Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
 

 
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية الصحراوية الديمقراطية‎ Al-Jumhūrīyyah Al-Arabīyyah Aṣ-Ṣaḥrāwīyyah Ad-Dīmuqrāṭīyyah; Spanish: República Árabe Saharaui Democrática aka RASD) is a partially recognized state that claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony. SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlu, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about 20-25% of the territory it claims. It calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the Free Zone. Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls these lands its Southern Provinces. The SADR government considers the Moroccan-held territory occupied territory, while Morocco considers the much smaller SADR held territory to be a buffer zone.
Capital: El-Aaiun (Laayoune); Villa Cisneros 1887-1958. SADR Capital: Bir Lehlou (provisional); Polisario HQ:
Tindouf, Algeria. Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة (Arabic) = "Liberty, Democracy, Unity".
The SADR acts as a government administration in the Sahrawi refugee camps located in the Tindouf Province of western Algeria. It is headquartered in Camp Rabouni, south of Tindouf, although some official events have taken place on Western Saharan territory in the provisional capital of Bir Lehlou, in Tifariti and other towns in the Liberated Territories. The government of the SADR administers both the Western Sahara territories under its control and the Sahrawi refugee camps on Algerian soil near Tindouf, but only claims sovereignty on the first ones. Several foreign aid agencies, including the UNHCR, and NGO's are continually active in the camps. Currently 49 UN member states and South Ossetia recognize SADR, additional 34 UN member have "frozen" or "withdrawn" recognition.
 
        1140 - 1147         Part of Almoravid Sultanate.
               1860         Morocco cedes Western Sahara to Spain
        1879 - 13 Mar 1895  British North-West Africa Company (BNWA) trading post,
                             Port Victoria, established at Cape Juby (Tarfaya) by Donald
                             Donald MacKenzie.
               09 Feb 1883  Trading post at Villa Cisneros established by the Compañía
                             Comercial Hispano-Africana.
               03 Nov 1884  Spain occupies Río de Oro (Spanish Sahara).
               26 Dec 1884  Spanish protectorate declared from Río de Oro to the Cape
                             the Cape Blanc peninsula and Angra de Cinta.
               10 Jul 1885  Spanish protectorate declared over the coast from Boujdour
                             to Cape Blanc.
               06 Apr 1887  Río de Oro Dependent Protectorate.
 06 Apr 1887 - 29 Aug 1934  Subordinated to the Canary Islands.
               24 Feb 1895  Sultan of Morocco purchases Cape Juby (Tarfaya).
               03 Oct 1904  Saguia el Hamra annexed by Spain.
 27 Nov 1912 - 07 Apr 1956  Tarfaya (Cabo Juby) Strip part of Spanish Morocco
                             protectorate.
               Jul 1936     Spanish Nationalist forces take control.
               1946         Western Sahara united with Ifni as Spanish West Africa
 20 Jul 1946 - 10 Apr 1958  Spanish West Africa (África Occidental Española)
                             (Río de Oro, Saguia el Hamra, and Ifni).
 23 Nov 1957 - 25 Feb 1958  Moroccan irregular occupation of parts of Spanish Sahara
                             (Edchera to 13 Jan 1958; Tan-Tan to Feb 1958; Tafurdat and
                              Smara to 10 Feb 1958; Bir Nazaran and Ausert to 21 Feb 1958)
               12 Jan 1958  Overseas province of Spain (Spanish Sahara).
               02 Apr 1958  Tarfaya Strip ceded to Morocco by Spain in Treaty of
                             Angra Cinta.
               17 Jun 1970  Zemla Intifada. Harakat Tahrir riots in El-Aaiun.
               10 May 1973  Foundation of the Polisario Front
               20 May 1973  May 20 Revolution: Start of the armed struggle against Spain
               04 Jul 1974  Western Sahara granted autonomy; not implemented.
               12 Oct 1975  Day of National Unity. Ain Ben Tili Conference.
               15 Oct 1975  International Court of Justice advisory opinion
                             declares that Western Sahara has historical links with
                             Morrocco and Mauritania, but the population of this
                             territory possessed the right of self-determination.
               14 Nov 1975  Tripartite Madrid Accords by which Spain ceded temporary
                             administration of Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania.
               27 Nov 1975  Morocco and Mauritania invade Western Sahara.
               11 Dec 1975  Moroccan troops enter El Aaiun.
               26 Feb 1976  Spain terminates its administration, but refuses to accept
                             annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco .
               27 Feb 1976  Saharan (Sahrawi) Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)
                             proclaimed by the Polisario Front in Bir Lehlou
               28 Feb 1976  Constitution adopted by SADR.
               14 Apr 1976  Spanish Sahara is partitioned by Morocco and Mauritania
                             (Mauritanian part is named Tiris el Gharbia. Moroccan sector
                             reorganized into the provinces of Boujdour, Laayoune, and
                             Es Semara).
               09 Jun 1976  Day of the Martyrs. El-Ouali died.
               05 Aug 1979  Mauritanian agreement with the SADR, Mauritania evacuates
                             Western Sahara under the Algiers Agreement.
               11 Aug 1979  Mauritanian part of the territory annexed by Morocco, which
                             is named Oued el Dahab province.
 06 Sep 1991 - date         United Nations monitored cease-fire implemented.
               04 Sep 1999  New constitution adopted by SADR.
 
 
After an agreement among the European colonial powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884 on the division of spheres of influence in Africa, Spain seized control of The Western Sahara and established it as a Spanish colony. After 1939 this area was administered by Spanish Morocco. As a consequence, Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri, the Chief of Cabinet, General Secretary of the Government and Head of the palace for the caliph of Spanish Morocco cooperated with the Spaniards to select governors in that area. The Saharan lords who were already in prominent positions such as the members of Maa El Ainain family provided a list recommending new governors.

As time went by, Spanish colonial rule began to unravel with the general wave of decolonization after World War II, which saw Europeans lose control of North African and sub-Saharan African possessions and protectorates. Spanish decolonization in particular began rather late, but internal political and social pressures for it in mainland Spain built up towards the end of Francisco Franco's rule, in the context of the global trend towards complete decolonization. Spain began rapidly and even chaotically divesting itself of most of its remaining colonial possessions. After initially being violently opposed to decolonization, Spain began to give in and by 1974–75 issued promises of a referendum on independence.
At the same time, Morocco and Mauritania, which had historical claims of sovereignty over the territory based on competing traditional claims, argued that the territory was artificially separated from their territories by the European colonial powers. Algeria, which also bordered the territory, viewed these demands with suspicion, influenced also by its long-running rivalry with Morocco. After arguing for a process of decolonization guided by the United Nations, the Algerian government under Houari Boumédiènne committed itself in 1975 to assisting the Polisario Front, which opposed both Moroccan and Mauritanian claims and demanded full independence.
The UN attempted to settle these disputes through a visiting mission in late 1975, as well as a verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared that Western Sahara had historical links with Morocco and Mauritania, but population of this territory possessed the right of self-determination. On 6 November 1975 the Green March into Western Sahara began when 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged on the city of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and waited for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross the border in a peaceful march. A few days before, on 31 October, Moroccan troops invaded Western Sahara from the northwest.
 
  • WESTERN SAHARA
  • Known in Arabic: Sahra' al-Gharbiyah; Spanish: Sahara Occidental, also - Rio del Oro. A stretch of coast in northwestern Africa between Cap Juby in the north and Cap Blanc to the south - the Canary Islands archipelago is a short distance to the northwest. The interior is a desolate reach of nearly unihabited desert, by times flatland or hill country. The chief city, el-Aaiún (Laâyoune), a port in the far northwest with a population of close to 200,000, accounts for over half the total population of the region.
  • Bafour................................................c. 5000 - c. 3000 BCE
  • The Bafour were a tribe of uncertain origin who made a living as agriculturalists at a time when the region's climate was more conducive to farming. Around 3000 BCE the region largely desertified, and the Bafour moved southwards into modern-day Mauretania (they are believed to be the ancestors of the Imraguen and Soninke ethnic groups).
  • Largely unoccupied c. 3000-c. 300.
  • Various Berber tribes..............................c. 300 BCE - c. 790 CE
  • Idrisid Morocco........................................c. 790 - 810
  • Sanhaja...................................................810 - c. 900
  • The Sanhaja were the dominant Berber tribal confederacy in northwestern Africa in the early Middle Ages. Branches of the Sanhaja included the Zirids, Hammadids, Lamtuna and Almoravids.
  • Various Berber tribes..................................c. 900 - c. 1040
  • Lamtuna confederacy...................................c. 1040 - c. 1070
  • Almoravid Empire......................................c. 1070 - 1147
  • Various Berber tribes.................................c. 1140 - 1591 but note...
  • Periodic occupation by various Moroccan dynasties.....c. 1150 - 1591 and...
  • Incursions and settlement by Arab Beni Hassan tribe...c. 1300 - 1591 and...
  • Cape Bajodor and nearby coastal settlements to Portugual.1430 - late 1500's
  • During the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, a feudal culture emerged in Western Sahara with an Arab and Arabized Berber warrior class (known today by the generic term Saharawi) controlling oasis settlements and collecting tribute from non-Arabized Berbers, black Africans and other tribes of the region.
  • Morocco..................................................1591 - 1884
  • Spain....................................................1884 - 1976
  • The Spanish were given the Rio de Oro and Ifni regions in 1860 by the Treaty of Tetuan, but no settlement took place. Meanwhile, the British founded a trading post in 1879 at Cape Juby, followed by a Spanish post at Villa Cisneros in 1883. In 1884 a Spanish protectorate was declared over all of the region from Rio de Oro to Angra de Cinta, and additional territories were added in 1885. The British outpost was abandoned in 1895 and Cape Juby turned over to Spain by Morocco in the same year. From 1887 to 1903 the Rio de Oro Protectorate (as the region became known, or, alternatively, "Spanish Sahara") was administered from the Canary Islands.
    • Commandant, Commissioner 10 Jul 1885, Subgovernor 06 Apr 1887 as subordinated to the governors of the Canary Islands.
    • Emilio Bonelli Hernando......................03 Nov 1884 - 1900
    • Governor 1901 (subordinated to governors of the Canary Islands to 29 Aug 1934, then to the Spanish High Commissioners for Morocco to 20 Jul 1946.From 20 Jul 1946 also as the governors-general of Spanish West Africa).
    • Ángel Villalobos....................................1900 - 01 Dec 1903
    • Francisco Bens Argandoña.....................01 Dec 1903 - 07 Nov 1925
    • Muhammad Mustafa Ould Sheikh ben Muhammad Fadel Ma al-Aynayn ash-Shanguiti (jihadist rebel) was a religious and political leader who fought French and Spanish colonization in North Africa 1904-1910. In 1910, anarchy spread through Morocco, as the new Sultan grew ever weaker under European pressures. Ma al-'Aynayn, concerned that Morocco would fall in European hands, decided to extend Jihad north of Tiznit at the head of an army of 6,000 men to overthrow the new Sultan Abdelhafid. He was defeated by French General Moinier, on 23rd June 1910. Later Ma al-'Aynayn died at Tiznit on 23rd October 1910.
    • Guillermo de la Peña Cusi....................07 Nov 1925 - 19 Jun 1932
    • Eduardo Canizares Navarro....................19 Jun 1932 - 30 Aug 1933
    • José González Deleito........................30 Aug 1933 - 01 Jul 1934
    • Saharawi rebellion 1934.
    • Benigno Martínez Portillo....................01 Jul 1934 - 04 May 1936
    • Carlos Pedemonte Sabin.......................04 May 1936 - 07 Aug 1936
    • Rafael Gallego Sainz.........................07 Aug 1936 - 12 Mar 1937
    • Antonio de Oro Pulido........................12 Mar 1937 - 31 May 1940
    • José Bermejo López...........................31 May 1940 - 17 Aug 1949
    • Francisco Rosaleny Burguet...................17 Aug 1949 - 29 Mar 1952
    • Venancio Tutor Gil...........................29 Mar 1952 - 26 Feb 1954
    • Ramón Pardo de Santallana Suárez.............26 Feb 1954 - 23 May 1957
    • Mariano Gómez Zamalloa y Guirce..............23 May 1957 - 10 Jan 1958
    • Governors-general (to 10 Apr 1958, also governors-general of Spanish West Africa)
    • José Héctor Vázquez..........................10 Jan 1958 - 22 Jul 1958
    • Mariano Alonso Alonso........................27 Jul 1958 - 06 Oct 1961
    • Pedro Latorre Alcubierre (Ifni 1959-61)......13 Oct 1961 - 21 Feb 1964
    • Joaquín Agulla y Jiménez-Coronado (Ifni 1961-63)..06 Mar 1964 - 05 Nov 1965
    • Adolfo Artalejo Campos (Ifni 1963-65)........05 Nov 1965 - 26 Nov 1965
    • Ángel Enríquez Larrondo......................05 Nov 1965 - 02 Feb 1967
    • José María Pérez de Lema y Tejero............18 Feb 1967 - 04 Mar 1971
    • Fernando de Santiago y Díaz de Mendívil......04 Mar 1971 - 06 Jun 1974
    • Federico Gómez de Salazar y Nieto............06 Jun 1974 - 06 Feb 1976
    • Transitional Administration Representatives 06 Feb 1976 - 26 Feb 1976
    • Rafael de Valdés Iglesias (Spain)
    • Ahmed Bensouda (Morocco)
    • Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi (Mauritania)
  • Mostly occupied by Morocco........................26 Feb 1976 - date
  • From the 1950's on, Spain came under increasing opposition by a variety of groups seeking change in the region. From 1956 to 1958, the Moroccan Army of Liberation, a group seeking unification with Morocco, held sway. The Harakat Tahrir, an Islamic-nationalist movement, exerted itself 1967-1970. In 1971, the Polisario Front, a Socialist-nationalist movement arose, and they are to this day the dominant opposition movement. When Spain withdrew in 1976, Morocco flooded the region with settlers, occupied el-Aaiún and began extending it's influence southward - the Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and switched from fighting Spain to fighting Morocco. Meanwhile Mauretania, which borders Western Sahara almost entirely, attempted the occupation of the southern districts - finding the work uncongenial and without reward, it withdrew it's forces and all claims in 1979. Meanwhile, the Moroccan strategy was simplicity itself - clear a district of all Polisatio, and build a wall isolating the rebel elements ever further southward and eastward. By 1991, Morocco was in control of nearly all the region, leaving to the POLISARIO [Frente Popular de Liberación de Seguía el-Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Seguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, authoritarian, Sahrawi nationalist, separatist, est.1973, only legal party of SADR; socialist 1976-1991] a "Free Zone" consisting of the lifeless and utterly barren south and eastern districts - these constitute the territory of SADR, "administered" from Tindouf, in western Algeria. SADR is recognized only by a handful of Third-World nations. In 1991, a cease-fire was brokered by the UN, in anticipation of elections to determine final status. Matters have not progressed beyond this point since then - Morocco insists that all residents should be allowed a vote, and the Polisario insists that only pre-1976 residents should be enfranchised. And no Power or person has been able to achieve any modification of these positions. To the extent that the international community has any opinions on these matters nowadays, an arrangement whereby Western Sahara becomes a self-governing territory within Moroccan suzerainty is envisioned.

  • Territorial Disputes: Morocco claims and administers Western Sahara, whose sovereignty remains unresolved; UN-administered cease-fire has remained in effect since 06 Sep 1991, administered by the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), but attempts to hold a referendum have failed and parties thus far have rejected all brokered proposals. Many neighboring states reject Moroccan administration of Western Sahara; several states have extended diplomatic relations to the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" represented by the Polisario Front in exile in Algeria, while others recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara; most of the approximately 102,000 Sahrawi refugees are sheltered in camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

    • Chairmen of the Revolutionary Council
    • El Wali Mustafa Sayed.........................27 Feb 1976 - 09 Jun 1976
    • Mahfoud Ali Beiba (acting)....................10 Jun 1976 - 30 Aug 1976
    • Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council
    • Mohamed Abdelaziz.............................30 Aug 1976 - 16 Oct 1982
    • President (chief of state)
    • Mohamed Abdelaziz (continued).................16 Oct 1982 - 31 May 2016
    • Khatri Addouh (acting)........................31 May 2016 - 12 Jul 2016
    • Ibrahim Ghali.................................12 Jul 2016 - date
 
  • IFNI (Sidi Ifni)
  • An enclave (50 x 15 miles in area) on the coast of far southern Morocco, 260 miles (420 km.) northeast of el-Aaiún, 220 miles (350 km.) southwest of Marrakech. The town was founded by Diego de Herrera, a feudal lord of the Castilian monarchy with holdings in the Canary Islands.
  • Castile/Spain (via the Canary Islands)...................1476 - 1524
  • Morocco..................................................1524 - 1860
  • Spain....................................................1860 - 1969
    • Spanish Concession (unoccupied).....................1860 - 1912
    • Spanish Protectorate (occupied from 1934)...........1912 - 1952
    • Administered from Western Sahara....................1952 - 1958
    • Governors
    • Mariano Quirce......................................1958 - 1959
    • Pedro Latorre Alcubierre (W. Sahara 61-64)..........1959 - 1961
    • Joaquín Agulla y Jiménez-Coronado (W. Sah. 1964-65).1961 - 1963
    • Adolfo Artalejo Campos (W. Sahara 1965).............1963 - 1965
    • Marino Larrasquino..................................1965 - 1967
    • José Rodríguez......................................1967 - 1969
  • Morocco..................................................1969 - date
 
Currency: Algerian Dinar (de facto) and Moroccan Dirham. Several Sahrawi Peseta (EHP) commemorative issues also exists, since 1991. The Sahrawi peseta, is the commemorative currency of the partially unrecognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic since the Madrid Accords in 1975. It is divided in 100 céntimos, although coins with this denomination have never been minted, nor have banknotes been printed. As this territory is mostly controlled by Morocco, the circulating currency in the Western Sahara is the Moroccan dirham, with Algerian dinar and Mauritanian ouguiya circulating in the Sahrawi refugee camps and the city of Lagouira respectively. As it is not an official currency and not circulating, the Change Rate is not really realistic. Despite this, since the Madrid Accords, Sahrawi Peseta has been pegged at par to Spanish Peseta, and when the latter was phased out by the Euro, the rate became 1€ for 166.386 Pts. Non-commemorative coins are supposedly designated for circulation. They are minted by the Polisario Front, and made from cupronickel.
 
1991
 

KM#05 500 Pesetas. Year: 1991. Weight: 12.03g [12.00g]. Metal: 0.999 Silver. Diameter: 38.00 mm. Edge: Plain. Alignment: Coin. Mint: N/A. Obverse: "كأس العالم ١٥ الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية" in Arabic at the top. Player kicking ball with his left foot. Date at his right leg. "XV COPA MUNDIAL ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA 1994" (15th World Cup 1994 at United States of America) in Spanish at the bottom. Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" in Spanish at the top. Emblem in the center including Motto "حرية ديمقراطية وحدة" (Liberty, Democracy, Unity) in Arabic. Value: "500 PESETAS" at the bottom. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.
 
1992
 

KM#14 1 Peseta. Year: 1992. Weight: 2.96g [3.00g]. Metal: CuNi. Diameter: 17.00 mm. Edge: Plain. Alignment: Coin. Mint: N/A. Obverse: "النقل التقليدي" (traditional transport) in Arabic at the top. Bedouin and dromedary in the center with date at the base of camels's right front foot. "TRANSPORTE TIPICO" (typical transport) written in Spanish at the bottom. Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" in Spanish at the top. Emblem in the center. Value: "1 PESETA" at the bottom. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.

KM#15 2 Pesetas. Year: 1992. Weight: 3.41g [3.50g]. Metal: CuNi. Diameter: 20.00 mm. Edge: Plain. Alignment: Coin. Mint: N/A. Obverse: "النقل التقليدي" (traditional transport) in Arabic at the top. Bedouin and dromedary in the center with date at the base of camels's right front foot. "TRANSPORTE TIPICO" (typical transport) written in Spanish at the bottom. Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" in Spanish at the top. Emblem in the center. Value: "2 PESETAS" at the bottom. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.

KM#16 5 Pesetas. Year: 1992. Weight: 3.89g [4.00g]. Metal: CuNi. Diameter: 21.50 mm. Edge: Plain. Alignment: Coin. Mint: N/A. Obverse: "النقل التقليدي" (traditional transport) in Arabic at the top. Bedouin and dromedary in the center with date at the base of camels's right front foot. "TRANSPORTE TIPICO" (typical transport) written in Spanish at the bottom. Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" in Spanish at the top. Emblem in the center. Value: "5 PESETAS" at the bottom. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.
 
2004 - IDAO - Bureau Africain d'Emission issues.
 

KM#51 500 Peseta. Year: 2004. Weight: 7.38g. Metal: Bi-Metallic; Stainless Steel center and Brass ring. Diameter: 26 mm. Edge: Plain and reeded; 5 patches each. Alignment: Medal. Mint: Africa Mint - Bureau Africain d'Emission. Obverse: "500 PESETAS 2004" written at the top. Two Fennec foxes within center circle. "NATURALEZA SAHARAUI" (Nature of Sahrawi) in Spanish at the bottom.
Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" (clockwise) in outer circle. Emblem in the center. Mintage: 5,000. Minted Years: One year type.

Note: KM#51a also exits as the same coin but in silver with Mintage of 25 pieces only.

KM#52 500 Peseta. Year: 2004. Weight: 7.42g. Metal: Bi-Metallic; Stainless Steel center and Brass ring. Diameter: 26 mm. Edge: Plain and reeded; 5 patches each. Alignment: Medal. Mint: Africa Mint - Bureau Africain d'Emission. Obverse: "500 PESETAS" written on the top left side and "2004" at the bottom right side outside the circle. Map and Emblem of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic within center circle with dates "27.Febraro.1976" and "27-02-2004".
Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" (clockwise) in outer circle. Emblem in the center. Mintage: 5,000. Minted Years: One year type.

Note: KM#51a exists in .999 gold ring and .999 silver in center and KM#51b exits .999 silver. Both these coins have diameter: 26 mm with mintage of 25 pieces each.
 
2010 - IDAO - Bureau Africain d'Emission issue.
 

500 Peseta. Year: 2010. Weight: 7.59g. Metal: Bi-Metallic; Stainless Steel center and Brass ring. Diameter: 26 mm. Edge: Plain and reeded; 5 patches each. Alignment: Medal. Mint: Africa Mint - Bureau Africain d'Emission.

Obverse: "CULTURA ARABE * 500 PESETAS 2010 *" written on the top. Two Arab sitting, playing music with tea in front of them "FER'A DE KAMUR 2010" written below them within the circle. "الثقافة العربية" (Arab Culture) in Arabic written at the bottom.
Reverse: "REPUBLICA ARABE SAHARAUI DEMOCRATICA" (clockwise) in outer circle. Emblem in the center. Mintage: N/A. Minted Years: One year type.
 
 
 
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