The Free Zone is in yellow on the map.
The Free Zone or Liberated Territories is a name used by pro-independence Sahrawis to denote the area in Western Sahara controlled by the authority of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). It makes up approximately 30% of the territory east and south of the Moroccan Wall (or berm). Bir Lehlou is the temporary capital of the area and of the SADR, as a substitute for El-Aaiun, which has been under Moroccan occupation since 1975.
The area is patrolled by Polisario forces, and access is restricted, even among Sahrawis, due to the harsh climate of the Sahara, the military conflict and the abundance of land mines. Still, the area is traveled and inhabited by many Sahrawi nomads from the Tindouf refugee camps of Algeria and the Sahrawi communities in Mauritania. United Nations MINURSO forces are also present in the area, to oversee the cease-fire between Polisario and Morocco agreed upon in the 1991 Settlement Plan.
The Polisario forces (of the Sahrawi People's Liberation Army, SPLA) in the area are divided into seven "military regions", each controlled by a top commander reporting to the President of Western Sahara. The total size of the Polisario's guerrilla army present in the Free Zone is unknown, but it is believed to number at least a few thousand men, despite most combantants being demobilized due to the cease-fire.
Major Sahrawi political events, such as Polisario congresses and sessions of the Sahrawi National Council (the SADR parliament in exile) are held in the Free Zone (especially in Tifariti and Bir Lehlou), since it is considered politically and symbolically important to conduct political affairs on Sahrawi territory. Annual demonstrations against the Moroccan Wall (dubbed the "Wall of Shame") are staged in the Free Zone by Sahrawis and international activists from Spain, Italy and other mainly European countries.
Tifariti, in the north east Free Zone, 2005
See also
External links
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Zone_%28region%29 under GFDL
