Bilbao (ECS) – Gurutze, or Fatimetu, as the Sahrawis know her, is Basque by birth and Sahrawi in her soul. She first arrived in Western Sahara when it was still a Spanish province; there, she witnessed first-hand the Spanish abandonment of the Sahrawis, as well as exile, and she suffered the war together with the Sahrawi people who she lived with for many years.

She was the wife of the Sahrawi diplomat Mohamed Salem Hadj M’Barek, aka “Paquito”, and they had a son and a daughter together. Mohamed Salem was a distinguished politician who joined the Sahrawi revolution very early on in his life, continuing the work for his people’s cause until his time on Earth had come to an end. He was a representative of the Sahrawi Republic in various countries, including the United Kingdom and India, until he eventually lost his life due to illness (in 2005).

ECSAHRAUI made the trip to Gurutze’s house to have a chat with her. During the conversation with her, our colleague Taleb Alisalem was told, among other things, about Gurutze’s experiences as one of the few foreign women present during the bombing of Um Draiga, when Moroccan aircraft bombed thousands of Sahrawi refugees who were fleeing towards Algerian soil.

 Where were you born, and what memories do you have of your childhood?

I was born in Ormaiztegi, a little village in Guipúzcoa, where I studied until I was 10 years old. After that, I went to a boarding school in Irún. When I was 18, I went to Pamplona to study nursing. Once I finished my degree, I went to Madrid, where I began to work and study for a specialisation in psychiatry; but I had a friend who had gone to Tenerife, and she would call me to tell me how great things were over there. Without thinking twice, I grabbed my things and I set off for the Canary islands.

I once heard you say, “events in life meant that as soon as I met the Sahrawis in Tenerife, I started getting involved; from that point on, I took on their cause as if it were mine.” What were those events that led you to meet the Sahrawis?

When I arrived in Tenerife, I started working in the Tenerife clinical hospital. It had a nursing school, and a group of Sahrawi students were studying there. We crossed paths in the hospital at one time or another, but I did not properly meet them until one night we went out in Tenerife, where we bumped into them. Among these young Sahrawis was Mohamed Salem.

All this was in 1973. At that time, no one spoke of Western Sahara. Franco was still very much alive, and Western Sahara was just another Spanish province. But it is true that from time to time, I heard the boys speak about what was going on in their country, as well as the nationalist movements… It was there that I moved to get involved with them.

I remember that, in the Canary Islands, we were going to see the Sahrawi prisoners detained for their protests and actions against Spanish colonialism.

When did you first arrive in Western Sahara, a Spanish colony at that time, and what was the first encounter with Mohamed Salem’s family like, both for you as well as for them?

In the summer of 1973, I remember that Mohamed Salem was diagnosed with an illness, and his parents and sisters came to Tenerife to see him. Later, in the summer of ‘74, I went to El Ayun, in Western Sahara, which was when I met the rest of his family.

I was warmly received, and Mohamed Salem was also in my house for a few Christmases eating dinner with my family, and it was good for both families.

Do you remember your last days in Western Sahara? How were they, and what was the path towards Algeria taken by the fleeing Sahrawis like?

In 1975, the UN Special Committee on Decolonialisation visited Western Sahara. At that moment, as naïve as we were for thinking so, we thought, “the UN will resolve this”.

Later on, people started speaking about the designs of Hassan II for Western Sahara, as well as about the “Green March”, but in October of the same year, with Western Sahara still a Spanish territory, King Juan Carlos visited and made the comment about how “we will not leave you behind”. On 14th November, just one month after that visit, Morocco began its invasion of Western Sahara.

I left on 20th November of that same year. I went to the region of Um Draiga, in the north of Western Sahara, close to the border with Algeria. In Um Draiga, there was a base encampment where they received all the Sahrawi refugees who arrived fleeing the Sahrawi cities that were already occupied by Morocco.

After the famous “Green March”, as depicted in the images they show to us, came the “black march”; this was the Moroccan army, with its tanks and its soldiers. As they entered Sahrawi cities, the people left as quickly as they possibly could. In Um Draiga, where I was, not only did we attend to the refugees that arrived sick or injured, but we also attended to Sahrawi soldiers that arrived injured from the battlefield. We barely had any supplies. I have always been a nurse, but I have worked in hospitals where we had supplies; but there, we did not have anything. You did as much as you could with what you had.

What were the bombings of the encampment in Um Draiga like?

The noise from the bombing woke us up in the morning, as well as the shouts from my colleagues of “hide yourselves; hide yourselves”. I asked myself, “where are we going to hide?” We were in the middle of the desert, and the Moroccan planes had started to arrive… one, two, three… They bombed throughout the morning like crazy.

Whenever I think about that, it feels like a movie that I have seen on the television. When the bombing stopped, there where human body parts scattered everywhere, and we only had one bandage and one gauze. What happened was unbelievable; it was truly a genocide.

What was the most difficult thing you witnessed?

Rather than a single moment, I would say a situation. You have conflicting emotions; remember that at that time, I was 25 years old. At that age, you are still an idealist and you think “a better world is possible”, but at the same time, you think about the fact that a criminal, such as the King of Morocco, Hassan II, can get away with what he wants with impunity. I previously thought that could not be the case, that the world would stop him. Gurutze goes silent for a few seconds. When you are young, you are an idealist, then life throws you around enough to show you that things are not like that.

It all seems incredibly unjust to me; it seems incredibly unjust that those people died in the war, either from the bombs or from the measles epidemic that caused the deaths of so many children, as there was no way to treat them.

It was not one single moment; it was a completely unjust situation: the world did as it pleased, and we were left to our own fate in that desert. Lots of journalists came, and lots of people, but no one did anything. I asked myself, “it is really possible that the world is allowing this genocide?”

I also remember more specific tough moments, when friends died, people that I had met; they were very difficult moments.

Despite the humanitarian drama, and without doubt, the toughness of everything that you have experienced alongside the Sahrawi people, do you have any happy memories?

I did not experience it as something dramatic because we were all in the same boat; I was no exception; I was just another person among everyone else. I was already no longer afraid of death because if we died, many of us would die. It was not just me.

I remember that while I was accompanying an ambulance that was transporting injured Sahrawis to the encampments in Algerian territory, in Rabuni I met back up with Mohamed Salem; he arrived accompanying a group of journalists. That very night, he proposed to me, because if he died, at least he would have died as my husband. We erected a tent, and with a few friends, we did a rush marriage in the middle of that desert. At 5 in the morning, we were already taking the tent down and hiding ourselves from the Moroccan aircraft that would start bombing in the morning.

I also remember plenty of positive and happy moments with friends, especially with the elders. I learned a lot from them; I remember conversations that lasted for hours on end. Yes, we were happy, despite everything around us, I have happy memories.

On 13th November 2020, war broke out in Western Sahara after 30 years of peace. How did you react to that, and what is your opinion?

Being more than aware of what war entails, and those of us who have experienced the war know that it kills; in war, people die, but I perfectly understand that they cannot go for years on end without resolving the Western Sahara conflict. It is clear that the UN is not going to do anything; Morocco is sitting comfortably with the support of France and also complete Spanish support. For this reason, I appeciate that as things stand, nothing is going to change the situation. That is why I understand and respect the return to armed conflict, because I do not think that there are any other options.

How do you evaluate the stance of the Spanish government over the years?

The Spanish state is wholly responsible. Spain is still the administering power of Western Sahara, but of course, no one says anything in Spain. Furthermore, they talk of an “ex colony”, “the former Spanish Sahara”… Excuse me, but “ex” nothing: legally, Western Sahara is still Spanish, and Spain has a legal obligation to make itself responsible for this.

Personally speaking, I think that if in Spain the Sahrawis only receive support in a “solidarity” or “humanitarian” sense then I do not think that we are doing anything, as it is a political problem that requires a political solution. It is great to provide help on a humanitarian level, but this cannot in any way replace the demand that the Spanish government complies with its political responsibility to Western Sahara.

I think the political parties that have governed in Spain have not wanted to solve this, and we must be aware that this is not a question of “asking them” or “begging them”: it is their obligation; they have to make themselves responsible for this, because as citizens, we are asked to respect the law and legality, but do they respect these things in Western Sahara?

Gurutze, what message would you like to send to the Sahrawi people, and how do you think this conflict will end?

I would like to say to them that they keep going, that they keep fighting. And that they stay willing and strong. I ask that they keep resisting.

I think that this conflict has to end one way or another. I would like it to end with independence. I do not see any other option. The Sahrawi nation has to resist; I know that it will not be easy; it has not been easy until now, but I truly believe that Sahara will be free one day. And if not, all that blood spilled, for nothing? All the people that laid down their lives, for nothing? It would be incredibly tough, but I want to believe that independence will come one day.