Royal Advisory Council For Saharan Affairs - Composition

Composition

The 141 members of CORCAS are Moroccan and Sahrawi political and traditional (tribal) notables (sheikhs), representatives for women and youth groups and civic society officials. The members are appointed by the Moroccan government and support the Moroccan claims on Western Sahara. Of these members 14 (10%) are women . Notably, the father of Polisario Front leader Mohamed Abdelaziz is a member of the CORCAS.

Its chairman, Khelli Henna Ould Rachid, is a former leader of the PUNS, a now-defunct political party operated by the Spanish colonial government to rally support for its rule in the Spanish Sahara in the 1970s. After the departure of the Spanish in 1975, which caused the dissolution of the PUNS, he became a defender of Morocco's annexation of the former colony, and a figurehead for the Moroccan government's rule in the Western Sahara.

There are nine vice-presidents: Khedad Moussaoui, Hassan Derham, Abdelaziz Abba, Omar Bouida, Ali Salem Chekaf, Othmane Ila, Hassana Cherif, Brika Zerouali and Kaltoum Khyate.

CORCAS set up five commissions, envisaged by its statutes,

• the commission for social affairs, human development and the environment;
• the commission for external affairs and cooperation;
• the commission for the defense of human rights, public freedoms and the populations of the camps;
• the commission for economic affairs, education and training;
• and the commission for the promotion of the Hassanie culture, information and communication.