Reference: Mohamed Salem Abdi, 2018, Sahara Occidental: una cuestión pendiente – el conflicto del Sahara Occidental trae graves consecuencias para la region y alarga el drama del pueblo saharaui, Editorial Academica espanola, 192 pp
The Saharawi question has become one of the longest-running controversies in the world. This region is a former Spanish colony in northwest Africa. Since the withdrawal of Spain in 1975 this territory has experienced a conflict between Morocco claiming historical rights and the Polisario Front (considered by the United Nations to be the legitimate representative of the Saharawi population) calling for the organisation of a referendum of self-determination. Almost 50 years later, the conflict has stagnated and there is little prospect of a short-term solution. The controversy was condemning the stability and development of the North African region. It is the Sahrawi people, who live divided by one of the longest walls in the world and who are losing hope in any peaceful solution, who are the worst off this contest. The UN has been trying for decades to organise a referendum, but the interests of the great powers have crossed paths. Spain continues to be the administering power of the territory under international law. The EU is closely following the events of this long conflict.