Page 7 Part I: Data on the General Framework for the Promotion of Human Rights in the Sahrawi Republic in Accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Chapter One: General Information About the Sahrawi Republic i) 10. The Region The Sahrawi Arab Republic is situated in the North Western part of the African Continent. It is an African, Islamic and Arab Country with Arabic as its official language. It has an area of 288,000 square kilometres. It shares borders with Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east and Mauritania to the south. ii) 11. Population There are no accurate statistics on the population of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic due to the Moroccan occupation of a large portion of the Western Sahara since 1975. This has made it difficult to carry out a census of the entire Western Sahara population. 12. However, the population of the Sahrawi State in the liberated territories and Sahrawi refugee camps is estimated at 260,000. iii) 13. Language Arabic is the official language of the country with Spanish as the second language. The majority of the Sahrawi people speak El-Hassaniyya language. iv) 14. Economy In addition to the traditional economic resources such as livestock and agriculture in the lowlands, the inland areas along the Sahrawi coast are endowed with huge wealth which the Sahrawi people have so far not been able to exploit due to Morocco‟s