A generation later, many Saharan refugees return to divided land

Some 90,000 Sahrawis, or native Saharans, have lived in desolate tent camps in Algeria since the late 1970s, where they fled to escape warfare between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front. Now they are fleeing back to the Moroccan side of the Sahara in increasing numbers, according to reports from the Moroccan government and the United Nations.

Most escape to reunite with their families and settle in growing Sahrawi communities; some peacefully promote independent statehood for Western Sahara, while others have planned attacks on Moroccan security forces.

For more than three decades, Morocco and the Polisario have vied for control over the Western Sahara, a non-sovereign territory the size of Colorado. Since 1975, Algeria has provided diplomatic and political support to the Polisario’s campaign for independence. Morocco, which controls the majority of the territory, would prefer to oversee a semiautonomous Western Sahara.

On Nov. 8, outside the Moroccan-administered town of Laayoune, pro-Polisario militants attacked police with rocks, machetes, and knives, killing 11 and wounding 70. A demonstration against Moroccan favoritism toward those who have moved back from the Algerian camps had turned violent; “Moroccan police had been ordered to peacefully dismantle a protest camp after militants took control,’’ said Aziz Mekouar, Morocco’s ambassador to the United States.

Saharan discontent dates back generations. During the exodus east to Algeria in the 1970s, some refugees were Polisario supporters and were absorbed into its leadership. The Polisario kidnapped others and forced them to settle in the camps, said hundreds of refugees who escaped or left the camps, and some who spoke recently in Dakhla, a bustling Western Sahara town on the Atlantic.

The United Nations and human rights organizations have accused all the conflict’s major players, Morocco, Algeria, and the Polisario, of human rights abuses. UN-led talks among the three last month failed to reach a compromise on the area’s status.

People living in the Polisario camps in southwestern Algeria cannot seek citizenship, work permits, or refugee status. Escapees tell of abuse, lack of basic services, and infiltration by traffickers. Even as they settle in new Moroccan-built housing and receive Moroccan citizenship, they fear for relatives left behind.

Polisario spokesman Emhamed Khadad said by phone from the camps that the Polisario is a peaceful, pro-independence movement. Yet more than 1,500 people have left the camps this year and traveled to the Moroccan side of Western Sahara, say Moroccan officials.

For many escapees, life is good in Dakhla, which, like Laayoune, is administered by Moroccan civil government and security forces. “Dakhla is an oasis, the safest place in Western Sahara,’’ said Abdeslam Azelhad, assistant to Western Sahara’s regional governor.

Following the day’s extreme heat, Sahrawis emerge in the early evening as the sun dips, strolling through the markets in the ocean breeze. Women and children can safely walk the streets of Dakhla at night, and stores are open late. “I can go anywhere I want,’’ said Mahjouba, who runs a day-care center and women’s leadership program.