The plight of the Saharauis - the people of the Western Sahara - is international news and local news this week. International news because the new special emissary of UN general secretary Kofi Annan made his first tour of the refugee camps this week.
Emissary Álvaro de Soto faces a difficult task in finding a solution to the long-running dispute between the self-proclaimed ‘Saharawi Republic’ and Moroccan authorities.
The Saharauis’ Polisario Front demands independence and the emissary went to camps in Tindouf in the south of Algiers to speak to ‘Republic’ prime minister Abdelkader Taleb Omar.
The message was clear - the Saharauis are convinced that the ‘Baker Plan’ - devised by former US secretary of state James Baker - is the only way forward. But will Morocco finally accept the peace deal?
All these developments are followed very closely in our La Safor and Costa Blanca areas where there are strong historical links with the people of the Western Sahara.
Charity organisations up and down the coast give medical aid and other practical support to the Saharaui people and every summer many local families give homes to the children so they can enjoy holidays away from the tents of the desert refugee camps.
CB Friday feature writer Lauren Wickman went along to a recent conference in Dénia about the lives of Saharaui women...

Neither war nor peace
“We are not at war with anyone but neither are we in our own territory; we live in  continuous wait. This tense situation creates desperation and emotional fatigue. The United Nations has let us down.”
That was the testimony of Embarka Hamudi, member of the Saharaui women’s national union during a recent conference in Dénia.
‘Heroines in the Desert’ was the title of the informal meeting and it is a conclusion we all shared.
The Saharaui people are like thousands of other refugees in the world: separated from their homeland, from family and friends and surviving in a precarious situation in a hostile country.
One of the differences that makes this case especially complicated, however, is that the situation has been going on for the past 28 years and a solution seems just as far away.
Spanish authorities left Western Sahara after a century of colonial occupation in 1976 and although initially supporting its self-government, it finally handed it over to Morocco and Mauritania.
A Saharaui rebel group called the Polisario Front began a guerrilla rebellion against    the occupying forces. Mauritania signed a treaty with the Polisario but Morocco conquered the area and built a massive defensive wall (complete with hidden land mines, barbed wire, trenches and armed soldiers) around Western Sahara.
Families were split up and 165,000 refugees had to make do with improvised UN camps in the desert of Alger. The 16-year war ended in 1991 with a UN-negotiated ceasefire that called for a referendum on the region’s future. That has still not been celebrated.
What was initially a temporary measure, has become the new lifestyle for the Saharaui people and while the men became soldiers for the cause, the women were left in charge of managing the camps and making the scarce international aid go as far as possible.
Women have had to educate themselves; the ones lucky enough to study in other countries have come back to help teach others to be nurses and teachers. They have had to combine functions of mothers and wives with co-ordinators of the camps and its organisations (hospitals, schools, youth groups...); and as well the Saharaui women have an important political role both mobilising other women to defend their rights and contributing to the independence fight.
Women’s associations such as the National Union organise courses of self-esteem, pregnancy, health and hygiene, computer lessons and solar energy...

The Marina Alta has created an association to help these people and regularly sends food, medicines and clothes to the refugee camps in Tindouf, and furthermore, to give Saharaui children an opportunity to enjoy their summer holidays, dozens of young people spend a couple of months with Spanish families here.

Spain is in a difficult political position because it supports the Saharaui cause but, on the other hand, does not want to upset the already tense relations with neighbouring Morocco.
Western Sahara is one of the richest areas of the Magreb in North Africa. There are important mineral resources, particularly phosphates, and there are lucrative fishing grounds off its shores and oil has recently been found.
The population has historically been nomad shepherds but the conflict that broke out forced thousands of people to abandon their peaceful way of life and settle in camps.

The role of the UN
They are now living in the middle of the Algerian desert and are totally dependent on international help and UN mediation; this causes huge distress to the population because they cannot control their own future. 
The UN has mediated in the diplomatic battle between the Polisario Front and Morocco in order to find a peaceful solution. The main dilemma is whether Western Sahara should be an independent republic or annexed to the country of Morocco.
The UN has tried to organise a referendum for years but the two parties do not agree on who is eligible to vote: if only Saharauis or also the Moroccans who now live in the area. This decision will obviously affect the results.
The Saharauis speak a dialect that derives from Arabic and are closer culturally to Mauritania. Embarka mentioned that mixed marriages a common, a situation that would be unimaginable with Moroccans.
Families are numerous; children grow up in a family environment and elderly people are respected because of their experience. The family includes parents, children, grandparents, uncle and aunts... they all live in huge tents so there is little privacy. Embarka said that it is because of this open space that their community does not suffer violence towards women.
Divorce is acceptable and women are acknowledged for their role in society. This is completely opposite to women’s inferior status in Morocco.
Another area of potential conflict is the power of the Moroccan religious monarchy that is incompatible with the Saharaui defence of a democratic republic. The prospect of being permanently part of Morocco is loathed by the Saharaui community.
According to the UN refugee agency, one point that all parts have agreed on recently is to allow the UN to establish telephone connections and the exchange of family visits between refugees in Alger or Mauritania and their community of origin in the territory (Western Sahara).
These actions called ‘confidence-building measures’ will bring closer families that have been separated by the wall for the past two decades but hopefully will also enhance confidence between the parties and facilitate a negotiated solution.

Former US secretary of state James Baker had been the top United Nations’ envoy to Western Sahara for the past seven years but resigned in June after failing to resolve the conflict.
Baker did not manage to arrange a referendum on the territory nor could he persuade Morocco to accept the latest peace plan that would grant the region self-government. The Polisario Front approved the document a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Saharauis dream of a better future for their children.