Africa�s last colony
Friday, March 31, 2017
The native population, which numbers close to 600, 000 people, are known as Sahrawi’s and majority religion is Islam. In 1975, Morocco effectively annexed Western Sahara by staging what was known as the Green March, which was a peaceful procession of about 350, 000 Moroccans and Mauritanians who walked and claimed it as their own. Spain subsequently transferred control of the region to Morocco and Mauritania.
As a result to this occupation, The Polisario Front, which is a Sahrawi movement founded in 1973 to campaign for the independence of Western Sahara, launched a guerilla struggle against what it saw as the unlawful Moroccan and Mauritanian occupation of its indigenous land. During that struggle Mauritania renounced its claim to the region and since then the Moroccan authorities had built a wall through the territory, annexing two thirds of the country and leaving a dangerous no man’s land between what is now patrolled by a UN monitoring force. While the Polisario Front wants an end to Moroccan occupation and full independence for the Sahrawi’s, Morocco wants Western Sahara to remain an autonomous, self-governing part of its territory, in a fashion similar to autonomous communities of Spain.
The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...