Western Sahara is a non-self governing territory on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria. 6 November 1975. (New York) - Morocco has cracked down on pro-independence activists in Western Sahara after an incident at a border crossing on November 13, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. The land borders of the territory appear quite well-defined and straight while the Atlantic coast is undulated. [9][10], Significant lines of fortifications also lie deep within the Moroccan-controlled area. It was only relinquished when the Moroccan government closed the border, meaning that its inhabitants were . The international border to the south of Morocco is Mauritania. Seeking an end to colonization, the native Sahrawis formed an Algeria-backed. Others died of thirst. The United States has taken multiple approaches to the dispute. Spain took control of Western Africa as a Spanish protectorate after the Berlin Conference in 1884. [18][19] The incident happened when Leibeit and dozens of young Sahrawis crossed the line into a minefield while aiming to throw stones to the other side of the wall.[20][21]. Berber speaking populations replaced or absorbed them and merged with Maqil Arab tribes. Syria. The Polisario areas are divided into seven military regions each with a top commander reporting to the Polisario President. Negotiations on Western Sahara involving Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania have remained suspended for several months. Sign indicating the boundary between Morocco and Algeria. The Polisario Front has received recognition from 81 nations and was extended African Union membership. A near 30-year ceasefire has been brought to an end in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The Western Sahara conflict is a struggle between Morocco, Mauritania and the Polisario Front in the region. The border to Mauritania has re-opened to foreigners. It is located in the Northern and Western Hemisphere regions of the Earth. Understand Offended by one-sided coverage of wars, disasters and disease, the founders of Africa.com created a website that provides a balanced view of Africa current events, business, arts & culture, travel, fashion, sports, information, development, and more. Morocco's capital is Rabat, located in northern Morocco on the Atlantic coast. That's roughly the size of Colorado, with a little more than a tenth of its population. The Guerguerat border post is at the very southern edge of Western Sahara along the road that goes to Mauritania. Polisario congresses and sessions are held in the Free Zone for political and symbolic importance. The struggle for control of the resource-rich Western Sahara is at the heart of the recent surge in migrants attempting to enter Spain. The Western Sahara issue has long caused tensions in Morocco's relations with neighboring Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front, a political and military movement that has fought for Western Sahara's independence since 1973, when it was still a Spanish colony. It is nearly entirely covered by the Sahara Desert, the largest desert in the world. Agriculturalists called the Bafour were the earliest inhabitants of the Western Sahara. Off-shore oil has been speculated but not confirmed and it is not known if they could be exploited. The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is the exiled government and is a single-party parliamentary and presidential system. [24] Morocco was re-admitted with the understanding that Western Sahara will remain an AU member. Morocco has controlled the territory with French backing since a ceasefire in 1991. The pro-independence Polisario Front on Friday said a 30-year-old cease-fire in disputed Western Sahara ended after Morocco launched an operation in a border area. According to the latest review of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR-Morocco), dated Monday 21 February, Morocco has decided to create a new military region on its eastern border with Algeria. miles), has recently taken an ominous turn after decades of stalemate. It has a total area of 266,000 sq. Spanish rule began to lessen after World War II. Moroccan troops crossed the frontier and clashed with Polisario guerrillas. The Polisario have not come up with a solution to Moroccos concerns. During General Francos last day and after the Green March, the Spanish entered into an agreement with Morocco and Mauritania. 31 October 1975. The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall is also called Western Sahara berm, Western Sahara separation barrier. It still has rejected any referendum on independence and no plan has been made public. Many of them are Arabs or Amazigh, and speak Arabic, Tamazight, Spanish, and French. Morocco claims ownership of the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, which it has designated its Southern Provinces. The group on Monday had warned that it would regard a three-decade-old ceasefire with Morocco as over if Rabat moved troops or civilians into the buffer zone on the Mauritanian border. With an area of 266,000 square kilometers, Western Sahara is home to over 650,000 people. Guerguerat is located on the southern coast of the disputed Western Sahara, along the road leading to Mauritania, some 380km (235 miles) north of Nouakchott, a buffer zone patrolled by a United Nations peacekeeping force. Pre-Islamic Berber and African practices influence their religious customs. The three Moroccan regions of Western Sahara are Guelmim-Es Semara, Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, and Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira. "Morocco will not stand idly by while the separatists are trying to alter the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall," he insisted, referring to a buffer zone on the border of the region in which the UN . 2- The Overlap between the Sahara and Borders Dispute. Morocco stalled the vote. Where is the best place to travel from Morocco to Spain? In 1975, 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged in Tarfaya to wait for a signal to cross the border in what was known as the Green March. A former Spanish colony with extensive phosphate reserves and rich Atlantic fishing grounds, the Western Sahara is seen by Morocco as its own sovereign territory. Western Sahara's pro-independence Polisario Front has bombarded the Guerguerat buffer zone under Moroccan control in the far south of the desert territory in an attack Rabat described as part. FILE - A Sahrawi man walks on the patio of a closed school in Bir Lahlou, Western Sahara, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. Western attention to the wall, and to the Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara in general, has been minimal, apart from Spain. Spaced out over every 5km (3.1mi) are big, small and medium bases, with approximately 3540 troops at each observation post and groups of 10 soldiers spaced out over the distance as well. Subsequent negotiations between the two sides have also failed, and tensions remain high between the Moroccan government and the Sahrawi population. Trade continued to develop and the area became a caravan highway. Since Mohamed VI's ascension to the throne in 1999, much of Morocco's foreign policy has been directed toward securing international recognition for its claim over the Western Sahara. The absence of a quick resolution to the recent flare-up in Western Sahara risks a wider regional conflict . The applicability of agreements for exploitation with companies and the two claimed governments are unknown and subject to different legal opinions. Roughly the size of Colorado, it has a population of about 600,000 people according to the U.N. Its main resources are fish and phosphates and it is believed to have off-shore oil reserves. Western Sahara: Morocco creates new military zone on its border with Algeria. The deterioration in the status quo between Morocco and Polisario in the Western Sahara deserves greater attention because decisive action now may be able to preserve a ceasefire which has largely held since 1991. . Western Sahara shares its land borders with Morocco and Algeria to the north and northeast respectively, and Mauritania to the east and south. Since the territory was ceded by Spain, Morocco has claimed Western Sahara as an integral part of its kingdom. Other areas were under French control. Its population is over 578,536, half of whom live in the largest city, El Asiun. PDF | On Dec 16, 2018, Ethar Almamaari published Morocco-Western Sahara | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate. They were from African countries (Gambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, etc. Around this time, Arab Bedouin tribes from Yemen invaded and reached the Saharas northern border area in the 14th and 15th centuries. Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed in the late 1980s to allow for a referendum to decide the status of Western Sahara, though this referendum has yet to occur. During the active war years, both sides accused each other of attacking civilians. Morocco launched a military operation on Friday to reopen a key highway at the Guerguerat border crossing between the territory and Mauritania that it said had been blocked by the Polisario rebels. Water being the scarcest resource here, Western Sahara is one of the world's most sparsely populated areas. By Marcos Bartolom, a Spain-based journalist and researcher. Geography Laayoune, Western Sahara Laayoune, Western Sahara Western Sahara is virtually all desert and is very sparsely inhabited. While they are nearly physically identical to the Moors in Mauritania, their tribal affiliations and exposure to Spanish colonials set them apart. Despite Moroccan claims, no major governments have included the Polisario Front on any lists of terrorist organizations. That's crazy but someone still did it", "Country Profiles Morocco and Western Sahara", Marokkaanse veiligheidsmuur al twee decennia onomstreden, "Morocco PM says Western Sahara wall at centre of dispute completed", Una cadena humana de ms de 2.000 personas pide el derribo del muro del Shara, Demonstration in Western Sahara against Moroccan Army Wall, Screenings in The Devils Garden: The Sahara Film Festival, "Security Problems with Neighboring States", "Self Determination Struggle in the Western Sahara Continues to Challenge the UN", "Morocco rejoins the African Union after 33 years", Map of Western Sahara, with the location of the wall marked, Landmine Monitor, LM Report 2006, Morocco, Landmine Monitor, LM Report 2006, Western Sahara, Landmine Monitor, LM Report 2006, Algeria, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moroccan_Western_Sahara_Wall&oldid=1119424327, This page was last edited on 1 November 2022, at 14:25. [8] The wall was built in six stages, and the area behind the wall was expanded from a small area near Morocco in the north to most of the western and central part of the country gradually. Last week, around 200 Moroccan truck drivers appealed to Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities for help, saying they were stranded on the Mauritanian side of the border near Guerguerat. On November 13, 2020, Morocco's government sent its military to Guerguerat, near the Moroccan-Mauritanian border to dislodge a number of Saharawi activists who had blocked the movement of. Morocco's much longer border with regional rival Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front and hosts thousands of Sahrawi refugees, has been closed for almost 30 years. [17], In the 2009 edition, a teenage Sahrawi refugee named Ibrahim Hussein Leibeit lost half of his right leg in a landmine explosion. Western Sahara is a sparsely-populated area of mostly desert situated on the northwest coast of Africa. 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