SYDNEY, Australia—“We need your solidarity and support,” said Fatima Mahfoud, a representative of the Sahrawi people’s national liberation struggle at a meeting here June 22. “There is no money that can replace human contact,” she continued, stressing the importance of organizing an Australian delegation to visit the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Algerian desert.

This meeting, held in the working-class district of Campsie, was Mahfoud’s last in a monthlong tour of Australia and New Zealand organized by the Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA).

Mahfoud is a leader of Polisario, which has led the struggle for independence of Western Sahara, first against Spanish rule, and then against the Moroccan and Mauritanian invasion of their land after Spain’s withdrawal in 1975. Polisario fighters defeated the Mauritanian forces and continued the struggle against Morocco until a UN-brokered cease-fire was signed in 1989.

In presentations at meetings during her tour, Mahfoud explained that Sahrawis living in the refugee camps, which were established after Morocco invaded their country, are impatient with the long, drawn out process of negotiations through the United Nations. A UN-sponsored referendum in which the Sahrawi people would vote on their status, scheduled for 1991, has been continually delayed.

Kamal Fadel, who has been the representative of Polisario in Australia since the office was first opened over four years ago, accompanied Mahfoud on her tour here.

At the June 22 meeting Fadel explained that there is a lot of frustration in the camps because the status quo only favors Morocco. The Moroccan government is “playing for time, buying arms and strengthening the wall,” he said, referring to the 1,500-mile wall constructed by the Moroccan regime that runs the length of Western Sahara, dividing the fertile occupied zone in the west from the liberated zone in the east that’s in the desert.

In this situation, “it is hard to maintain morale and a feeling of purpose among combatants in the camps,” Fadel said. There is “nothing worse for the liberation movement than no peace and no war.” He said that Polisario has to keep the combatants prepared, with both military exercises and cultural programs.

“We want peace but there is no progress,” he said. In the current international situation, the moment fighting starts again “they will label Polisario a terrorist organization and blame us for breaking the cease fire. It’s a Catch-22.”

In response to a question about the interests of imperialist powers in Western Sahara, Fadel stated, “There is no doubt that the natural resources of the country have become attractive to Morocco and the big powers,” including oil. Morocco has signed contracts with both French and U.S. oil companies.

Mahfoud explained that the majority of people in the camps see that the 12 years of negotiations have only given the Moroccan regime the opportunity to sell off the resources of their country. “They don’t accept that Polisario should go on with the cease-fire,” she said. At a Polisario conference, scheduled for October, Sahrawis in the camps will assess the situation and choose their leadership.

“The youth who left in 1991 have now come back, with degrees and with the ability to build a new country, but they still have to live in the camps. Young people need a country,” she said.

At the citywide public meeting in Sydney on June 10, Mahfoud said that there were only a small number of people with higher education when they first set up the camps. Most of the women were of nomadic background. Now 90 percent of population can read and write, she said.

“Life in the camps was very hard, but we have tried to build a normal life,” Mahfoud explained. Strong organizations of women, youth, and workers were formed. Most of the institutions in the camps are run by women.

At first there were no secondary schools, so children were educated abroad.

Mahfoud spent nine years studying in Cuba, at high school on the Isle of Youth and then at university in Santa Clara. She said that the students “who have come back from Cuba are very hard working, a lot of them are running things in the camps.” They learnt this in Cuba she said. “At school you go for three hours to work in the fields every day and at the university you are working in the field in which you are studying.”

Recently satellite television has become available to people in the camps on a limited basis. This, she noted, was having a positive impact, especially Al Jazeera broadcasts that are giving people a broader understanding of the Arab world and the situation facing other refugees such as those from Rwanda and Somalia.

People in the camps still feel isolated. That is why solidarity is so important, Mahfoud explained, especially sending a delegation to visit the Sahrawi.

This was the first time a Sahrawi woman has visited Australia or New Zealand to build solidarity with the liberation struggle in Western Sahara. Meetings were held on three university campuses in Sydney and one in Melbourne. Mahfoud also visited Fort St. High School in Sydney. Meetings were also organized with different women’s and refugee groups.

Mahfoud addressed a meeting of the Labor Council of New South Wales and met with Sharan Burrow, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. She also met with a number of both state and federal members of Parliament.  
 
 
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