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The Sahrawi Republic, formally the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, located in North Africa. The SADR claims the territory of Western Sahara, controlling only the easternmost one-fifth of that territory (which it denominates the Liberated Territories) after a lengthy war with Morocco (which claims the territory as its Southern Provinces) which followed their invasion in 1975, leading to Spain leaving the territory, which the United Nations consider as a non-self governing territory. It borders Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east-northeast, Mauritania to the east and south and the North Atlantic Ocean to the west, where it also shares a maritime border with Spain's Canary Islands.

Etymology
The name Sahrawi is the romanization of the Arabic word Ṣaḥrāwī (صحراوي), meaning 'inhabitant of the desert', with Ṣaḥrāwī deriving from the Arabic word Ṣaḥrāʼ (صحراء).

Colonial era
The territory of Western Sahara came under Spanish rule after the Berlin Conference, establishing a protectorate in the coast between Cape Bojador and Ras Nouadhibou (Cabo Blanco) after an expedition commanded by Emilio Bonelli in 1884 led to an agreement with the Ulad Bu Sba tribe, setting up a permanent Spanish colonial presence in Villa Cisneros. The Ulad Delim attacked the fort in 1885 after it deemed itself marginalised from the deal signed by the Ulad Bu Sbaa. Spain also attempted to establish a protectorate the Emirate of Adrar (in modern-day Mauritania), signing the Idjil Treaties in 1886 with the ruling Emir and several tribes present there; with Spain shortly comunicating later to the colonial powers its control of the region of Western Sahara. A colonial expedition launched by Álvarez Pérez in 1886 also secured the Tekna Zone in the north for the Spaniards. The border between the Spanish and French colonial possessions was officially delimited in 1900, with Spain dividing the Spanish Sahara into two regions: Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro. Spain managed to get Cape Juby (Tekna Zone) as the southern protectorate of Morocco after the French and Spanish protectorates were established in 1912 as a concession from France.

Geography


Western Sahara, the territory the Sahrawi Republic claims, is located on the northwest coast in West Africa and on the cusp of North Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean to the northwest, Morocco to the north-northeast, Algeria to the east-northeast, and Mauritania to the east and south. Sahrawi territory covers 266,000 km2, with internal waters being negligible. The territory controlled by the Sahrawi Republic (known by the SADR as the Liberated Territories) cover 90,000 km2, or around a quarter of the territory of Western Sahara.

Western Sahara has a 1110 km long coastline, with almost all of it being occupied by Morocco. The Ras Nouadhibou peninsula was the only sea access of the SADR, with administration ceded to Mauritania, but direct access to the Peninsula was lost after an eight Moroccan berm was built after clashes in 2020. While the area can experience flash flooding in the spring, there are no permanent streams. Wadis exist in the country, with the most important ones being Saguia el-Hamra (and its affluent Oued el Khatt) and Khatt Atui. At times, a cool off-shore current can produce fog and heavy dew. The terrain is mostly low, flat desert with large areas of rocky or sandy surfaces rising to small mountains in south and northeast.

Climate


Western Sahara has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). Annual average rainfall is below 50 mm everywhere. Along the Atlantic coast, averages high and low temperatures are constant and very moderated throughout the year because cool offshore ocean currents considerably cool off the climate, especially during the day. However, summertime is long and extremely hot and wintertime is short and very warm to truly hot further in the interior, where cooling marine influences aren't felt anymore. Average high temperatures exceed 40 °C in summer during a prolonged period of time but can reach as high as 50 °C or even more in places such as Smara, Tichla, Bir Ganduz, Bir Anzarán, Agüenit, Auserd and others. Average high temperatures exceed 20 °C in winter but average low temperatures can drop to 7 °C in some places. The sky is usually clear and bright throughout the year and sunny weather is the norm.

Western Sahara contains four terrestrial ecoregions: Saharan halophytics, Mediterranean acacia-argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets, Atlantic coastal desert, and North Saharan steppe and woodlands.

Biodiversity
Over 350 bird species have been found in the territory of Western Sahara.

Politics
The Sahrawi Republic is a one-party semi-presidential republic.

Foreign relations
The foreign relations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic are conducted by the SADR Ministry of Foreign Affairs in countries that recognise that SADR and by the Polisario Front in countries that do not officially recognise the SADR. 84 United Nations member states have recognised the SADR at some point, with 46 out of 193 UN member states currently maintaining the recognition as of 2023. Several states that do not recognize the Sahrawi Republic and the United Nations nonetheless recognize the Polisario Front as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, but not as the government-in-exile of a sovereign state.

Military


The Sahrawi People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was founded in 10 May 1973 as the armed wing of the Polisario Front, lauching its first attack on 20 May against Francoist Spain. After the Moroccan invasion of Western Sahara and the Madrid Accords in which Spain handed out the territory of Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania, the SPLA changed its focus from fighting the Spanish colonial administration to resisting the joint Morocccan-Mauritanian invasion and attempt at partitioning the territory in the context of the 1975-1991 Western Sahara War. After the declaration of independence the SPLA became the army of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Its commander-in-chief is the President of the SADR, who is also the general secretary of the Polisario Front. The army is fully integrated into the SADR Ministry of Defence. The SPLA currently has no navy or air force, although a naval unit was created in 1977 to attack boats fishing illegally on the territorial waters of Western Sahara. Its armed units are considered to have a manpower of around 5,000–7,000 active soldiers today, but during the war years its strength appears to have increased to 100,000 men. It has a potential manpower of many times that number, since all refugees in the Sahrawi refugee camps undergo military training at age 18. Women formed auxiliary units protecting the camps during war years.

Administrative divisions
The Sahrawi Republic is a unitary country divided in wilayas, subdivided into dairas which are further subdivided into municipalities. This administrative division is currently only applied in the Sahrawi refugee camps, with the Liberated Territories being instead organised into military regions, with eight civil municipalities being established there in 2012.

Religion
The predominant religion practiced by Sahrawis is the Maliki school of Sunni Islam, which is constitutionally recognised as the official religion of the SADR and a source of law. Virtually all Sahrawis identify as Muslim according to the CIA World Factbook, which makes the country one of the most religiously homogeneous nations in the world.

The Catholic Church had an important presence during Spanish rule, with 20,000 Spanish Catholics present before Spain abandoned the territory (30% of the population). Today around 300 people in the Moroccan-controlled areas are Catholic (mostly of Spanish origin), being able to attend the St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral in El Aaiún and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Dajla.

Language
Modern Standard Arabic is the sole constitutionally recognised official and national language of the Sahrawi Republic. Hassaniya, a variety of Arabic also spoken in neighbouring countries such as Mauritania, is the common vernacular language of the Sahrawi people.

Spanish was introduced during the Spanish colonisation in the late 19th century, and remains as the preferred second language of the Sahrawi, also enjoying a de facto working language status. Instituto Cervantes estimates that around 20,000 Sahrawis have limited competencies in Spanish.

Music
The Sahrawi people have a well-established music tradition shared with the rest of the Hassaniya-speaking region, known as haul. Due to the context of the Western Sahara conflict, Sahrawi music has taken a very political turn in which the main topic has been the struggle for independence and decolonialism.

The tbal is the basic instrument of percussion, though the traditional string instruments, tidinit and ardin, have largely been replaced by the electric guitar.

Some of the most important modern Sahrawi artists include Mariem Hassan, Aziza Brahim, Najm Allal and the bands Tiris and El Wali.

Public holidays
Public holidays celebrated in the Sahrawi Republic include a mix of religious (Sunni Islam) and national observances. The national observances constitutionally defined on 1999, with religious observances being also added in 2003. In 2023 the list was removed from the Constitution, being replaced with a new article that gives the government the powers to define its own list of public holidays.

Government

 * English edition of Sahara Press Service (state news agency)