party publication African Communist, gave two examples=20 of South Africa’s ambiguous relationship with the=20 Western Saharan nation.
In 1988, former ANC president Oliver Tambo led a=20 delegation to the Sahrawi Republic at the invitation of=20 President Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, secretary general of the=20 Polisario Front national liberation movement. Tambo=20 pledged that the ANC would continue to support their=20 struggle “by all means necessary”.
Polisario donated to the ANC and Swapo a substantial=20 quantity of arms and ammunition captured from invading=20 Moroccan troops. The arms had been supplied by the=20 South African government.
In a strange twist of fate, the large stockpile of arms=20 was not the last time South African military equipment=20 found its way to the Western Sahara.
In July last year, a South African Airforce Shackleton=20 bomber crashed in the desert, in a Polisario liberated=20 zone, on its way to an airshow in Britain.=20
The crew of the plane were rescued and returned to=20 South Africa. Lieutenant General J Kriel, chief of the=20 SAAF wrote to President Abdel-Aziz “thanking your=20 government and the people of Sahrawi for the kindness=20 and generosity shown in the rescue of the crew”.
“Notwithstanding General Kriel’s understandable=20 gratitude to the Sahrawi government, the sad fact=20 remains, more than 12 months after our democratic=20 elections, the South African government still does not=20 recognise the government to which the head of the SAAF=20 was addressing his gratitude,” Cronin wrote.
“We are absolutely alone in this regard among all=20 southern African states, even Malawi has recently=20 accorded recognition. The Sahrawi Republic is a full,=20 fellow member of the Organisation for African Unity,=20 and it is recognised by 74 governments world-wide.”
Phosphate-rich Western Sahara was colonised by the=20 Spanish and was promised independence in 1975.=20
However, its liberation was forcibly halted by its=20 neighbours Morocco and Mauritania, which invaded the=20 territory, and Morocco has occupied it since.
Polisario has been fighting for independence since 1973=20 and the Sahrawi government administers a free zone and=20 refugee camps.
In 1983 the United Nations and the OAU initiated=20 negotiations between Morocco and Polisario, established=20 a ceasefire and called for a referendum to test Sahrawi=20 opinion on independence from Morocco.
The referendum has been postponed several times, most=20 recently to January 1996 and the UN peacekeeping=20 mission to Western Sahara has complained of Moroccan=20 inteference in the process of registering Sahrawis for=20 the poll.
“It is a matter of deep embarrassment that the new=20 South African government continues to recognise=20 Morocco, apartheid’s erstwhile ally, while failing to=20 extend recognition to another fellow OAU member, the=20 Sahrawi Republic,” said Cronin.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs’ argument that we=20 should wait for the referendum conflicts with the stand=20 of the great majority of OAU countries, including all=20 other southern African nations.
“Above all, this argument fails to recognise that there=20 will be no free and fair referendum unless major=20 pressure is now placed on Morocco. One simple and=20 effective step would be for South Africa to accord=20 diplomatic recognition to the Sahrawi Republic.
“Our present failure to move on this front is simply=20 contributing to Morocco’s growing intransigence and its=20 belief that it can get away with defying world=20