La versión árabe del Estatuto de Autonomía para el Sahara occidental de 1974

Abstract

In 1958, Western Sahara became a Spanish province. Since Spanish was the only official language, translating into Arabic the legislation for the territory was quite unusual. There were, however, some exceptions, like the Statute of Autonomy (1974). This paper provides, first, a brief introduction to translation activities in the former Spanish colony and some information on the process of translating this important historical document; secondly, the Arabic version of the Statute of Autonomy is published for the first time and briefly commented upon. The Arabic text is accompanied by the Spanish sourcetext, which in turn is compared with the final official version of the Statute of Autonomy as sanctioned by General Franco.