On the west coast of Africa there's a place called Western Sahara.
You may recognise it from data maps, in which it's almost always gray - no data available.
This is because Western Sahara a disputed territory.
With a population of around 500,000 yet a land area greater than that of the United
Kingdom, Western Sahara is one of the most sparely populated parts of the world.
Most of Western Sahara is hot, dry, uninhabitable desert.
But despite this, Western Sahara is claimed by two different parties.
On the one hand, Western Sahara is claimed by Morocco, as an integral part of its country
- the Southern Provinces.
On the other hand, Western Sahara is claimed by the Polisario Front, a rebel national liberation
movement fighting for the independence of Western Sahara, as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic
Republic.
About 80% of the region is controlled and administered by Morocco, including all of
the coastline and natural resources.
Moroccan built walls through Western Sahara split the Moroccan controlled area, from the
so-called "Free Zone", or "Liberated Territories" controlled by the Polisario Front.
Although their headquarters are actually in south-western Algeria, a strong ally of the
Polisario.
This is because the Polisario controlled part of Western Sahara is almost entirely uninhabitable
desert.
The origin of the dispute goes back to the end of the 19th century, a time when the Western
European powers began to colonise the African continent.
The colonisation of Africa was regulated, in order to avoid any conflict among the Europeans.
The Berlin Conference of 1884 was used to delegate land to the various European countries.
By 1914, 90% of Africa was under European colonial rule.
While the majority went the British and the French, Western Sahara was given to Spain,
at the time known as Spanish Sahara.
Fast forward to 1945 and the end of World War 2, and the creation of the United Nations,
by the victors of the war.
The UN was set up to maintain international peace, and promote human rights.
Of course, colonisation is contradictory to this, which is why the UN is fundamentally
against colonialism, as stated in Article 73 of the UN charter.
Throughout 1960s, the UN made a effort to decolonise the African continent through resolution
1514; and a Special Committee on Decolonisation was created.
By 1980, the entire African continent had been decolonised... except for Western Sahara.
But if we back up to 1956, when Morocco gained independence from France and Spain.
Immediately after independence, Morocco claimed that Spanish Sahara was part of the pre-colonial
Morocco, and they are the rightful owners of the land.
Just one year later, Mauritania made similar claims, and believed that Spanish Sahara was
theirs, this was 3 years before getting independence from France.
In 1973, the Polisario Front was established to end the Spanish colonial rule in Western
Sahara, and fight for the independence of the indigenous Sahrawi people.
At this point, the region was now claimed by 4 different parties: Spain, Morocco, Mauritania,
and the Polisario Front.
Polisario troops, with backing from Algeria, engaged the Spanish forces in guerrilla warfare.
At this point though, Spain was already under heavy pressure from the UN to decolonise Spanish
Sahara.
So Spain were unwilling to get involved in any war over land that they were going to
have to give up anyway.
Spain agreed to hold a referendum, so the Sahrawi people could choose to be an independent
country, or be intergrated with one of the neighbouring countries: Morocco or Mauritania.
Morocco requested the referendum be postponed, calling for a hearing from the International
Court of Justice regarding Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The referendum was successfully postponed.
And in preparation of the referendum, a UN visiting mission to the Western Sahara found
an overwhelming consensus towards independence, and that the Polisario Front were the most
powerful political force in the area.
The day after the UN visiting mission, the International Court of Justice published its
advisory opinion regarding Western Sahara.
The Court acknowledged that both Morocco and Mauritania had historical ties to the region,
but nothing that would imply any legal sovereignty.
So the referendum was to go along as planned, but just hours after the Court's opinion was
released, Morocco announced and began organising a Green March.
The Green March was a demonstration into Western Sahara of 300,000 Moroccan people, escorted
by 20,000 Moroccan troops.
This was done with a goal of putting pressure on Spain to transfer sovereignty over to them.
The Moroccan forces were met with no resistance from the Spanish forces as they marched into
Western Sahara.
However, they were met by considerable resistance from the Polisario Front, who believed the
region was rightfully theirs.
Conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front led to what would become a 16 year long
war.
Under pressure fro Morocco, Spain held talks with both Morocco and Mauritania, and the
three parties signed "the Madrid Accords".
The Madrid Accords was a temporary tripartite administration in which Spain would hand administrative
control of Western Sahara over to Morocco and Mauritania.
Morocco were to control the northern two-thirds, while Mauritania controlled the southern third.
The Madrid Accords, however, was NOT a transfer of sovereignty.
The Polisario Front were obviously extremely unhappy with the Madrid Accords, believing
it went against the International Court of Justice hearing, as this did not constitute
self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
As Morocco and Mauritania moved in to take control of Western Sahara, they were met with
heavy resistance from Polisario troops, with significant backing from Algeria.
By the 26th of February, 1976, all Spanish forces had withdrawn from Western Sahara.
The very next day, the Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, claiming
Western Sahara as their land.
In 1979, the Polisario Front and Mauritania signed a peace treaty, as Mauritania abandoned
all claims to Western Sahara.
Morocco quickly moved in to claim the land left by Mauritania.
In 1982, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic was admitted to the Organization of African
Unity, as the government of Western Sahara.
In protest of this, Morocco withdrew it membership.
In 1991, after 16 years of war, Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a cease-fire agreement.
Part of the cease-fire agreement was that a referendum would take place within 6 months,
but despite several attempts, this has still yet to happen to this day.
Attempts were made in 1992 and '97, but there were disagreements about voter eligibility.
In years 2001 and 2003, a different approach was taken to resolve the dispute with two
version of what were known as "the Baker Plan".
The Baker Plan would give the Sahrawi people an autonomous goverment under the sovereinty
of Morocco, with a transitional period of five year, with a referendum to follow.
The first version of which was rejected by the Polisario, but the second version was
reluctantly accepted by them, and unanimously endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Morocco however, rejected the plan, and stated that they would no longer agree to a referendum
which had independence as a option.
So as things stand today, Morocco controls about 80% of Western Sahara, with the Polisario
Front exiled in Algeria, and controlling the remaining 20%.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is currently recognised by 45 UN members, although 39 countries
have recognised them in the past, but have since withdrawn their recognition.
The majority of these 45 countries are other African nations.
No country or organisation has ever officially recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western
Sahara, but many countries support the idea of Sahrawi autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
In 2004, James Baker, with whom the Baker Plan was named after, resigned from his position
at the United Nations, believing that there was no feasible solution for resolving the
dispute over Western Sahara that would suit both parties.
And unfortunately, he may very may be right.