Sahrawi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saharawi |
|---|
| Total population |
|
disputed/uncertain (250-500,000) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Spain (diaspora) |
| Languages |
| Hassaniya, Modern Standard Arabic; a northern minority also speak Tachelhit (a Berber dialect). |
| Religions |
| Sunni Islam (Maliki) |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Moors, Berber, Arab, Black African |
The term Sahrawi is applied to and adopted by inhabitants of or refugees from the disputed Western Sahara territory, sometimes with a nationalist connotation.
Contents |
[edit] Origin of word and transliterations
The Arabic word Sahrāwī literally means "of Sahara", and should be understood as "inhabitant of the Sahara" (Saharan). There are several transliterations of the word, several of which are used in English:
[edit] Sahrawis or Moors?
The term Moor can refer to a collection of Hassaniya Arabic speaking tribes, of Arab-Berber heritage, mainly living in Mauritania, Western Sahara (ca 200.000), southern Morocco, western Algeria, Mali (ca. 100.000) [1] and surrounding territories. These tribes are, in English speaking countries, sometimes called Moors and share the same population characteristics: Hassaniya-speaking and to a large extent descendants of nomad Bedouins. They form a large, but not the only, part of the population of countries in the area of the Western Sahara.
Western Saharan, pro-independence groups have tried to appropriate the term Sahrawi (Saharan) and to give the term "Sahrawi" a nationalist connotation. In later years, the Moroccan government and society have accepted the same terminology, and now routinely describes these same populations as (Moroccan) Sahrawi. The term Sahrawi includes both Beni Hassan, Haratin (dark skinned population) and other groups. It is not confined to either nomads or Moors.
[edit] Postcolonial history
[edit] The Western Sahara question
- Main article: History of Western Sahara
The area today referred to as Western Sahara, remains according to the United Nations one of the world's last remaining major non-self governing 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 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, guarantees continued United Nations involvement and occasional international attention to the issue.
- For more on this conflict, see History of Western Sahara.
- For more on Sahrawis/Moors in Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco, see their respective entries.
[edit] The Polisario Front
The Polisario Front is the main Western Sahara 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 based in Algeria, where it is responsible for the Tindouf refugee camps. The organisation maintains a cease-fire with Morocco since 1991 (see Settlement Plan), but continues to strive 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, the Sahrawi-populated Tarfaya Strip in Morocco, or any part of Mauritania.
[edit] Demography of the Western Sahara population
[edit] Ethnic background: Berbers and Arabs
As described above, the Hassaniya speaking tribes are of a Berber descent, and were influenced by the invasion or penetration of Western Saharan region by the Beni Hassan Arab bedouin tribes, who fused with the dominant Sanhaja Berber tribes, as well as black African and other indigenous populations (e.g. various indigenous Soninke speaking groups). Even though cultural arabization was thorough, especially after the 17th century Char Bouba war, many elements of Berber identity remain.
Some tribes, such as the large Reguibat, have a Berber background but have since been thoroughly arabized; others, such as the Oulad Delim, are considered descendants of the Beni Hassan, even though that descendancy is mainly ideological and intermarriage with other tribes and former slaves have occurred; a few, such as the Tekna tribal confederation, remain ambiguosly Berber in their identity and have retained some practice of Tamazight, the Berber dialect of the area. Often, though not in the case of the Tekna, the Berber-Arab elements of a tribe's cultural heritage, reflects social stratification. In traditional Moorish-Sahrawi society, Arab (Hassane) tribes claimed a role as rulers and protectors of the disarmed weaker Berber tribes.Thus, the warrior tribes and nobility would be more Arab (in name), and lower-caste tribes would retain more of a Berber identity.
However, most tribes, regardless of their mixed heritage, tend to claim some form of Arab ancestry, as this has been key to achieving social status. Many (the so-called chorfa tribes) will also claim descendancy from the Prophet Muhammad himself. In any case, no tribal identity is cut in stone, and over the centuries a great deal of intermarriage and tribal re-affiliation has occurred to blur former ethnic/cultural lines; groups have often seamlessly re-identified to higher status identities, after achieving the military or economic strength to defeat former rulers. This was, for example, the case of the largest of the Sahrawi tribes, the Reguibat. A Berber-descended zawiya (scholarly) tribe who in the 18th century took up camel nomadism and warrior traditions, they simultaneously took on more and more of an Arab identity, reflecting their new position alongside the traditional warrior castes of Arab Hassane origin.
[edit] Social and ethnic hierarchy
Generally speaking, the Hassaniya populations were (or are) divided into several groups, of different social status.[2]
At the peak of society were the aristocratic "warrior" lineages or clans, the Hassane, supposed descendants of the Beni Hassan Arab immigrants (cf. Oulad Delim). Below them stood the "scholarly" or "clerical" lineages. These were called marabout or zawiya tribes (cf. Oulad Tidrarine). The latter designation the preferred one in among the Western Sahara-centered tribes, who would also almost invariably claim chorfa status to enhance their religious credibility. The zawiya tribes were protected by Hassane overlords in exchange for their religious services and payment of the horma, a tributary tax in cattle or goods; while they were in a sense exploited, the relationship was often more or less symbiotic. Under both these groups, but still part of the Western Sahara society, stood the znaga tribes - tribal groups labouring in demeaning occupations, such as fishermen (cf. Imraguen), as well as peripheral semi-tribal groups working in the same fields (among them the "professional" castes, mallemin and igawen). All these groups were considered to be among the bidan, or whites.
Below them ranked servile groups known as Haratin, a black population, according to some sources descendants of the original Sahara population, but more generally seen the descendants of freed slaves of African origins. (Note that "Haratin", a term of obscure origin, has a different meaning in the Berber regions of Morocco.) They often lived serving affiliated bidan (white) families, and as such formed part of the tribe, not tribes of their own. Below them came the slaves themselves, who were owned individually or in family groups, and could hope at best to be freed and rise to the status of Haratin. Rich bidan families would normally own a few slaves at the most, as nomadic societies have less use of slave labour than sedentary societies; however, in some cases, slaves were used to work oasis plantations, farming dates, digging wells etc.
Slavery persisted among Hassaniya-speaking populations well into the colonial age, despite that both French and Spanish colonial authorities formally banned the practice. While slavery is thought to be eradicated in most parts of Western Sahara, there are credible reports that both outright slavery and, more commonly, different forms of informal bondage are still applied to some Haratin lineages in Mauritania. [3]
[edit] Population
The exact number of Hassaniya speakers is not clear, but tallying population figures of Western Sahara and Mauritania indicates that the number must be close to three million; additional populations are found in Algeria and south Morocco, as well as north-west Mali.
The number of Hassaniya speakers identifying as Sahrawi in the modern political sense, is also unknown, and estimates are hotly contested by partisans in the Western Sahara conflict. Most estimates will however center around 200,000 to 400,000. These populations are centered in southern Morocco, Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, and in the Tindouf Province of Algeria, where large number of refugees from Western Sahara are located. Around 20-30,000 UNHCR-identified Sahrawi refugees also live in Mauritania (mostly around Zouerate).
[edit] 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 Sahrawis are present on Algerian territory, c. 2002 [4], 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. [5] This population is comprised both of original refugees to the territory, and of former Tindouf dwellers who have since migrated to Mauritania.
[edit] Moroccan Sahrawis
Southern Morocco holds a Hassaniya-speaking tribal population defined both by themselves and by the official media as "Sahrawi", though this was a sensitive question in the past. Some of the Moroccan Sahrawis have moved to the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara.
The Moroccan government refuses since c. 2000 to hold the peace plan's referendum on independence because of disagreement about which inhabitants of Western Sahara and the Tindouf province would be eligible to vote. This appears to have alienated some Sahrawis from the government , but in the absence of a referendum, it is impossible to say where the loyalties of this group lie.
[edit] Culture
- Also see: Music of Western Sahara, as well as relevant articles on culture in Mauritania.
[edit] Religion
Religiously, the Sahrawis are Sunni Muslims of the Maliki rite or school. Historically, religious practice has been pragmatically adapted to nomad life and local tradition. Also, since the late medieval period, various Sufi Turuq (brotherhoods or orders), have played an important role in popular religious practice; the most important among these are the Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya. Further, among the Hassaniya tribes, certain lineages reputed to be descended from the Prophet Mohammed, the chorfa, have played an important role in inter-tribal religious society.
[edit] Tribalism
- See article on tribalism and the list of Sahrawi tribes.
The tribe was the historical basis of social and political organisation among the Hassaniya speaking 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 (shaykhs) and religious scholars. Occasionally, larger tribal gatherings could be held in the form of the Ait Arbein (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 supported its claims to the territory.
[edit] See also
- Spanish Sahara
- Spanish Morocco
- List of Spanish colonial wars in Morocco
- History of Western Sahara
- Western Sahara
- Tindouf Province
- Mauritania
- Haratin
- Moors
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ ethnologue http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mey
- ^ http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/mrtoc.html A Country Study: Mauritania, Library of Congress, Chapter 2 - The Society and its Environment (LaVerle Berry), section Ethnic Groups and Languages, subsection Maures. 1988 (other sections: Zenaga and Black Africans)
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2415967.stm
- ^ http://www.minurso.unlb.org/MINURSO%20New/03_land&people.htm
- ^ http://www.ecoi.net/pub/dh1164_01572mau.htm
[edit] Background information on the Western Sahara conflict
- ↑ http://www.wsahara.net/m_treaty.html Western Sahara Online - Marrakesh Treaty (1767)
- ↑ http://www.wsahara.net/am_agr.html Western Sahara Online - Anglo-Moroccan Treaty (1895)
- ↑ http://www.wsahara.net/meknes.html Western Sahara Online - Meknes Treaty (1799)
- ↑ http://www.wsahara.net/05/blackprisonshow.html Western Sahara Online - Pictures depicting one of the darkest places of Moroccan occupation, the infamous "Black Prison" in El Aaiun
- ↑ http://www.telquel-online.com/133/couverture_133_1.shtml Telquel - Les ghettos du Sahara (in French)
- ↑ http://zmagsite.zmag.org/oct2002/mundy1002.htm ZMAG - Western Sahara - An interview with Stephen Dunes
- ↑ http://www.mincom.gov.ma/english/generalities/speech/2003/GreenMarch.htm Speech delivered by H.M. King Mohammed VI on the 28th anniversary of the Green March
- ↑ http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idecisions/isummaries/isasummary751016.htm International Court of Justice - WESTERN SAHARA - Advisory Opinion of 16 October 1975.
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/printable/transcript_sahara_print.html Sahara Marathon: Host Interview with James Baker on PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, an American, private, nonprofit media corporation
- ↑ http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/Mar-summary-eng Amnesty International - Morocco/Western Sahara - Covering events from January - December 2002
- ↑ http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Wsahara.htm Human Rights Watch - The United Nations Operation in Western Sahara
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4162790.stm BBC News - Last Moroccan war prisoners freed
- ↑ http://hrw.org/reports/2004/morocco1004/ Morocco: Human Rights at a Crossroads
- ↑ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/nea/index.cfm?docid=825 US State Department - Western Sahara - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000
- ↑ http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/mar-summary-eng Amnesty International - Morocco/Western Sahara - Covering events from January - December 2004
- ↑ http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/engMDE290011999 Amnesty International - 1999 - MOROCCO /WESTERN SAHARA "Turning the page": achievements and obstacles
- ↑ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/nea/804.htm US State department Morocco - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000
- ↑ http://www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/fiw/inc_country_detail.cfm?country=6886&pf Freedom House - Freedom in the World - Western Sahara, Morocco (2005)
[edit] Further reading on the Western Sahara conflict
- Hodges, Tony (1983), Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill Books (ISBN 0-88208-152-7)
- Jensen, Erik (2005), Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate, International Peace Studies (ISBN 1-58826-305-3)
- Mercer, John (1976), Spanish Sahara, George Allen & Unwid Ltd (ISBN 0-04-966013-6)
- Norris, H.T. (1986), The Arab Conquest of the Western Sahara, Longman Publishing Group (ISBN 0-582-75643-X)
- Pazzanita, Anthony G. and Hodge, Tony (1994), Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, Scarecrow Press (ISBN 0-8108-2661-5)
- Shelley, Toby (2004), Endgame in the Western Sahara: What Future for Africa's Last Colony?, Zed Books (ISBN 1-84277-341-0)
- Thobhani, Akbarali (2002), Western Sahara Since 1975 Under Moroccan Administration: Social, Economic, and Political Transformation, Edwin Mellen Press (ISBN 0-7734-7173-1)
- Thompson, Virginia and Adloff, Richard (1980), The Western Saharans. Background to Conflict, Barnes & Noble Books (ISBN 0-389-20148-0)
[edit] External links
- http://www.forcedmigration.org/photos/westernsahara/ Photo gallery covering different aspects of life of refugees in Tindouf, by Danielle Van Brunt Smith
