Morocco

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King Mohammed VI Makhzen Prime Minister Driss Jettou Parliament Assembly of Councillors Assembly of Representatives Political parties Elections: 2007 Regions Human rights Foreign relations Western Sahara conflict

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This article is about the historical event. For the aerobatic team see: Marche Verte.

The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government, to force Spain to hand over the disputed province of Sahara to Morocco. Marche Verte (English: Green March) is the aerobatic demonstration team of the Royal Moroccan Air Force and the official national aerobatic team of Morocco. ... In addition to its seventeen autonomous communities, Spain is divided into fifty provinces. ...

The Green March

The Green March was a well-publicized popular march of enormous proportions. On November 6, 1975, approximately 350,000 unarmed Moroccans[1] converged on the city of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and waited for a signal from King Hassan II to cross into Western Sahara. They brandished Moroccan flags, banners calling for the "return of the Moroccan Sahara," photographs of the King and the Qur'an; the color green for the march's name was intended as a symbol of Islam. As the marchers reached the border Spanish troops were ordered not to fire to avoid bloodshed. Tarfaya is a city on the southwestern coast of Morocco. ... This is a partial list of rulers of Morocco, including the historical precursors to the modern state. ... King Hassan, pictured late in life. ... Flag ratio: 2:3 The flag of Morocco and the story behind its symbols At the time of the Merinid and Saadi dynasties ruling, the Moroccan flag used to be completely white. ... The Moroccan name for Western Sahara. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Mossy, green fountain in Wattens, Austria. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... The Spanish Armed Forces consists of the Army, Navy and Air Force. ...

In order to prepare the terrain and to riposte to any potential counter-invasion from Algeria, the Moroccan Army entered the northeast of the region where it met with sporadic resistance from the Polisario, by then a two-year-old independence movement.[2] // Naval Ensign of Morocco Royal Armed Forces Army Navy Air Force Gendarmerie Auxiliary Forces Moroccan Royal Guard Age: 18 years of age Availability: males age 15-49 - 8,393,772 (2002 est. ... The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Peoples Liberation Front of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro) is an army and political movement in the Western Sahara, comprising...

Background

Morocco, to the north of the Spanish Sahara, had long claimed that the territory was historically an integral part of Morocco, and should not be independent after Spain left. Mauritania to the south argued similarly that the territory was in fact Mauritanian. Since 1973, a Sahrawi guerrilla war led by the Algerian backed Polisario had challenged Spanish control, and in October 1975 Spain had quietly begun negotiations for a handover of power with leaders of the rebel movement, both in El Aaiún, and with foreign minister Pedro Cortina y Mauri meeting El Ouali in Algiers.^[1] Look up guerrilla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... El-Aaiún or Laâyoune (Arabic: العيون, transliterated al-`ayÅ«n), is the unofficial capital of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony now mostly controlled and occupied by Morocco. ... El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed (or El-Wali Mustapha Sayed) (~1948-1976), Sahrawi nationalist leader. ... “Alger” redirects here. ...

Morocco intended to vindicate its claims by demanding a verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ stated that there were historical legal ties of allegiance between "some, but only some" Sahrawi tribes and the Sultan of Morocco, as well as ties including some rights relating to the land between Mauritania and other Sahrawi tribes.[3] However, the ICJ stated also that there was no ties of territorial sovereignty between the territory and Morocco, or Mauritania, at the time of Spanish colonization; and that these contacts were not extensive enough to support either country's demand for annexation of the Spanish Sahara. Instead, the court argued, the indigenous population (the Sahrawis) were the owners of the land, and thus possessed the right of self-determination. This meant that regardless of which political solution was found to the question of sovereignty (integration with Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, partition, or independence), it had to be explicitly approved by the people of the territory. Complicating matters, a UN visiting mission had concluded on October 15, the day before the ICJ verdict was released, that Sahrawi support for independence was "overwhelming". The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: ) is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. ... One of the main functions of the International Court of Justice is to provide Advisory Opinions - non-binding legal interpretations admitted by United Nations organs. ... This is a partial list of Kings of Morocco. ... For the historic phenomenon of colonization and imperialism, see main article colonialism (and also decolonization). ... Ceremonies during the annexation of Hawaii. ... Self-determination is a principle in international law that a people ought to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. ... To assist in the decolonization process of the Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara), a colony in North Africa, the United Nations General Assembly in 1975 dispatched a visiting mission to the territory and the surrounding countries, in accordance with its resolution 3292 (December 13, 1974). ...

However, the reference to previous Moroccan-Sahrawi ties of allegiance was presented by Hassan II as a vindication of his position, with no public mention of the court's further ruling on self-determination. (Until, seven years later, he formally agreed to a referendum before the Organisation of African Unity). Within hours of the ICJ verdict's release, he announced the organizing of a "green march" to Spanish Sahara, to "reunite it with the Motherland". The Organization of African Unity (OAU) or Organisation de lUnité Africaine (OUA) was established on May 25, 1963. ... irredentism is position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity and/or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. ...

The Moroccan arguments for sovereignty

According to Morocco, the exercise of sovereignty by the Moroccan state was characterized by official pledges of allegiance to the sultan. The Moroccan government was of the opinion that this allegiance existed during several centuries before the Spanish occupation and that it was a legal and political tie.^[2] The sultan Hassan I, for example, had carried out two expeditions in 1886 in order to put an end to foreign incursions in this territory and to officially invest several caids and cadis. In its presentation to the ICJ, the Moroccan side also mentioned the levy of taxes as a further instance of the exercise of sovereignty. ^[3] The exercise of this sovereignty had also appeared, according to the Moroccan government, at other levels, such as the appointment of local officials (governors and military officers), and the definition of the missions which were assigned to them. ^[4] Look up Occupation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hassan I of Morocco (b. ... Computer-aided industrial design (CAID) is a subset of computer_aided design (CAD) that includes software that directly helps in product development. ... Qadi قاضى is Arabic for judge. In arab countries the Sharia is not the basis for the legal system, the term Qadi means the same as its translation in English: judge. ... A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). ...

The Moroccan government further pointed to several treaties between it and other states, such as with Spain in 1861, the Unites States of America in 1786, and 1836 and with Great Britain in 1856 ^[5] [4]. For other uses of terms redirecting here, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation); also see America (disambiguation) Motto In God We Trust(since 1956) (From Many, One; Latin, traditional) Anthem The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City National language English (de...

The court, however, found that "neither the internal nor the international acts relied upon by Morocco indicate the existence at the relevant period of either the existence or the international recognition of legal ties of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and the Moroccan State. Even taking account of the specific structure of that State, they do not show that Morocco displayed any effective and exclusive State activity in Western Sahara."[5]

The Madrid Accords

Spain feared that the conflict with Morocco could lead to war, and with its government in disarray (the dictator, Franco, lay dying), it was in no mood for trouble in the colonies. Only the year before, the Portuguese Fascist government had been toppled, after becoming bogged down in colonial wars in Angola and Mozambique. Therefore, following the Green March, and with a view to preserving as much as possible of its interest in the territory, Spain agreed to enter direct bilateral negotiations with Morocco, bringing in also Mauritania, who had made similar demands. This resulted in the November 14 Madrid Accords, a treaty ^[6] which divided Spanish Sahara between Mauritania and Morocco. Dictator is originally the title of a magistrate in ancient Rome appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. ... Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892–20 November[1] 1975), commonly abbreviated to Francisco Franco (pron. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese, Revolução dos Cravos) was an almost bloodless, leftist, military-led coup détat, started on April 25, 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, that effectively changed the Portuguese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a liberal democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC... The Madrid Accords were a series of behind-the-scenes meetings between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania to partition the territory of Spanish Sahara held in 1975. ...

Spain received a 35% concession in the phosphate mines of Bou Craa, and offshore fishing rights [6]. Morocco and Mauritania then formally annexed the parts they had been allotted in the Accords. Morocco claimed the northern part, i.e. Saguia el-Hamra and approximately half of Río de Oro, while Mauritania proceeded to occupy the southern third of the country under the name Tiris al-Gharbiyya. Above is a ball-and-stick model of the inorganic hydrogenphosphate anion (HPO42−). Colour coding: P (orange); O (red); H (white). ... Stop changing it. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering. ... This region of Western Sahara makes up the northern third of the country. ... Río de Oro (Spanish for Gold River, Arabic: wādÄ«-ð-ðahab, often transliterated as Oued Edhahab), is, with Saguia el-Hamra, one of the two territories that formed the Spanish province of Spanish Sahara after 1969. ... Tiris al-Gharbiyya (Arabic for Western Tiris) was the Mauritanian name for the area of Western Sahara under its control between 1975 and 1979. ...

The Polisario, now with heavy Algerian backing, refused the Madrid Accords, and demanded that the ICJ's opinion on Sahrawi self-determination be respected; it turned its weapons on the new rulers of the country, sticking to its demand for independence outright, or a referendum on the matter. The conflict has still not been resolved. Currently, there is a cease-fire in effect, after a Moroccan-Polisario agreement was struck in 1991 to solve the dispute through the organization of a a referendum on independence. A UN peace-keeping mission (MINURSO) has been charged with overseeing the cease-fire and organizating the referendum, which has still not taken place in 2007. Morocco has rejected the idea of the referendum as not workable in 2000 and is suggesting an autonomy for Western Sahara within Morocco. That proposal been rejected by Polisario, and also by its Algerian backers; according to the Moroccan government, it will be presented to the UN in April 2007. Self-determination is a principle in international law that a people ought to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. ... An armistice is the effective end of a war, when the warring parties agree to stop fighting. ... The Settlement Plan was an agreement between the Polisario Front and Morocco on the organization of a referendum, which would constitute an expression of self-determination for the Sahrawi people of the non-decolonized territory of Western Sahara, possibly leading to full independence. ... Elections Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A referendum (plural: referendums or referenda) or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita, originally a decree of the Concilium Plebis) is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. ... MINURSO is a UN peacekeeping mission, established in 1991 to monitor the ceasefire and to organize and conduct a referendum which would enable the people of Western Sahara to choose between integration with Morocco and independence. ... In 2006 the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs CORCAS has proposed a plan for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain the proposal. ...

References

1. ^ Jacob Mundy, "Neutrality or Complicity? The United States and the 1975 Moroccan takeover of the Spanish Sahara, p. 283; in Journal of North African Studies, Volume 11, No. 3 (Routledge/Taylor & Francis Publishing, September 2006)
2. ^ ICJ, Reports 1975, p. 83. For more details, Cf. pp. 83-102. Cf. also individual opinion of Judge M. FORSTER. Idem p. 103 and Annex n° 7.
3. ^ ICJ, Western Sahara Pleadings, Arguments, Documents, Volume 111, Written Statements and Documents, pp. 205 to 497.
4. ^ - Nomination Dahirs, dating back to the reign of His Majesty Moulay Abdelaziz Bel Hassan, (Two Dahirs in 1886 and two in 1899), of His Majesty Abdelhafid Bel Hassan (1907 and 1909). - Dahirs of His Majesty El Hassan Ben Mohammed (1877 and 1886) of His Majesty Abdelaziz Ben El H~Hassan (1901)
5. ^ The treaties are the following: - Trading Treaty between Morocco and Spain in Madrid in November 20, 1861. - Treaty with the USA in June 23 to 28,1786. - Treaty of peace and friendship between the USA and Morocco, signed in Meknes in September 16,1856. - Anglo-maroccan Accords, December 9,1856.
6. ^ Trilateral Agreement concluded between the Spanish, Moroccan and Mauritanian Governments, the text of which has been transmitted to the Secretary General of the UN in November 18, 1975. (Resolution 3458 (XXX) B. 10/12/1975).

See also

• History of Western Sahara
• List of Spanish colonial wars in Morocco

// Western Sahara area has never formed a state in the modern sense of the word. ... List of wars and disputes relating to the colonial presence of Spain in Morocco War of 1859 First Rif War or Rif War (1893) Second Rif War Third Rif War or Rif War (1920) Ifni War Recuperar Soberanía the dispute for the island Isla Perejil Scramble for Africa Berlin...

External links

• Footage of the Gren March, courtesy Google Video
• The Green March as seen by the Media - Moroccan TV

Google Video is a free Google service that allows anyone to upload video clips to Googles web servers as well as make their own media available free of charge or through Google Video Store for a cost that they can set. ...