Western Sahara News

A few days before the new year of 2016, a whole series of resolutions were adopted at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, one of which deserves special attention. It is dedicated to a forgotten international crisis and an ultimately forgotten country known as Western Sahara... One reason that Western Sahara became a problem once Africa was decolonized was because Morocco and Mauritania had claims on its territory (Western Sahara covers 266,000 sq. kilometers, making it 20,000 sq. kilometers larger than Great Britain). The population of Western Sahara advocated for independence and the right to determine their own identity, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (POLISARIO) fiercely resisted its country’s occupiers. Currently, only 43 nations support the legality of Morocco’s claims to Western Sahara. Most of the world backs POLISARIO, although only 37 countries have recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as a...

Hypocrisy abounds: In a working visit to Morocco, a Palestinian delegation met with the leader of opposition party l’Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires, known as USFP, according to Arabic daily Al Ittihad Al Ichtiraki in its Friday issue. USFP leader Driss Lachgar discussed the Moroccan Sahara with Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee. According to the daily, both leaders agreed that “the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and that of Palestine will now be at the center of their diplomatic cooperation.” The meeting was held in presence of the Ambassador of Palestine to Morocco, Amine Ahmed Mohamed Abou Hassira, as well as three other Fatah leaders alongside Abba Zaki. The working visit of the Palestinian delegation comes just weeks after Palestinian Foreign Minister Ryad El Maliki visited Morocco and declared Palestine’s support for Morocco’s territorial integrity. According to the same source, Minister El Maliki stated Palestine’s position in favor ...

Memorandum on the Moroccan Sahara issue May 2014 Overview: The Kingdom of Morocco holds a unique experience in the history of colonization, as well as in the decolonization process, that deviates from the usual model. Thus it was in 1912, that the Moroccan territory was effectively split up into several zones of occupation. Forty years later, through international agreements negotiated with the various colonial powers; the Kingdom of Morocco began to gradually recover its territorial integrity. It is in this context that the Kingdom of Morocco, after its independence in 1956, entered into negotiations with Spain that brought about the progressive recovery of certain areas located in the south of the Kingdom, namely Tarfaya in 1958, Sidi Ifni in 1969 and the Saquiet al Hamra and Oued Eddahab in 1975, known since then as the Sahara, following the Madrid Agreements which was acknowledged by the General Assembly. 2. For geopolitical reasons related to the...