The farewell

Depicts the turbaned head of an elderly Saharawi goat shepherd farewelling his son, also wearing a turban, who is a new recruit to the Polisario in Western Sahara. The Polisario are the army of Western Sahara, that for years fought the Moroccans and for 4 years the Mauritanian occupation of Western Sahara, an occupation that started in 1975. Polisario was formed in 1973, as 'reaction towards several broken promises on Saharan independence from the Spanish colonialist regime'. Armed action was carried out, including bombardments, massacres and torturing of the population who were forced to make a mass exodus to areas controlled by the Polisario front and over the border in Algeria. Polisario fought Mauritania for many years and a peace treaty was signed between the two parties in August 1979, annexing the southern third of Western Sahara to Morocco. 'The result has been the UN peace plan of 1988, that in reality has given Morocco carte blanche in the region, and the proposed referendum on the future of Western Sahara, has been...[postponed] for the last 12 years'. The Polisario are still fighting for independence for Western Sahara. A number of Australian peacekeepers were sent to Western Sahara from 1991-94 with the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).