Book Description
For a remote strip of Saharan desert along the Atlantic seaboard, the Western Sahara has begun to attract a lot of attention. The European Union, the USA, the UN and Morocco have all declared an interest in this former Spanish colony, not to mention the indigenous Sahraoui people, who have fought for self-determination for over quarter of a century. Toby Shelley has talked to Moroccan, Western Saharan Polisario and other diplomats, as well as contacts in the oil industry. He has visited the territory and had access to both the Moroccan administration and the underground opposition. What emerges is that there is now a real prospect of a definitive resolution to this long-running, often bloody, conflict between Morocco and the Sahraoui people.
About the Author
Toby Shelley works for the Financial Times as a reporter and is a regular contributor (under a pseudonym) to Middle East International.
Endgame in the Western Sahara: What Future for Africa's Last Colony? FROM THE PUBLISHER
Toby Shelley has talked to Polisario, Moroccan, Algerian and other diplomats. He has visited the territory and had access to opposition activists and Moroccan officials. In the refugee camps he interviewed the leadership of Polisario. What emerges is that the fate of the Western Sahara is being moulded by global and regional forces and that it is the Sahrawis under Moroccan rule who are best placed to influence that fate.