+   *    +     +     
About Us 
The Issues 
Our Research Products 
Order Publications 
Multimedia 
Press Room 
Resources for Monitor Researchers 
ARCHIVES HOME PAGE 
    >
Email Notification Receive notifications when this Country Profile is updated.

Sections



Send us your feedback on this profile

Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .

Western Sahara

Last Updated: 31 July 2012

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

The sovereignty of Western Sahara remains the subject of a dispute between the government of Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguía el Hamra and Río de Oro (Polisario). Polisario’s Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is a member of the African Union, but is not universally recognized. It has no official representation in the UN, which prevents formal accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In June 2012, a representative of the Polisario Front informed the Monitor that Polisario supports the prohibition on cluster munitions.[1] The representative also stated that the Polisario does not possess cluster munitions and had never used them.[2]

The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces used artillery-fired and air-dropped cluster munitions against Polisario in Western Sahara during their conflict from 1975 to 1991.

 



[1] Interview with Dr. Limam El Jalil, Representative, Representative of POLISARIO Front to the United Nations in Geneva, Geneva, 27 June 2012.

[2] Ibid.