A photographic exhibition marking Refugee Week will open this week in Hove with images of refugees from one of the world's longest and most forgotten conflicts. Known as 'Africa's last colony' Western Sahara, was given to Morocco by the Spanish when they withdrew in 1976. A 16 year war followed and a 19 year ceasefire, but the Saharawi's displaced by the occupation have never been able to return home.

The exhibition - Thirst of the Dunes - will display images by Brighton photographer Robert Griffin and the words by Brighton journalist Stefan Simanowitz. The pair spent time in the refugee camps in the desert in April and May 2010 and are keen to raise awareness of the situation of the 165,000 Saharawis who have lived in exile in four large camps in the inhospitable Algerian desert for over 35 years.

"I only learned about the the plight of the Saharawi people relatively recently. It is a situation that is hard to ignore, although the international community seems to have no difficulty in doing so" says Griffin, 47, of Modena Road, Hove. "The refugees in the camps have nothing. They are entirely dependent on external supplies of food and water and face standstorms and temperatures of 120 degrees – but what makes their lives even worse is that no one knows they are even there.”

Through his photographs – part of a wider exihibition called Faces in the Sand which will be displayed in London in August – Griffin has tried to capture a sense of the lives of the Saharawi and their environment. "Despite living in such harsh circumstances they have not lost their sense of humanity, optimism, hope or humour - it was truly a humbling privelige to meet them - and I hope that through my photos I've captured something of their spirit, generosity and quiet dignity. They have nothing yet they give everything."

Simanowitz, 39 from Victoria Cottages Hove, has reported on the situation in the Western Sahara for the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman and the Lancet. He believes that the fact that we in Britain benefit from the exploitation of Western Sahara's natural resources makes it incumbent on us to do something to help resolve the conflict. Whilst in the camps he interviewed many of the refugees and their words accompany the photographs. “Whilst I can write about their situation, it is much more powerful when the refugees use their own words to describe their lives” says Simanowitz. “You see their courage and their resilliance. One woman for example, a 32-year-old mother of four who was born and raised in the camp told me that how she has nothing in the camps. No work, no water, no land for her goats to graze. But she is not without hope. Greatest of hopes is to set foot in her homeland for the first time.”

The exhibition – Thirst of the Dunes - will take place in the newly rennovated Real Patisserie, Western Road, Hove from 15th June - 17th July 2010.

The exhibition has been organised by the Free Western Sahara Network.


THIRST OF THE DUNES:

Words and images from the forgotten refugee camps of the Sahara
Refugee Week 14th June - 20th June 2010

“What have we done with the years, so distant and yet so close?
Did they fall, squandered, between the oblivion of tradition and the thirst of the dunes?”
Saharawi Poem

The dispute in Western Sahara is one of the longest running and most disregarded conflicts in the world. Known as 'Africa's last colony' Western Sahara, was divided between Morocco and Mauritania by the Spanish when they withdrew in 1976. At the same time the Western Saharan independence movement, the Polisario Front, declared creation of an independent state. A brutal 15-year war ensued between Polisario and the Moroccans, the Mauritanians withdrawing in 1979. In 1991 a ceasefire was declared and under the terms of a UN agreement a referendum for self-determination was promised. Nineteen years later the Saharawi are still awaiting that referendum.

Despite efforts by the international community, including over 100 UN resolutions, the referendum has been repeatedly obstructed by the Moroccans who have remained in occupation of roughly three-quarters of Western Sahara. An estimated 165,000 Saharawis still live in exile in four large camps in the inhospitable Algerian desert, separated from their homeland by a 2,500 km fortified barrier known as ‘the wall’.

About the size of Britain, Western Sahara lies along Africa's Atlantic coast. Descended from Bedouin Arabs who arrived in the thirteenth century and integrated with the Sanhaja population, the Saharawi have wandered the territory's deserts rearing sheep, goats and camels for centuries. They have their own rich nomadic culture and traditions as well as their own distinct Arabic language, Hassaniya. In 1884, the Spanish colonised the territory but did not settle much of the country, staying largely in port towns along the coast. However, the discovery in the 1960s of large phosphate deposits beneath the desert sands led to the setting up of a large Spanish mining infrastructure. It is these phosphates, essential for industrial agriculture, together with other mineral resources, oil and gas and rich fishing waters that make Morocco continue their unlawful occupation of the territory. For over three decades international law has been flouted whilst governments around the world are complacent or complicit in permitting the occupation and even profiting from it.

In April/May 2010 Brighton-based photographer, Bob Griffin, and photo-journalist, Stefan Simanowitz, went to the refugee camps in Western Sahara. These words and images attempt to capture some moments in the lives of the Saharawi refugees living in exile in the face temperatures of 120 degrees, sandstorms, and complete dependence on external supplies of food and water.


PHOTO 1. - MEMORIES

"My head is full of memories. It was many years ago but for me the day napalm bombs fell on our village is like this morning. I am an old man but I am still ready to pick up a gun."
Salek Sahah Yahia, 70.

PHOTO 2 - EMPTY TIME

"Empty time is a dangerous thing. It can kill a human soul."
Jadiya Hamdi, Minister of culture of the SADR government in exile

PHOTO 3 - THE WALL

“I would gladly lose my other leg if it would mean that my country could be free.”
19-year old Ibrahim Hussein Leibeit whose leg was blown off below the knee by a landmine. He had been taking part in a march to the 1550 mile-long fortified barrier known as “the wall” built by the Moroccans to stop the Saharawis from returning to their land. In a symbolic gesture, Ibrahim was attempting to get close enough to the wall throw to a pebble to the other side when he trod on the device.

PHOTO 4 - LOST AMBITION
‘I would very much like to be an actress and see the world. But it will not happen. Not here in Dakhla.’
17-year-old Salka Outhmane,

PHOTO 5 - DISPLACEMENT
"Sometimes I feel I no longer belong anywhere. Perhaps rather than learning to use a calculator it would have been better if I had been taught to use a gun."
Mohamed Awah, a 32 year old unemployed economist, talking of his regret that he spent thirteen years away from his family studying in Havana University.

PHOTO 6 - HOPE
"We have nothing here. We are without work, we are without water, we are without land for our goats to graze. But we are not without hope."
Issa Brahim, a 32-year-old mother of four who was born and raised in the camp. Greatest among Issa's hopes is to set foot in her homeland for the first time.