The Madrid duo of photographer Bernat Armangue and chief correspondent Aritz Parra shed light on one of the world’s most obscure conflicts with all-formats coverage of the fighting between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the Sahrawi people in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Polisario Front soldiers look at a United Nations helicopter, not pictured, near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Oct. 14, 2021. U.N. Security Council members were due to vote on extending their agency’s mission overseeing the disputed region while supposedly paving the way for a referendum on self-determination.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Polisario Front soldier holds an AK-47 after a National Unity Day event in the Dajla refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 12, 2021. Drawing attention to a conflict with few known casualties in a vast but forgotten corner of the Sahara desert has been a challenge for the Polisario.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Polisario Front soldiers load a rocket during an attack against Morocco, near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Oct. 14, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Polisario Front soldier drives a pickup near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Oct. 14, 2021. The Polisario Front wants independence for the territory, while Morocco claims the area for itself.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A soldier from the Polisario Front camouflages a vehicle near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Oct. 14, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Polisario Front soldiers perform a shooting exercise near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Oct. 13, 2021. For nearly 30 years, the vast territory of Western Sahara in the North African desert has existed in limbo, awaiting a referendum that was supposed to let the local Sahrawi people decide their future.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Polisario Front soldiers warm themselves by a fire near Bir Lahlou, Western Sahara, Oct. 15, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Brahim Ghali, head of the Polisario Front and the self-declared Sahrawi Democratic Arab Republic, poses for a portrait in Boujdour refugee camp, Algeria, Oct. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Sahrawi refugee woman stands at the door of her home in the Boujdour refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 15, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Sahrawi refugee boy stands in the shadow of an archway in the Boujdour refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 11, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
Sahara refugee Abdasalam Mostafa, 37, teaches the Quran, Islam’s holy book, at a madrasa in the Boujdour refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 15, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Sahrawi nomad feeds cattle on the outskirts of Boujdour refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Sahrawi family prepares breakfast inside their tent on the outskirts of Boujdour refugee camp in Algeria, Oct. 16, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
A Sahrawi man walks at a closed school in Bir Lahlou, Western Sahara, Oct. 13, 2021.
AP Photo / Bernat Armangue
The flare-up in the conflict, after nearly 30 years of cease-fire, is fueled by frustration among new generations of Sahrawi refugees who believe that the wait for a referendum on self-determination, as promised by the United Nations, has only worked to Morocco’s benefit while they languished in unforgiving desert camps.
The pair spent a week with the rebel movement, providing a rare glimpse of rebel rocket and artillery positions, as well as life inside Polisario refugee camps in neighboring Algeria.