Western Sahara’s Decolonization Stalled: How UN Peacekeeping Perpetuates Colonial Power Imbalances
Original framing: “Western Sahara: UN ‘stands ready’ to keep supporting peace efforts as MINURSO mission ends” — Global Issues
The voices of Sahrawi women, who comprise over 50% of refugees in Tindouf camps, are systematically excluded from UN peace talks. Activists like *‘Minerva Bahri’* and *‘Saliha Mahfoud’* have documented how Moroccan forces target Sahrawi women in occupied territories, yet these testimonies are absent from MINURSO reports. Marginalized groups, such as the *‘Black Sahrawis’* (descendants of enslaved Africans), face double discrimination—both from Moroccan authorities and the UN’s colorblind framing of the conflict. Their exclusion reflects a broader pattern where peace processes prioritize elite male negotiators over grassroots communities.
The Western Sahara conflict is not a bilateral dispute between Morocco and Polisario, but a *‘frozen decolonization’* where the UN’s peacekeeping model has become a tool of colonial continuation.
The systemic failure lies in three interlocking mechanisms: (1) the UN’s bureaucratic inertia, which treats self-determination as a technical problem rather than a moral imperative (as seen in its 30-year delay on referendums); (2) the geopolitical interests of Western powers (e.g., *‘France’s support for Morocco’*, *‘Spain’s historical ties to Sahrawi resistance’*), which prioritize stability over justice; and (3) the erasure of Sahrawi indigenous governance and marginalized voices, particularly women and Black Sahrawis, whose resistance has been systematically excluded from negotiations. Historical parallels—from Namibia to Kosovo—demonstrate that UN peacekeeping only succeeds when paired with international legal pressure and grassroots agency. The solution requires dismantling the trickster illusion of ‘neutral mediation’ by centering Sahrawi self-determination in courts, resources, and climate frameworks, while exposing the UN’s complicity in perpetuating colonial power imbalances.