A Good Life reporter Sylvia Smith visits the Western Sahara and refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria. Control over the Western Sahara, an expanse of desert half the size of France, has been at the centre of the longest post-colonial dispute in Africa. In 1966, the United Nations passed a resolution instructing the colonial power, Spain, to hold a referendum on independence. However, a contested border, nomadic peoples and regional and international politics have all confounded a solution to the conflict. Sylvia Smith’s report looks at the state of play and the plight of the Sahrawis.
Reporter: Sylvia Smith
Producer: Ginger da Silva
Broadcast: November 8, 1990