Western Sahara: Africa's Last Colony
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Click above to view a great short animated video about the story of the conflict in Western Sahara courtesy of AfriKa Kontakt from Norway.
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The Saharawis are indigenous to the little known country of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in NW Africa. In 1975, neighbouring Morocco and Mauritania forcefully invaded the territory, turning it into Africa’s Last Colony. This happened despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice (October 16, 1975) that reaffirmed Saharawi self-determination and denied Morocco’s sovereignty claims. It sparked a 16-year-long war between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the Saharawi independence movement.
A majority of the Saharawis then fled for refuge in SW Algeria, while the rest became second-class citizens in their own country. During the war, Morocco built a 2720km-long military wall reinforced by millions of landmines. It splits Western Sahara in two; the liberated zone, east of the wall, is under Polisario control. The war ended in 1991 with a UN-mediated ceasefire and the promise of a referendum that has yet to materialise. Today, 40 years later, the situation remains unresolved. Learn more about... |
40 Years Not Forgotten
The title refers to events organised by Sandblast between Oct 2015 and Feb 2016, to commemorate 40 years of conflict
in Western Sahara. With the support of Arts Council England,
Sandblast organised a retrospective photo and film exhibition at
the Hundred Years Gallery in Hoxton and premiered 'Life is Waiting' with a discussion panel and did a solidarity concert with an amazing line up of leading London-based artists at the Bolivar Hall in Fitzrovia. Click here to read more about it.
Sandblast also produced a beautiful catalogue of the photo exhibition which brought together many of the UK-based photographers that have contributed to documenting the Saharawi story over four decades. Click here for more details and to purchase.
The title refers to events organised by Sandblast between Oct 2015 and Feb 2016, to commemorate 40 years of conflict
in Western Sahara. With the support of Arts Council England,
Sandblast organised a retrospective photo and film exhibition at
the Hundred Years Gallery in Hoxton and premiered 'Life is Waiting' with a discussion panel and did a solidarity concert with an amazing line up of leading London-based artists at the Bolivar Hall in Fitzrovia. Click here to read more about it.
Sandblast also produced a beautiful catalogue of the photo exhibition which brought together many of the UK-based photographers that have contributed to documenting the Saharawi story over four decades. Click here for more details and to purchase.