Dakhla (Western Sahara) (AFP)
Swarms of kitesurfs spread their wings over the lagoon of Dakhla, in the heart of the disputed territory of Western Sahara: the garrison town located on a windswept coast has become a "spot" of choice for winter sports enthusiasts.
"Here, there is nothing, except the sun, the wind and the waves: we have returned the adversity of the elements in benefits, it is the very principle of kitesurfing", smiles Rachid Roussafi. After an international career in skiing, this 49-year-old Moroccan sportsman founded the first lagoon tourist camp in the early 2000s.
"At the time, only one plane per week landed in Dakhla", against 25 today, including two direct with Europe, he says.
"Dakhla has become a global destination for kitesurfing," said Mohamed Cherif, an elected representative of the regional body set up by Morocco. The number of tourists has increased from 25,000 in 2010 to 100,000 today and the goal is "to reach 200,000".
Kitesurfing requires expensive equipment - to the surfboard add wing and harness - niche tourism developed around this sport attracts a wealthy clientele of all nationalities to this territory still waiting for an international status.
Peyo Camillade came from France to "extend the season to the sun", for a week that comes to him at around 1,500 euros.
Only the names of places like the "PK 25" (kilometric point 25), the ruins of the fort or the imposing military buildings of Dakhla recall the armed conflict that opposed until 1991 Morocco and the Polisario Front for the control of the Sahara Western, desert territory of 266,000 km2 located at the edge of the Atlantic.
The Polisario militates for independence and demands the organization of a referendum of self-determination. Morocco controls 80% of this former Spanish colony - including Dakhla- - which it regards as historically its own and pleads for autonomy under its sovereignty. UN peacekeepers have been deployed to monitor the status quo along the buffer zone between the two parties.
- "Good communication" -
Without waiting for the compromise that the United Nations has been negotiating for decades, the hotels have pushed on the sand along the national road 1, which goes from the port of Tangier to 2,000 km north to the Mauritanian border 350 km south .
Everywhere, buildings under construction are blooming and rows of lampposts planted on vacant lots herald future subdivisions.
"The secret of success is the development of kitesurfing with good communication focused on the organization of non-political events", according to Driss Senoussi, owner of the hotel group "Dakhla Attitude".
Thus, the exploits of champions like the Brazilian Mikaili Sol or Cap-Verdien Airton Cozzolino were abundantly relayed on social networks during the annual stage of the world championship organized from 4 to 13 October.
This strategy is not new: "the Moroccan army began to invite foreign surfers to Dakhla in the 1980s, as soon as the front line moved south, to show that the area was secure," remembers Jean-Pierre, 80, a former member of the Rabat club who participated in many of these events.
Sliding sports do not much interest the inhabitants of the former Spanish garrison: only a few idle young people and families on a walk were on the beach for the finals of the "Kitesurf World Tour 2019".
- "Complices" -
On the other hand, the tourists do not survey the center of the city of 100,000 inhabitants, turned towards the fishing, the trade and the tourism. Like many, Alexandra Paterek, a 31-year-old Polish flight attendant, stays in her resort to enjoy the "best spot in the world for beginners in kitesurfing".
What else does she know about the area? "It's an old Spanish colony, the seafood is excellent and we are close to Mauritania!", She lists with a laugh. She also thinks that Dakhla is part of Morocco.
This legitimization of the Moroccan presence ulcer Polisario who tried last year, without result, to sue the companies "accomplices of the occupying military power", like the airline Transavia, subsidiary of Air France, or the UCPA sporting events organizer who markets the destination "Dakhla, Morocco".
Discarded of its complaints for "crime of colonization", the independence movement is now dedicated to the denunciation of trade agreements between Morocco and the European Union that include Western Sahara, according to his French lawyer, Gilles Devers.
The Moroccan authorities, they are actively seeking investors for their development projects, the most ambitious being the mega port of "Dakhla Atlantique", with a budget of about $ 1 billion to promote marine fishing.
On the lagoon, "there is a struggle between the development of aquaculture and tourism, one has less impact on the environment but the other generates more income and jobs," says a high regional manager.
With the influx of tourists, the protection of the environment has become a major topic.
"We settled in a virgin place," says Rachid Roussafi. "Everything has grown so fast, today we have to treat plastic waste and solve the problem of wastewater".
© 2019 AFP