Djema'a

The termDjema'a(or Djemaa, meaning "Congregation" or "Gathering" inArabic) can refer to two things in aWestern Saharacontext.

Djema'a: tribal leadership

The Djema'a was the leading body in aSahrawi tribe,composed of elders and elected leaders. It organized war efforts, raiding parties, lawmaking anddiplomacy,among other things, and also settled disputes between members of the tribe. Sometimes, a larger assembly known as the Ait Arbein (Council of Forty) would be gathered, composed of elders from several tribes, to organize the community against foreign invasion or other such supratribal concerns.

The exact organization of the Djema'a varied from tribe to tribe, but it generally incorporated both oldBerbercustoms,Arabtraditions and based its practices onIslamiclaw. Women served on the Djema'a in at least some of the Sahrawi tribes.

Decline

An enduring social structure,tribalismhad ruled the Sahrawis since they first appeared in the area in the Middle Ages, but a combination of colonization and modernization has gradually eroded its hold on the population.

AfterSpainandFranceinvaded the territory in 1884, the Djema'as remained very active, but as the Spanish Army gradually extended its control and subdued the tribes, resistant Djema'a leaderships were killed or jailed, while others were coerced or bribed into cooperation with the colonizers. TheMa al-Aynaynuprising in the early 1900s, and therebellionswhich followed, represented something of a last stand of the traditional tribal society against colonization. In the 1950s, tribal authority was slowly eroding due tourbanizationand new ways of life.

Harsh Spanish repressive measures after theIfni War,includingforced settlement,accelerated this process. By 1967, Sahrawinationalistpolitics were for the first time organized in a modern political party, theHarakat Tahrir.Tribal traditions and divisions remain strong in Sahrawi society, however, although the formal system of Djema'a has largely been destroyed by the appearance of modern states.

Government attitudes to tribalism

ThePolisario(see below) has generally taken a hostile attitude to tribalism, arguing that it is an outdated and antidemocratic model of governance, and actively campaigned against tribalism in theTindouf refugee campsand the areas of Western Sahara ruled by the exiledSahrawi republic.Morocco has generally been content to extract allegiance from tribal elders in areas controlled by it, and otherwise ignored it. In Mauritania, the Sahrawi-Moorishcommunities are still strongly tribally organized.

Djema'a: Spanish colonial body

The Djema'a was also a ruling council ofSahrawielders created in May 1967 by the authorities inSpanish Sahara,todayWestern Sahara.Djema'a officials were elected, but thecolonialauthorities ran the process and in effect selected the candidates. The first round of elections were held between July 14 and August 20, 1967, and the Djema'a was inaugurated on September 11 inEl Aaiún.A second round Djema'a was elected in January 1971, and as thePolisario Frontuprising began in 1973, it was also the last.

The members of the Djemaa often had status within tribes, but were not necessarily considered authentic representatives by the tribe membership. The Djema'a had little effective power, but was occasionally consulted by the Spanish military governors, and allowed to send representatives toMadrid.Its primary function was to provide the occupation with a facade of legality in the eyes of the Sahrawi population, drawing on traditions such as the tribal Djema'a and the Ait Arbein.

Dissolution

In 1974–75, the Djema'a lost in importance, as Spain set up a new organization in support of its policies, theSahrawi National Union Party(PUNS), which absorbed many of the Djema'a's members, and most of its political functions. Without Spanish backing, and withFrancodeclaring his intent to release the territory, many of the Djema'a members hastily defected to thePolisario Front,a rebel movement which was involved in a rapidly growingguerrillawar against the Spanish presence. A smaller number also left forMorocco,to support that country's claims to Western Sahara as itsSouthern Provinces,and a few toMauritaniawhere they were presented as backers of Mauritanian rule inTiris al-Gharbiyya.After the joint Moroccan-Mauritanian invasion of Western Sahara in late 1975, the Djema'a was dispersed in the mass exodus of refugees that followed.

Contending claims of legitimacy

A majority of its membership (67 of 102) voted on October 12, 1975 in the Polisario-backedAin Ben Tili(Mauritania) congress to denounce the Moroccan invasion, declare support for Polisario and dissolve the Djema'a, so it would not be possible to exploit the body for political purposes. Later that year, however, the Moroccan government convened a meeting of Djema'a members in Morocco to declare support for itsannexationof the territory. This was contested by the Polisario, which argued that:

There was never a full congregation present, (they were less than a half of the total members) so there was noquorum.
Even if there had been, the Djema'a had previously been dissolved by majority decision, and thus the Moroccan rump, Djema'a possessed no political legitimacy.

On February 27, 1976 the independence movement inWestern Sahara,Polisario,proclaimed theSaharawi Arab Democratic Republic,intended to replace the Djema'a as a Sahrawi ruling body.

Although neither side recognized the Djema'a's authority when it was operative, denouncing it as a puppet of Spain, both Polisario and Morocco still use these instances of alleged Djema'a support as an argument for independence or annexation in the still ongoing Western Sahara conflict.