The former administering power of the Western Sahara territory has just addressed one of the most sensitive issues and one most feared by the Moroccan occupier. Madrid decided to take a significant step after the Spanish Parliament approved, on Wednesday, Iberian nationality for Sahrawis born before September 29, 1977, exactly two years following the Moroccan invasion of the Western Sahara territory.0
The gesture is more than symbolic and could yield major repercussions in the future regarding the conflict opposing the Sahrawi people and Moroccan occupation.
This measure is expected to benefit nearly 120,000 individuals alongside their descendants, or even more according to certain sources. It will now be reviewed and passed by the Senate over the coming days.
According to EFE agency, this bill, championed by Sumar, a minority partner within the governing coalition, was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies with 168 votes in favor and 31 against, while 145 deputies abstained.
Sahrawi organizations and associations consider that this measure could benefit between 80,000 and 120,000 people. Its proponents frame it as a resolution to a “historic injustice”. It is intended to complete a Spanish census that was set to form the framework for organizing a self-determination referendum for the Sahrawi population, in line with United Nations resolutions. It is precisely this referendum, under the guidance of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso), that the Makhzen has continually derailed and delayed, despite agreements signed between Rabat and the Polisario Front.
Western Sahara remained a Spanish colony until 1975, the year Spain relinquished its authority under agreements made with Morocco and Mauritania. The territory was subsequently divided between both nations. Rabat militarily occupied the northern portion, whereas Nouakchott assumed control of the southern region, stretching from present-day Dakhla, formerly Villa Cisneros, to the locality of La Guera, near the Guerguerat line.
Sumar deputy Tesh Sidi, born inside a Sahrawi refugee camp, declared that this action would restore to Sahrawis Spanish identity documents they previously possessed, before Spain “stripped them away”.
Coalition partners within the government supported the text, whereas the conservative People’s Party (PP) and the Catalan party Junts opted to abstain. Only the far-right Vox party voted against.
The draft legislation will now be evaluated by the Senate, where amendments are anticipated, prior to returning to the Chamber of Deputies for definitive enactment.
This law arrives amid a context of crisis between Rabat and Madrid following the invasion, during the summer, of the Ceuta enclave by Moroccan migrants, driven and encouraged by the Makhzen. An operation characterized as a means of blackmail and pressure exerted by Morocco against Spain, as has occurred on several occasions.
It should be recalled that this Spanish initiative favoring Sahrawis is neither unprecedented nor unexpected. In 2022, another law, enacted under Pedro Sanchez’s administration, granted Spanish nationality to descendants of Spaniards who fled their homeland during the 1936-1939 Civil War and General Francisco Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975).