Western Sahara conflict

Western Sahara conflict

Gathering of Sahrawi troops, near Tifariti (Western Sahara), celebrating the 32nd anniversary to the Polisario Front (2005).
Date17 June 1970 – present
(54 years and 5 months)
Location
Western Sahara
Result

Ongoing

Belligerents

Francoist Spain Spain (1970–1975)

 Morocco
 Mauritania (1975–79)
Supported by:
 France (1977–78)
 United States
 Saudi Arabia[1][2][3]
 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Sahrawi Republic
Supported by:
 Algeria (1976–)[4][5]
 Libya (1976–1984)[6]
Commanders and leaders

Spain Francisco Franco # (1970–75)

Morocco Mohammed VI (1999–present)
Morocco Hassan II # (1970–99)
Morocco Ahmed Dlimi # (1970–83)
Morocco Abdelaziz Bennani (1983–2014)
Morocco Bouchaib Arroub (2014–17)
Morocco Abdelfattah Louarak (2017–21)
Morocco Belkhir El Farouk (2021–2023)
Morocco Mohammed Berrid (2023–)
Mauritania Mokhtar Ould Daddah (1970–78)
Mauritania Mustafa Ould Salek (1978–79)
France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1977–78)		 Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Brahim Ghali (2016–present)
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Mohamed Abdelaziz # (1976–2016)
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed † (1976)
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Lahbib Ayoub
Algeria Houari Boumediène # (1970–78)
Strength

Spain 3,000 troops (1973)

Morocco 30,000 (1976)[7]
150,000 (1988)[8]
Mauritania 3,000[9]–5,000[7] (1976)
18,000 (1978)[10]		 5,000 (1976)[11]
Casualties and losses
unknown
2,155[12]–2,300 captured[13]
Mauritania 2,000 soldiers killed[14]		 unknown
Total: 14,000–21,000 killed overall
40,000 (1976);[15] 80,000 (1977)[16] refugees
Part of a series on the
Western Sahara conflict
Background
Regions
Politics
Clashes
Issues
Peace process

The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara.

The conflict escalated after the withdrawal of Spain from the Spanish Sahara in accordance with the Madrid Accords. Beginning in 1975, the Polisario Front, backed and supported by Algeria, waged a 16-year-long war for independence against Mauritania and Morocco. In February 1976, the Polisario Front declared the establishment of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was not admitted into the United Nations, but won limited recognition by a number of other states. Following the annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco and Mauritania in 1976, and the Polisario Front's declaration of independence, the UN addressed the conflict via a resolution reaffirming the right to self-determination of the Sahrawi people.[17] In 1977, France intervened as the conflict reached its peak intensity. In 1979, Mauritania withdrew from the conflict and territories, leading to a stalemate through most of the 1980s. After several more engagements between 1989 and 1991, a cease-fire agreement was reached between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government. At the time, most of the Western Sahara territory remained under Moroccan control, while the Polisario controlled some 20% of the territory in its capacity as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, with additional pockets of control in the Sahrawi refugee camps along the Algerian border. At present, these borders are largely unchanged.

Despite multiple peace initiatives through the 1990s and early 2000s, the conflict reemerged as the "Independence Intifada" in 2005; a series of disturbances, demonstrations and riots, which broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-held portions of Western Sahara, and lasted until November of that same year. In late 2010, the protests re-erupted in the Gdeim Izik refugee camp in Western Sahara. While the protests were initially peaceful, they were later marked by clashes between civilians and security forces, resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides. Another series of protests began on 26 February 2011, as a reaction to the failure of police to prevent anti-Sahrawi looting in the city of Dakhla, Western Sahara; protests soon spread throughout the territory. Though sporadic demonstrations continue, the movement had largely subsided by May 2011.

To date, large parts of Western Sahara are controlled by the Moroccan Government and known as the Southern Provinces, whereas some 20% of the Western Sahara territory remains controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), the Polisario state with limited international recognition. The questions of mutual recognition, establishment of a possible Sahrawi state and the large numbers of Sahrawi refugees displaced by the conflict are among the key issues of the ongoing Western Sahara peace process.

  1. ^ David Dean (1 April 2002), The Air Force role in low-intensity conflict, DIANE Publishing, p. 74, ISBN 9781428928275
  2. ^ Stephen Zunes ‏،Jacob Mundy (2010), Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution, Syracuse University Press, p. 44, ISBN 9780815652588
  3. ^ "Gulf Arabs back Morocco in Western Sahara rift with U.N." Reuters. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  4. ^ Maurice Barbier, Le conflit du Sahara Occidental, L'Harmattan, 1982,, p. 185, at Google Books ISBN 2-85802-197-X
  5. ^ Alexander Mikaberidze, Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, July 2011,, p. 96, at Google Books ISBN 978-1-59884-336-1
  6. ^ Cooper & Grandolini (2018), p. 52.
  7. ^ a b Paul, Jim; Paul, Susanne; Salek, Mohamed Salem Ould; Ali, Hadssan; Hultman, Tami (1976). "With the Polisario Front of Sahara". MERIP Reports (53). MERIP reports, JSTOR: 16–21. doi:10.2307/3011206. JSTOR 3011206.
  8. ^ Lewis, Paul (31 August 1988). "Sahara foes move to end their war". New York Times. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  9. ^ "Marruecos incrementa su presencia en Mauritania". El País (in Spanish). 21 July 1977. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  10. ^ Jose Ramón Diego Aguirre, Guerra en el Sáhara, Istmo, Colección Fundamentos, Vol. 124, 1991, Page 193
  11. ^ "North Africa: Shadow war in the Sahara". Time. 3 January 1977. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Western Sahara, the facts". New Internationalist. No. 297. 1 December 1997. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  13. ^ "El misterio de la guerra del Sáhara". El País (in Spanish). 10 September 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  14. ^ J. David Singer, & Melvin Small (1982). Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816–1980. Beverly Hills: Sage publications inc. ISBN 0-8039-1777-5.
  15. ^ "Asistencia en favor de las víctimas saharauis". Revista Internacional de la Cruz Roja. 1 (2): 83. 7 February 1976. doi:10.1017/S0250569X00002491 – via Cambridge University Press.
  16. ^ "Open Society Foundations" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  17. ^ ODS Team. "ODS HOME PAGE" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.