Chahid ElHafed (Sahrawi Republic) 29 May 2025 (SPS)- A high-level delegation from the U.S.-based Defense Forum Foundation (DFF) recently visited the Sahrawi refugee camps and launched a renewed appeal to US President Donald Trump to help resolve the long-standing conflict in Western Sahara.
The delegation, which included human rights activists and policy experts, met with Sahrawi President Brahim Ghali and other officials of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, expressing solidarity with Africa’s last colonized people.
In an article published on AllAfrica.com, DFF President and Seoul Peace Prize Laureate Suzanne Scholte called on Trump to seize a historic opportunity to correct US policy and end the illegal Moroccan occupation.
She emphasized the alignment between the SADR’s values, including democracy, gender equality, and religious tolerance, and American ideals. Despite Trump’s 2020 recognition of Moroccan claims, Scholte believes he can still act as a peacemaker and restore hope to the Sahrawi people.
Following is the full text of the Article as published by AllAfrica.com:
Western Sahara: Appeal to President Trump - Help Free Western Sahara and End One of World's Longest Ongoing Conflicts
By Suzanne Scholte, Seoul Peace Prize Laureate- 28 May 2025
President Donald J. Trump could bring an end to one of the world’s longest ongoing conflicts. Africa’s only remaining colony, Western Sahara, has been resisting Moroccan occupation since 1975 when Spain, the former colonial power, withdrew. The next year, the Saharan people declared an independent republic, known as the SADR, which subsequently adopted a constitution modeled on that of the United States. The SADR was accepted as a member of the Organization of African Unity – now the African Union (AU) - in 1984.
If the U.S. administration helps to establish peace in this strategic region in closest proximity to the United States, the portion of Saharans still living in refugee camps in the southern part of the territory can return home. Furthermore, Trump’s role as a dealmaker would be strengthened.
The Western Saharan conflict should attract the attention of the Trump administration for several reasons. When Trump first ran for president in 2016, he tweeted several times about what he characterized as the corruption of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation and called for “draining the swamp”, when the King of Morocco was accused of “buying” Clinton’s support for Morocco’s occupation.
In the thirty years I have worked on international peace and rights issues, I have never met more admirable people than the Saharans. In my view, those supporting Morocco’s annexation are largely unaware of the historical facts or the risks of continuing conflict – or are being paid to oppose Saharans aspirations. U.S.-based lobbyists receive millions of dollars for work to convince members of Congress to support Morocco’s cause.
During my most recent visit to the Saharan refugee camps, again and again I was told: President Trump is a man of peace who wants to end wars, so he will help us!” This was their hope even though Trump had tweeted recognition of the Moroccan occupation during the last month of his first term in 2020.
Despite that tweet and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s affirmation, after a mid-April meeting with Morocco’s foreign minister, that Morocco’s plan is the only basis for negotiations to end the war, Saharans insist they will never accept the Moroccan version of autonomy or occupation. To explain why, they point to the ongoing brutality against Saharan civilians in the Moroccan-occupied areas of Western Sahara.
State Department documentation of the ongoing violence against the Saharan people is echoed by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the World Organization Against Torture and Reporters without Borders, among others. Freedom House has ranked Moroccan-occupied Sahara as one of the worst places to live year after year. A United Nations plan to hold a referendum on self-determination starting in 1991 has never happened.
Ending this long simmering conflict would be in America’s best interest, because it would unleash prosperity and promote stability in a fragile area rich in natural resources, where the SADR government promotes tolerance of all faiths and treats women with dignity. It would demonstrate to the world that America will uphold its own founding principles.
The thoughtful 27-year-old translator for our recent visit, Limam Bundar, asked me: “Is there any hope?” In all my visits to the refugee camps since 1994, that was the first time that question had been asked, but it showed the increasing frustration today of Saharan young people.
Failure after failure by the international community has led to years of suffering and longing to go home. And now, the war threatens to become hot again, because Morocco broke a cease fire by firing on unarmed citizens. Young men like Bundar know the history of the Sahrawi first relying upon their colonizer, Spain, to fulfill their promise to end their colonization.
During his campaign, Trump championed ending wars and promoting freedom and prosperity. He could show the benefits of U.S. engagement by negotiating a mutually beneficial deal, working with the SADR to construct housing for returning refugees and the growing population, building golf courses or developing the beautiful Atlantic coastline known for an abundance of fish, and to tap one of the world’s most important known reserves of pure phosphates.
Will he seize the opportunity to end this war, save lives and bring freedom and prosperity to America's closest African neighbor?
* Suzanne Scholte received the Seoul Peace Prize in 2008 for her work advocating for the freedom and human rights of the people of North Korea and Western Sahara." (SPS)
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