Basic HTML Version
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AndNow-
WAR
INTHES
An intense struggie, having woridwide implications, is raging in one of the most desolate regions of
West Africa. Yet few have even heard about it or know why it is occurring.
TTLE-KNOWN
war is, at
is moment, being waged in
he deserts of Africa's
Western Sahara. The vi–
tal interests of the United States and
the Soviet Union are intimately
involved. At stake is ultimate control
of the Mediterranean Sea, North
Africa and the entirety of Southern
Europe!
The 4-year Saharan war has sud-
March 1980
by
Keith W. Stump
denly intensified. It could erupt at
any time into a full-scale regional
conflagration.
On the surface, Western Saha–
ra- known until recently as Spanish
Sahara- appears an unlikely focus
for a geopolitical struggle between
East and West.
[t
is a wedge of
barren desert real estate on North
Africa's Atlantic coast.
The population is a mere 75,000
nomadic tribesmen, known as Sah–
raouis. The region is rich in phos–
phates, uranium and other important
minerals. But its mineral wealth
plays only a secondary role in the
crisis.
Why has this seemingly unimpor–
tant territory become the center of a
violent contest between competing
North African forces? Woy are the
United States and the Soviet Union
31