Private Story
Waiting for freedom
Although few people are aware of it, in the desert there is a 2700 km wall surrounded by seven million mines. It was built in 1975 during the “Green March”, which took place when Morocco invaded and militarily occupied the territory of the Western Sahara. Thousands of saharawis were forced to leave their land and seek refuge in the part of the desert to the southwest of Algeria. Those who couldn't escape had to continue living in the occupied areas under a repressive regime that violated their human rights.
Since then, the saharawis have lived in exile. For over 37 years they have been confined to the Algerian desert, an arid, landlocked region where living conditions are increasingly difficult. As a result of global warming, temperatures reach 50 degrees celsius in summer. Water is scarce, the last important rains having fallen a year-and-a-half ago.
Experiencing this in first person I understood that this population is reaching the limit of what it can bear, and that there will be a new war if the countries responsible for this situation, as well as the UN, don't decide to take action for these people.
The long wait is killing the identity and culture of a people with more than two thousand years of history who live only in the hope of one day being able to return to their land, free of all oppression by the Moroccan government.
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