Moroccan Wall
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The Moroccan Wall, dubbed by the Sahrawis The Wall of Shame, is a 2,500km-long system of defensive walls, known as berms: sand and stone walls about three meters in height with bunkers, fences and landmines, running mainly through the Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. A minor section is located in southeastern Morocco.
The barrier is longer than the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Berlin Wall. It was gradually built from 1983 to keep the guerrilla fighters of Polisario out of Morocco and the economically interesting two-thirds of the Western Sahara. Effectively, Polisario controls all areas to the east of the barrier; however, these areas are mostly uninhabited.
Many Sahrawis live on both sides of the barrier, including a large number of Sahrawi refugees in Tindouf, Algeria. Since, at many places, the barrier is a double one, with a significant distance between the two halves, many Sahrawis are forced to live in this no-man's-land with constraints on mobility and accessibility.
International reaction
Western attention to the Moroccan Wall, and the Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara in general, has been minimal, apart from Western Sahara's ex-colonizer Spain. Once a year, a small demonstration is held against the barrier, with the participation of few – mainly Italian – human rights activists.
In Africa, the occupation has attracted somewhat more attention: Algeria, which for a long time effectively used the Polisario to wage a proxy war against Morocco (whose roots lie in Morocco's brief attack on Algeria in September 1963) continues to support the Polisario, and the Organization of African Unity/African Union and United Nations have repeatedly proposed negotiated solutions.
Related links
External links
- Western Sahara Online: Moroccan Wall of Shame (http://www.wsahara.net/morberm.html)
- Article in Dutch with a map of the barriers (http://www.cidi.nl/isnbr/2004/hoofd2-0104.html)