Saharawi Dreams
The refugees pining for home in the Sahara
In one of the harshest corners of the Sahara desert live an ancient people, the Saharawi. They fled here 25 years ago, as the former Spanish colony was annexed by Morocco.
Now numbering 100,000, the refugees have been living on aid rations in tent cities for decades. They waged a 16 year guerrilla war in which thousands died. In 1991 the UN brokered a cease-fire on the promise of a referendum within six months. The Moroccan government has stalled ever since. A new deadline was set: the year 2000. The Saharawi feel cheated. If the referendum does not happen, they are adamant: "We are prepared to sacrifice everything, even ourselves". We travel with the Saharawi from the desert camps to London, and to the front line, teeming with land mines. Will yet a UN failure lead to war? Or will the Saharawi dreams of returning home finally come true this year?
Produced by Hobo Media
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