Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is the the only African territory whose post-colonial status has not been resolved. The UN considers it a “non-autonomous territory”.
Spain changed this Friday the position that it traditionally maintained by accepting Morocco’s autonomy plan over Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by its neighboring country with which it has been in conflict for almost 50 years to achieve its independence.
Morocco controls 80% of Western Sahara and proposes extensive autonomy under its sovereignty. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, calls for a self-determination referendum.
Algeria summoned its ambassador to Madrid this Saturday to show its discontent with the “sharp turn” given by Spain by supporting Morocco’s position.
The desert facing the Atlantic
Western Sahara is a sparsely populated strip of 266,000 km2, located on the Atlantic coast and bordering Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria. It has about half a million inhabitants.
It has a soil rich in phosphates and a coastline of 1,100 km with an abundance of fish.
It was divided from north to south in the 1980s by a 2,700 km “defense wall” – as the Moroccan authorities call it.
El Ayoun, in the region administered by Morocco, Dakhla and Smara are the main cities.
Morocco assures that it is developing the region with important investments, but the Polisario considers that these programs do not benefit the Saharawi population.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 refugees, according to various sources, in the absence of an official census, live in camps near the Algerian city of Tindouf, not far from the border with Morocco.
War
In November 1975, a “Green March”, called by King Hassan II, mobilized 350,000 Moroccans to cross the border in the name of “belonging” to the kingdom of this territory.
The following year, an agreement put an end to Spanish colonization: Spain ceded the north and center of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania recovered the south.
The Polisario rejects this agreement and proclaims the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), with the support of Algeria and historical allies, such as Cuba.
In 1979, Morocco takes control of almost all of Western Sahara after Mauritania renounces the part that had been granted to it in the 1976 agreement.
From 1980, Morocco takes advantage of the war, thanks to the defense “walls” built against Polisario incursions.
In 1991 a ceasefire came into force and a demilitarized zone controlled by the UN blue helmets was defined.
The organization of a referendum is constantly being postponed due to a dispute between Rabat and the Polisario over the composition of the electoral body and the status of the territory.
In November 2020, the ceasefire was broken with the deployment of Moroccan troops in the extreme south of the territory to displace independentists who were blocking the only route to Mauritania.
deadlocked discussions
The dialogue between Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania under the auspices of the United Nations resumed at the end of 2018 in Switzerland, followed by a second round in March 2019, but has since been suspended.
In October 2021, the UN appoints the Italian Staffan de Mistura as the new emissary, after the rejection since 2019 of a dozen candidates by Morocco or the Polisario Front.
Main dispute between Morocco and Algeria
The status of Western Sahara is the main dispute between Morocco and Algeria.
At the end of August, Algeria broke diplomatic relations with Morocco, following “hostile actions” by the kingdom, a decision that Rabat considered “completely unjustified.”
Conflict between Spain and Morocco
In April 2021, the hospitalization in Spain of the head of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, due to covid-19, causes a diplomatic crisis between Madrid and Rabat.
The result was the arrival in May of 10,000 migrants in 48 hours in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, in northern Morocco, after the Moroccan government relaxed border surveillance.
On Friday, Spain announced its change of position by supporting the Moroccan autonomy plan.
diplomatic representations
Rabat multiplied actions to consolidate its position, with the opening of consulates or the organization of international events in Western Sahara, provoking Polisario protests.
Since the end of 2019, some twenty countries, mainly African, have opened diplomatic representations in El Ayoun and Dakhla.
In December 2020, then-US President Donald Trump recognized Rabat’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, in exchange for a normalization of Morocco’s relations with Israel. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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