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Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
Journal of Military and Strategic Studies
A BATTLEFIELD TRANSFORMED: FROM GUERILLA RESISTANCE TO MASS NONVIOLENT STRUGGLE IN THE WESTERN SAHARA
Dr. Maria J. Stephan and Jacob Mundy
Abstract
In late May 2005, a popular uprising against foreign domination rocked the Maghreb region of North Africa. With scenes reminiscent of the recent unarmed insurrections against unpopular governments in Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004-05), and Lebanon (2005), thousands of ethnic Sahrawis from the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that has been under strict military control by the Kingdom of Morocco since the latter invaded and occupied the territory in 1975, took to the streets en masse demanding the withdrawal of Moroccan troops and independence for Africa’s last remaining colony. Sahrawis are calling their sustained defiance against foreign rule an Intifada, or “shaking off”.