Australian peacekeepers in Western Sahara with MINURSO from 1991 to 1994

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Background

Western Sahara is an arid desert territory on the north-west coast of Africa that shares borders with Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. Until 1975, Western Sahara, known then as Spanish Sahara, was colonised and governed by Spain as part of the Spanish Empire.

After achieving independence from France in 1956, the neighbouring country of Morocco invaded Spanish Sahara to claim it as part of the Kingdom of Morocco. As a result, conflict erupted across Spanish Sahara and in Infi (in the south of Morocco) between the Moroccan Liberation Army – an organisation of loosely aligned independence militias – and Spanish forces.

The fighting continued until 1958, when Spanish forces regained control with France’s help, breaking up the Moroccan Liberation Army. In the years that followed, nationalist sentiment grew among the indigenous Sahrawi tribes of Spanish Sahara.

United Nations General Assembly resolutions

In 1960, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 1541 (PDF 192kB), which recognised a set of criteria for defining whether a territory is considered ‘non-self-governing’. This was to determine what obligations and assistance were required for the territory to reach independent self-government.

In the same year, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 1514. This declared that all remaining trust territories and non-self-governing territories, such as Spanish Sahara, were entitled to self-determination and independence.

In 1961, the General Assembly formed the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, also known as the Special Committee on Decolonization. Its job was to review the situation of non-self-governing territories each year.

Morocco gained support from the UN in 1963, which agreed to add Spanish Sahara to a list of those territories to be decolonised. However, Spain continued to govern the territory.

In 1965, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara, urging Spain to stop colonisation. Then, in late 1966, the General Assembly passed a new resolution requesting Spain hold a referendum on independence.

Conflict begins

In the late 1960s, the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab, a Sahrawi independence movement, attempted to overturn Spanish rule peacefully. Spanish forces responded with a bloody attack and manhunt against those involved. Many of the key figures involved disappeared and were presumably killed.

The Sahrawi people abandoned hope of a peaceful end to colonial rule. In May 1973, a militant Sahrawi nationalist organisation known as the Polisario Front emerged. Polisario forces launched a guerrilla campaign against Spanish occupation that lasted until 1975.

Also in 1973, the International Court of Justice ruled, ‘the materials and information presented to it [the ICJ] do not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity’.

However, both Morocco and Mauritania refused to accept this ruling.

Spain concedes control to Morocco and Mauritania

In November 1975, Morocco sent around 350,000 unarmed Moroccans accompanied by the heavily armed Moroccan Army into Western Sahara. Feeling pressured, Spain reached an agreement with Morocco and Mauritania, known as the Madrid Accords.

Under the agreement, Spain would withdraw and hand governing control of the territory to both neighbouring countries.

Without consulting the Polisario Front, Morocco and Mauritania agreed to set up a temporary government with participation of the Djema'a. The Djema'a was a ruling council of Sahrawi elders who consulted with both the tribes and Spanish military governors.

These agreements between Morocco, Mauritania and the Djema'a were rejected by the Polisario Front.

With Algerian support, the Polisario Front initiated a guerrilla war against Moroccan and Mauritanian forces. In 1976, the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara was illegally annexed by Morocco and Mauritania. However, by 1979 the Polisario Front had negotiated the withdrawal of Mauritania.

Following Mauritania's withdrawal in 1979, Morocco claimed the rest of the territory and moved troops into the southern third of the territory, where they repeatedly clashed with Polisario Front guerrillas. This war continued until 1991.

Settlement proposals

With a mission to eradicate colonialism from Africa, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) called for a referendum in Western Sahara at its 1979 summit. In 1981, the King of Morocco accepted the proposal, but it wasn’t until 1988 that Morocco and the Polisario Front reached an agreement.

On 30 August 1988, both parties agreed in principle to the settlement proposals. These proposals set out a ceasefire and referendum to allow the people of Western Sahara the right to choose between independence or integration with Morocco.

Within a month, the UN Security Council agreed to employ a Special Representative to oversee the referendum. In mid-1990, the planned assistance would include approximately:

• 800 to 1,000 civilian administrative, communications, finance and logistical staff
• 1,700 military personnel
• 300 civilian police officers.

This multinational body would be known as United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

The contingents were to be made up of 550 military observers, including:

• a Canadian infantry battalion
• a Polish logistic battalion
• a Swiss medical unit
• an Australian signals unit.

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United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)

On 21 April 1991, the Security Council passed Resolution 690 to establish MINURSO to implement the settlement proposals. Its job was to oversee the agreed transitional period, including a ceasefire and referendum.

The MINURSO-supervised transition would involve:

• the reduction of Moroccan military forces to 65,000 in Western Sahara
• the confinement of Moroccan and Polisario forces to designated areas
• the release of political prisoners released and exchange of prisoners of war.

Moroccan troops would also be withdrawn as part of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) program.

Eligible voters would be identified before the referendum, which would be organised and run by the UN. The entire mission was expected to last no more than 26 weeks, including 20 weeks of transition.

However, there are still members of MINURSO deployed in Western Sahara today.

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Australia's involvement: Operation Cedilla, 1991 to 1994

Australia provided 5 contingents of up to 45 people each. They served as signals staff to MINURSO between September 1991 and May 1994. Codenamed Operation Cedilla, it included around 220 Australians from the Australian Defence Force.

The signals staff primarily provided combat radio and communications between force headquarters in Laâyoune to sector headquarters and team sites as required.

The contingent also delivered tanker and flat-bed truck fuel in 44-gallon drums and propane canisters to resupply team sites located on both sides of a 2,700 km-long defensive wall. The wall, known as the Berm, stretches the entire length of the disputed territory through Western Sahara and south-eastern Morocco. The western side is administered by Morocco, while the east is controlled by the Polisario Front.

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Experiences of Australians

On 6 September 1991, the first team of Australian signallers began their operation from their remote hotel room, attaching an antenna to the roof to create a makeshift radio room.

The mission was a recommendation of a prior UN technical survey mission in Western Sahara in 1990. Australian signaller Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Ian Gordon had been part of that survey.

The signallers' situation improved within days when they relocated, but Operation Cedilla took place in one of the most hostile places on earth. Malaria was common, and temperatures in the scorching Sahara desert could reach well above 50°C.

The hot wind blasting across the landscape often turned into enormous dust storms and sandstorms, reducing visibility to within a few metres and causing respiratory issues.

Troops worked in an area dotted with minefields, which often moved locations as the massive sand dunes shifted. The terrain was full of high, flat-topped plateaus and dry riverbeds where troops would glimpse an occasional camel or goat.

As well as the tough conditions, the Australian MINURSO contingents had poor equipment and faced distrust from others. However, the British contingent commander, Colonel David Sievwright, reported that, despite the ‘uncooperative attitudes’ they encountered, the Australian signals unit provided an:

essential backbone to the mission, acting as administration and clerks in the HQ, drivers, mechanics, escorts, instructors and couriers. They were available at all times and it is difficult to imagine how the mission would have got off the ground with their expertise, flexibility and wilco attitude.

[Colonel David Sievwright, quoted in Horner, David and Connor, John. The Good International Citizen: Volume 3, The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations.]

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon was commander of the first Australian MINURSO contingent. For his service with 1st Signals Regiment under the UN, he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia.

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Death of Major Susan Felsche

On 21 June 1993, 32-year-old Major Susan Felsche was killed when her plane crashed as it took off from a remote base at Awsard. She was a medical officer serving in the fourth Australian contingent, which had arrived on 18 May 1993.

On 17 June, Felsche began visiting southern team sites. On 21 June, she boarded an aircraft at Awsard bound for Dougaj, but soon after departing the plane experienced problems and crashed. Of the 4 passengers, only one survived: a Swiss nurse. The Swiss pilot and a Norwegian technician were killed instantly, and Felsche died from her injuries later. Felsche was the first Australian woman to die in an overseas operation since World War II.

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Withdrawal of Australians

After 2 years of deployment in Western Sahara, it became clear that the planned referendum would not happen soon. Ongoing disagreements about key elements of the settlement plan continued, particularly around the terms of the election.

In May 1994, the Australian Government withdrew its deployed forces from Western Sahara.

Outcomes

Despite the ongoing ceasefire, nearly 490 personnel from different nations were deployed to Western Sahara as of May 2022. This included 230 civilians (data from 2018), 2 police officers and 12 UN volunteers, as well as 245 uniformed military personnel, including:

• 20 contingent troops
• 185 experts on mission
• 7 staff officers.

On 29 October 2021, the Security Council passed Resolution 2602 to extend the MINURSO mandate for one year until 31 October 2022.

Read more about the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.

Commemoration

National Peacekeepers' Day

On 14 September each year, we observe National Peacekeepers' Day. It's the anniversary of the day Australia became the world's first peacekeepers to deploy into the field, in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1947. It’s a day to recognise the important work of those who have served, and continue to serve, in the name of global peace.

Learn more about Australia's peacekeeping missions since 1947.

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

29 May is a day of commemoration and acknowledgement of all military, police and civilian personnel who have served as peacekeepers with the UN. Since UN peacekeeping began, more than 4,000 peacekeepers from many countries have lost their lives while performing their duties under the UN flag.