الصحراء الغربية Al-Ṣaḥrā' al-Ġarbiyyah Sahara Occidental Western Sahara
Capital		N/A
Largest city		El Aaiún (Laâyoune)
Official languages		N/A
Recognised regional languages		Arabic and Spanish
Demonym		Sahrawi, Sahrawian
Disputed sovereignty1
-	Relinquished by Spain	November 14, 1975
Area
-	Total	266,000 km² (77th) 102,703 sq mi
-	Water (%)	negligible
Population
-	July 2005 estimate	341,000 (177th)
-	Density	1.3 /km² (228th) 3.4 /sq mi
Currency		Moroccan dirham (MAD)
Time zone		UTC (UTC+0)
Internet TLD		.ma (.eh is reserved but not used)
Calling code		+2122
1 Mostly administrated by Morocco as its Southern Provinces. The Polisario Front claims to control the area behind the border wall as the Free Zone on behalf of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. 2 Code for Morocco; no code specific to Western Sahara has been issued by the ITU.

Western Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الغربية; transliterated: al-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbīyah; Spanish: Sahara Occidental) is a territory of northwestern Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The largest city is El Aaiún (Laâyoune), which is home to over half of the population of the territory. Image File history File links LocationWesternSahara. ... Not to be confused with capitol. ... 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. ... An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... A regional language is a language spoken in a part of a country, be it may be a small area, a federal state or province, or a wider area. ... “Arabic” redirects here. ... A demonym or gentilic is a word that denotes the members of a people or the inhabitants of a place. ... is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the physical quantity. ... To help compare orders of magnitude of different geographical regions, we list here surface areas between 100,000 km² and 1,000,000 km². See also areas of other orders of magnitude. ... This is a list of the countries of the world sorted by area. ... A square mile is an English unit of area equal to that of a square with sides each 1 statute mile (≈1,609 m) in length. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... A percentage is a way of expressing a proportion, a ratio or a fraction as a whole number, by using 100 as the denominator. ... This is a list of countries ordered according to population. ... Population density per square kilometre by country, 2006 Population density map of the world in 1994. ... Population density by country, 2006 List of countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km². The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories that are recognized by the United Nations. ... Dirham is a unit of currency in several Arabic-speaking nations, including: Islamic Dirham The Moroccan dirham The United Arab Emirates dirham 1/1000 of the Libyan dinar 1/100 of the Qatari riyal 1/10 of the Jordanian dinar The dirham, spelt diram, is 1/100 of the Tajikistani... ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ... Timezone and TimeZone redirect here. ... “UTC” redirects here. ... A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is a top-level domain used and reserved for a country or a dependent territory. ... .ma is the Internet country code top-level domain ( ccTLD) for Morocco. ... As Western Sahara is a disputed territory, it has no country code top-level domain (ccTLD), but . ... A telephone number is a sequence of decimal digits (0-9) that is used for identifying a destination telephone line in a telephone network. ... The Moroccan name for Western Sahara. ... The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and [[Río de Oro]]) is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the separation... Main article: Western Sahara The Free Zone is the part of Western Sahara that lies to the east of the Border Wall and the actual border with Algeria (for map, see external links). ... Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة (Arabic) Liberty, Democracy, Unity Anthem: Yābaniy Es-Saharā  listen This map indicates the territory claimed by the SADR, viz. ... The International Telecommunication Union (ITU; French: Union internationale des télécommunications, Spanish: Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones) is an international organization established to standardize and regulate international radio and telecommunications. ... “Arabic” redirects here. ... Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Population density by country, 2006 List of countries and dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km². The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories that are recognized by the United Nations. ... This article is about arid terrain. ... 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. ...

Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since the 1960s when it was a Spanish colony. Map of the countries in the UN list:  current  former The United Nations maintains a list of territories that do not govern themselves. ...

The Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front independence movement (and government of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic or SADR) dispute control of the territory. Since a United Nations-sponsored cease-fire agreement in 1991, most of the territory has been controlled by Morocco, with the remainder under the control of Polisario/SADR. Internationally, the major powers such as the United States have taken a generally ambiguous and neutral position on each side's claims, and have pressed both parties to agree on a peaceful resolution. Both Morocco and Polisario have sought to boost their claims by accumulating formal recognition, from largely minor states. Polisario has won formal recognition for SADR from roughly 45 states, and was extended membership in the African Union, while Morocco has won formal recognition for its position from 25 states, as well as the membership of the Arab League^[1][2]. In both instances, recognitions have over the past two decades been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends. The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and [[Río de Oro]]) is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the separation... Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة (Arabic) Liberty, Democracy, Unity Anthem: Yābaniy Es-Saharā  listen This map indicates the territory claimed by the SADR, viz. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... Western Sahara is the former Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara claimed and mostly administered by the Kingdom of Morocco since Spain handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania after the Madrid Accords in 1975-76, but sovereignty is unresolved and the United Nations (UN) is attempting to hold a... Anthem Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together [1] Administrative Centre Largest city Cairo, Egypt Working languages Arabic English French Portuguese Swahili Membership 53 African states Leaders  -  Chairman John Kufuor  -  Alpha Oumar Konaré Establishment  -  as the OAU May 25, 1963   -  as the African Union July 9, 2002  Area  -  Total 29... Headquarters Cairo, Egypt1 Official languages Arabic Membership 22 Arab states 2 observer states Leaders  -  Secretary General Amr Moussa (since 2001)  -  Council of the Arab League Sudan  -  Speaker of the Arab Parliament Nabih Berri Establishment  -  Alexandria Protocol March 22, 1945  Area  -  Total 13,953,041 (Western Sahara Included) = 13,687,041...

History

Main article: History of Western Sahara

The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Western Sahara in historical times were agriculturalists called Bafour. The Bafour were later replaced or absorbed by Berber-language speaking populations which eventually merged in turn with migrating Arab tribes, although the Arabic speaking majority in the Western Sahara clearly by the historical record descend from Berber tribes that adopted Arabic over time. There may also have been some Phoenician contacts in antiquity, but such contacts left few if any long-term traces. // Western Sahara area has never formed a state in the modern sense of the word. ... Phoenicia (or Phenicia ,[1] from Biblical Phenice [1]) was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon and Syria. ...

The arrival of Islam in the 8th century played a major role in the development of relationships between the Saharan regions that later became the modern territories of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and Algeria, and neighbouring regions. Trade developed further and the region became a passage of caravans especially between Marrakech and Tombouctou in Mali. In the Middle Ages, the Almohads and Almoravids movements and dynasties both originated from the Saharan regions and were able to control the area. For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... A camel train is a series of camels carrying goods or passengers in a group as part of a regular or semi-regular service between two points. ... For the record label, see Marrakesh Records. ... Tombouctou is the large northern-most region of Mali, comprised mostly of the Southwestern section of the Sahara desert. ... The Almohad Dynasty (From Arabic الموحدون al-Muwahhidun, i. ... Almoravides (From Arabic المرابطون sing. ...

Towards the late Middle Ages, the Beni Hassan Arab bedouin tribes invaded the Maghreb, reaching the northern border-area of the Sahara in the 14th and 15th century. Over roughly five centuries, through a complex process of acculturation and mixing seen elsewhere in the Maghreb and North Africa, the indigenous Berber tribes adopted Hassaniya Arabic and a mixed Arab-Berber nomadic culture. Beni Hasan (or Bani Hasan, or also Beni-Hassan) is a village in Middle Egypt about 25 km south of Al Minya (or Minieh), on the east bank of the Nile, with remarkable catacombs that have been excavated. ... Languages Arabic and other minority languages Religions Islam, Christianity, Druzism and Judaism Arab woman from Ramallah wearing traditional dress in 1915. ... Ḥassānīya is a Bedouin dialect derived from the Arabic dialect spoken by the Beni Hassān tribes, who extended their authority over most of the Mauritanian Sahara between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. ...

Spanish Province

During the first decade of the 20th century, after an agreement among the European colonial powers at the Berlin Conference in 1884 on the division of spheres of influence in Africa, Spain seized control of the Western Sahara and declared it to be a Spanish protectorate in a series of wars against the local tribes reminiscent of similar European colonial adventures of the period, in the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa, and elsewhere. Spanish colonial rule began to unravel with the general wave of decolonizations after World War II, which saw Europeans lose control of North African and sub-Saharan Africa possessions and protectorates. Spanish decolonization in particular began rather late, as internal political and social pressures for it in mainland Spain built up towards the end of Francisco Franco's rule, and in combination with the global trend towards complete decolonization. Spain began rapidly and even chaotically divesting itself of most of its remaining colonial possessions. After initially being violently opposed to decolonization, Spain began to give in and by 1974-75 issued promises of a referendum on independence. The nascent Polisario Front, a nationalist organization that had begun fighting the Spanish in 1973 had been demanding such a move. The conference of Berlin The Berlin Conference (German: or Congo Conference) of 1884–85 regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period, and coincided with Germanys sudden emergence as an imperial power. ... “Franco” redirects here. ... Colonialism in 1945 Decolonization refers to the achievement of independence by the various Western colonies and protectorates in Asia and Africa following World War II. This conforms with an intellectual movement known as Post-Colonialism. ... 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. ... The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and [[Río de Oro]]) is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the separation... Eugène Delacroixs Liberty Leading the People, symbolising French nationalism during the July Revolution 1830. ...

At the same time, Morocco and Mauritania, which had historical claims of sovereignty over the territory based on competing traditional claims, argued that the territory was artificially separated from their territories by the European colonial powers. The third neighbour of Spanish Sahara, Algeria, viewed these demands with suspicion, influenced also by its long-running rivalry with Morocco. After arguing for a process of decolonization guided by the United Nations, the government of Houari Boumédiènne committed itself in 1975 to assisting the Polisario Front, which opposed both Moroccan and Mauritanian claims and demanded full independence. The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... Houari Boumédienne (original name Mohamed Ben Brahim Boukharouba) (August 23, 1932 - December 27, 1978) was President of Algeria from 19 June 1965 to 27 December 1978 (Chairman of the Revolutionary Council until 12 December 1976). ...

The UN attempted to settle these disputes through a visiting mission in late 1975, as well as a verdict from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared that the Western Sahara possessed the right of self-determination. On November 6, 1975 the Green March into Western Sahara began when 350,000 unarmed Moroccans converged on the city of Tarfaya in southern Morocco and waited for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara. 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). ... 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. ... The International Court of Justice (known colloquially as the World Court or ICJ; French: ) is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. ... 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. ... is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the historical event. ... Tarfaya is a city on the southwestern coast of Morocco. ...

Demands for Independence

In the waning days of General Franco's rule in November 1975, the Spanish government secretly signed on 14 November 1975, mere days before Franco's death, a tripartite agreement with Morocco and Mauritania as it moved to abandon the Territory. Although the accords foresaw a tripartite administration, Morocco and Mauritania each moved to annex the territory, with Morocco taking control of the northern two-thirds of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces, while Mauritania taking control the southern third as Tiris al-Gharbiyya. Spain terminated its presence in Spanish Sahara within three months, repatriating even Spanish corpses from its cemeteries. The Moroccan and Mauritanian moves, however met staunch opposition from the Polisario, which had by now gained backing from Algeria. In 1979, following Mauritania's withdrawal due to pressures from Polisario, Morocco extended its control to the rest of the territory, and gradually contained the guerrillas through setting up the an extensive sand-berm in the desert to exclude guerilla fighters. Hostilities ceased in a 1991 cease-fire, overseen by the peacekeeping mission MINURSO, under the terms of a UN's Settlement Plan. “Franco” redirects here. ... 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. ... The Moroccan name for Western Sahara. ... 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 sand wall of Western Sahara is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure, running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... An armistice is the effective end of a war, when the warring parties agree to stop fighting. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... 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. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... 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. ...

Stalling of the Referendum and Settlement Plan

The referendum, originally scheduled for 1992, foresaw giving the local population the option between independence or affirming integration with Morocco, but it quickly stalled. In 1997, the Houston Agreement attempted to revive the proposal for a referendum, but likewise has hitherto not had success. As of 2007, however, negotiations over terms has not resulted in any substantive action. At the heart of the dispute lies the question of who qualifies to be registered to participate in the referendum, and, since about 2000, Morocco's renewed refusal to accept independence as an option on the referendum ballot combined with Polisario's insistence that independence be a clear option in the referendum. This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Both sides blame each other for the stalling of the referendum. The Polisario has insisted on allowing to vote only the persons found on the 1974 Spanish Census lists (see below), while Morocco has insisted the census was flawed by evasion and sought the inclusion of members of Sahrawi tribes with recent historical presence in the Spanish Sahara.

Efforts by the UN special envoys to find a common ground for both parties did not succeed. By 1999 the UN had identified about 85,000 voters, with nearly half of them in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara or Southern Morocco, and the others scattered between the Tindouf refugee camps, Mauritania and other places of exile. Polisario accepted this voter list, as it had done with the previous list presented by the UN (both of them originally based on the Spanish census of 1974), but Morocco refused and, as rejected voter candidates began a mass-appeals procedure, insisted that each application be scrutinized individually. This again brought the process to a halt.

According to a NATO delegation, MINURSO election observers stated in 1999, as the deadlock continued, that "if the number of voters does not rise significantly the odds were slightly on the RASD side" [1]. By 2001, the process had effectively stalemated and the UN Secretary-General asked the parties for the first time to explore other, third-way solutions. Indeed, shortly after the Houston Agreement (1997), Morocco officially declared that it was "no longer necessary" to include an option of independence on the ballot, offering instead autonomy. Erik Jensen, who played an administrative role in MINURSO, wrote that neither side would agree to a voter registration in which they were destined to lose (see Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate). Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة (Arabic) Liberty, Democracy, Unity Anthem: Yābaniy Es-Saharā  listen This map indicates the territory claimed by the SADR, viz. ...

Baker Plan

As personal envoy of the Secretary-General, James Baker (who also had John Bolton in his delegation) visited all sides and produced the document known as the "Baker Plan".^[3] This was discussed by the United Nations Security Council in 2000, and envisioned an autonomous Western Sahara Authority (WSA), which would be followed after five years by the referendum. Every person present in the territory would be allowed to vote, regardless of birthplace and with no regard to the Spanish census. It was rejected by both sides, although it was initially derived from a Moroccan proposal. According to Baker's draft, tens of thousands of post-annexation immigrants from Morocco proper (viewed by Polisario as settlers, but by Morocco as legitimate inhabitants of the area) would be granted the vote in the Sahrawi independence referendum, and the ballot would be split three-ways by the inclusion of an unspecified "autonomy", further undermining the independence camp. Also, Morocco was allowed to keep its army in the area and to retain the control over all security issues during both the autonomy years and the election. In 2002, the Moroccan king stated that the referendum idea was "out of date" since it "can not be implemented" [2]; Polisario retorted that that was only because of the King's refusal to allow it to take place. James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagans first administration, Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988 in the second Reagan administration, and Secretary of State in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. ... There are several people named John Bolton, including: John Gatenby Bolton – British-Australian astronomer (1922–1993) John R. Bolton – U.S. politician and diplomat U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. (2005-current) (b. ... The Baker Plan A United Nations plan to grant Western Sahara self-determination. ... “Security Council” redirects here. ... The Western Sahara Authority (WSA) is a theoretical governing body for the territory of Western Sahara. ... An autonomous (subnational) entity is a subnational entity that has a certain amount of autonomy. ...

In 2003, a new version of the plan was made official, with some additions spelling out the powers of the WSA, making it less reliant on the Moroccan devolution. It also provided further detail on the referendum process in order to make it harder to stall or subvert. This second draft, commonly known as Baker II, was accepted by the Polisario as a "basis of negotiations" to the surprise of many.^[4] This appeared to abandon Polisario's previous position of only negotiating based on the standards of voter identification from 1991 (i.e. the Spanish census). After that, the draft quickly garnered widespread international support, culminating in the UN Security Council's unanimous endorsement of the plan in the summer of 2003. Look up Devolution in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Western Sahara today

Today the Baker II document appears politically redundant, with Baker having resigned his post at the UN in 2004. His resignation followed several months of failed attempts to get Morocco to enter into formal negotiations on the plan, but he met with rejection. The new king, Mohammed VI of Morocco, opposes any referendum on independence, and has said Morocco will never agree to one: "We shall not give up one inch of our beloved Sahara, not a grain of its sand" [3]. US President George W. Bush talks with His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco in the Oval Office Tuesday, 23 April 2002 King Mohammed VI (Arabic: الملك محمد السادس للمغرب), also King Mohammed Ben Al-Hassan is the current King of Morocco. ...

Instead, he proposes, through an appointed advisory body Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), a self-governing Western Sahara as an autonomous community within Morocco. His father, Hassan II of Morocco, initially supported the referendum idea in principle in 1982, and in signed contracts with Polisario and the United Nations in 1991 and 1997; Morocco is thus bound to hold the referendum, but it appears unlikely that any major power will attempt to force its hand. The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) (French: Conseil royal consultatif pour les affaires sahariennes) is an appointed body of advisors to the Moroccan government working in the Southern Provinces, i. ... Self-governance is an abstract concept that refers to several scales of organization. ... Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else. ... King Hassan, pictured late in life. ...

The UN has put forth no replacement strategy after the breakdown of Baker II, and renewed fighting may be a possibility. In 2005, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported increased military activity on both sides of the front and breaches of several cease-fire provisions against strengthening military fortifications. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. ... Kofi Atta Annan (born April 8, 1938) is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from January 1, 1997 to January 1, 2007, serving two five-year terms. ...

Morocco has repeatedly tried to get Algeria into bilateral negotiations, receiving vocal support from France and occasionally (and currently) from the United States. These negotiations would define the exact limits of a Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan rule, but only after Morocco's "inalienable right" to the territory was recognized as a precondition to the talks. The Algerian government has consistently refused, claiming it has neither the will nor the right to negotiate on the behalf of the Polisario Front.

Demonstrations and riots by supporters of independence and/or a referendum broke out in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara in May 2005, and in parts of southern Morocco (notably the town of Assa). They were met by police. Several international human rights organizations have expressed concern at what they termed abuse by Moroccan security forces, and a number of Sahrawi activists have been jailed. Pro-independence Sahrawi sources, including the Polisario, have given these demonstrations the name "Independence Intifada", while sources supporting the Moroccan claims have attempted to minimize the events as being of limited importance. International press and other media coverage has been sparse, and reporting is complicated by the Moroccan government's policy of strictly controlling independent media coverage within the territory. The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA), formed in 1922, is a body consisting of both amateur and professional astronomers. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... The Independence Intifada (intifada is Arabic for uprising) is a Sahrawi name for the disturbances, demonstrations and riots that broke out in May 2005 in the Moroccan-held parts of Western Sahara. ...

Demonstrations and protests are still occurring, after Morocco declared in February 2006 that it was contemplating a plan for devolving a limited variant of autonomy to the territory, but still explicitly refused any referendum on independence. As of January 2007, the plan has not been made public, even if the Moroccan government claims that it is more or less completed. [4] [5].

The Polisario Front has intermittently threatened to resume fighting, referring to the Moroccan refusal of a referendum as a breach of the cease-fire terms, but most observers seem to consider armed conflict unlikely without the green light from Algeria, which houses the Sahrawis' refugee camps and has been the main military sponsor of the movement. 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. ...

In April 2007 the government of Morocco has suggested that a self-governing entity, through the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), should govern the territory with some degree of autonomy for Western Sahara. The project was presented to the United Nations Security Council in mid-April 2007. The stalemating of the Moroccoan proposal options has led the UN in the recent "Report of the UN Secretary-General" to ask the parties to enter into direct and unconditional negotiations to reach a mutually accepted political solution.Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara (13 April 2007)(ped). UN Security Council. Retrieved on 2007-05-18. ) The Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) (French: Conseil royal consultatif pour les affaires sahariennes) is an appointed body of advisors to the Moroccan government working in the Southern Provinces, i. ...

The online Western Sahara independence movement is heralded by One Hump or Two?, a humorous blog that chronicles the Western Sahara conflict. It is the only pro-Western Sahara blog that is accessible from Morocco.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Western Sahara

See also: Foreign relations of Western Sahara and Foreign relations of Morocco

Police checkpoint at suburbs of Laayoune.

The legal status of the territory and the question of its sovereignty remains unresolved; the territory is contested between Morocco and Polisario Front. It is considered a non self-governed territory by the United Nations. Country name: conventional long form: none conventional short form: Western Sahara former: Spanish Sahara Data code: WI Government type: legal status of territory and question of sovereignty unresolved; territory contested by Morocco and Polisario Front (Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro), which... Western Sahara is the former Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara claimed and mostly administered by the Kingdom of Morocco since Spain handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania after the Madrid Accords in 1975-76, but sovereignty is unresolved and the United Nations (UN) is attempting to hold a... Embassy of Morocco in Ottawa, Canada Morocco maintains close relations with the European Union, especially the former colonial rulers, France and Spain. ... Image File history File links Laayoune-miltary_checkpoint. ... Image File history File links Laayoune-miltary_checkpoint. ... “Sovereign” redirects here. ... The Polisario, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and [[Río de Oro]]) is a Sahrawi rebel movement working for the separation... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ...

The government of Morocco is a formally constitutional monarchy under Mohammed VI with a bicameral parliament. The last elections to the lower house were deemed reasonably free and fair by international observers. Certain powers such as the capacity to appoint the government and to dissolve parliament remain in the hands of the monarch. The Morocco-controlled parts of Western Sahara are divided into several provinces treated as integral parts of the kingdom. The Moroccan government heavily subsidizes the Saharan provinces under its control with cut-rate fuel and related subsidies, to appease nationalist dissent and attract immigrants - or settlers - from loyalist Sahrawi and other communities in Morocco proper.^[5] For the documentary series, see Monarchy (TV series). ... The Parliament of Morocco is located in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. ... The Moroccan name for Western Sahara. ...

The exiled government of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a form of single-party parliamentary and presidential system, but according to its constitution, this will be changed into a multi-party system at the achievement of independence. It is presently based at the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, which it controls. It also claims to control the part of Western Sahara to the east of the Moroccan Wall, as the Free Zone. This area is more or less unpopulated and the Moroccan government views it as a no-man's land patrolled by UN troops. A government in exile is a political group that claims to be a countrys legitimate government, but for various reasons is unable to exercise its legal power, and instead resides in a foreign country. ... Motto: حرية ديمقراطية وحدة (Arabic) Liberty, Democracy, Unity Anthem: Yābaniy Es-Saharā  listen This map indicates the territory claimed by the SADR, viz. ... President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. ... Tindouf, also written Tinduf, (Arabic: تندوف) is wilaya in the west of Algeria, population 30,000 (not including approximately 160,000 Sahrawi refugees). ... bjhgfshudgfgbfsfas Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide A camp in Guinea for refugees from Sierra Leone. ... System of the Moroccan Walls in Western Sahara (territory outside them in yellow) The Moroccan Wall is a 2,720 km-long system of defensive walls/berms, running mainly through Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. ... Note: No mans land may also be understood as Terra nullius. ... This article is about the United Nations, for other uses of UN see UN (disambiguation) Official languages English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic Secretary-General Kofi Annan (since 1997) Established October 24, 1945 Member states 191 Headquarters New York City, NY, USA Official site http://www. ...

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Western Sahara

The Western Sahara conflict has resulted in severe human rights abuses, most notably the displacement of tens of thousands of Sahrawi civilians from the country, the expulsion of tens of thousands of Moroccan civilians by the Algerian government from Algeria^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}, and numerous casualties of war and repression. // Morocco sees Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces, and has been claiming it since its independence in 1956. ... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... For other uses, see Refugee (disambiguation). ...

During the war years (1975-91), both sides accused each other of targeting civilians. Moroccan claims of Polisario terrorism has generally little to no support abroad, with the USA, EU and UN all refusing to include the group on their lists of terrorist organizations. Polisario leaders maintain that they are ideologically opposed to terrorism, and insist that collective punishment and forced disappearances among Sahrawi civilians [6] should be considered state terrorism on the part of Morocco [7]. Both Morocco and the Polisario additionally accuse each other of violating the human rights of the populations under their control, in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara and the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria, respectively. Morocco and organisations such as France Libertés consider Algeria to be directly responsible for any crimes committed on its territory, and accuse the country of having been directly involved in such violations.^[14][15] In times of armed conflict a civilian is any person who is not a combatant. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... This article is about the United Nations, for other uses of UN see UN (disambiguation) Official languages English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic Secretary-General Kofi Annan (since 1997) Established October 24, 1945 Member states 191 Headquarters New York City, NY, USA Official site http://www. ... The U.S. State Departments list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations is a list of non-US organizations that are designated as terrorist by the United States Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). ... Disappear redirects here. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... The Moroccan name for Western Sahara. ... Tindouf, also written Tinduf, (Arabic: تندوف) is a city and wilaya in the west of Algeria, population 30,000. ...

• Morocco has been repeatedly criticised by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International [8] [9] [10], Human Rights Watch [11] [12] and the World Organization Against Torture [13] [14] [15], Freedom House [16], Reporters Without Borders [17], the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [18] for its actions in Western Sahara.

• Polisario has received criticism from the French organization France Libertes on its treatment of Moroccan prisoners-of-war^[16], and on its general behaviour in the Tindouf refugee camps in reports by the Belgian organization ESISC, or European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center.^[17][18][19]. A number of former Polisario officials who have defected to Morocco accuse the organisation of abuse of human rights and sequestration of the population in Tindouf^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}.

Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is a pressure group that promotes human rights. ... Human Rights Watch Banner Human Rights Watch is a United States-based international non-government organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. ... The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is the world’s largest coalition of non-governmental organisations fighting against arbitrary detention, torture, summary and extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and other forms of violence. ... Freedom House is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. and with field offices in about a dozen countries. ... Reporters Without Borders, or RWB (French: Reporters sans frontières, Spanish: Reporteros Sin Fronteras, or RSF) is a French origin international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press, founded by its current general-secretary, Robert Menard. ... The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. ... The purpose of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights involves the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide through direct contact with individual governments and the provision of technical assistance where appropriate. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ... ...

Administrative division

According to [The World Gazetteer site], Western Sahara are administratively divided into four regions: Image File history File links Westernsaharamap. ... Image File history File links Westernsaharamap. ...

• Al-ʿAyūn (العيون)
• Wad-ađ-Đahab (وادى الذهب)
• As-Samārah (السمارة)
• Bū Jaydūr (بو جدور)

Dispute

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The Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania in April 1976, with Morocco acquiring the northern two-thirds of the territory.^[28] When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector shortly thereafter and has since asserted administrative control over the whole territory.^[29] The official Moroccan government name for Western Sahara is the "Southern Provinces", which indicates Río de Oro and Saguia el-Hamra. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Shortcut: WP:-( Vandalism is indisputable bad-faith addition, deletion, or change to content, made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of the encyclopedia. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... 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...

Not under control of the Moroccan government is the area that lies between the border wall and the actual border with Algeria. (for map [19] see external links) The Polisario Front claims to run this as the Free Zone on behalf of the SADR. The area is patrolled by Polisario forces ^[30], and access is restricted, even among Sahrawis, due to the harsh climate of the Sahara, the military conflict and the abundance of land mines.^[31] Still, the area is traveled and inhabited by many Sahrawi nomads from the Tindouf refugee camps of Algeria and the Sahrawi communities in Mauritania.^{[citation needed]} Both Moroccan and United Nations MINURSO forces are also present in the area. The UN forces oversee the cease-fire between Polisario and Morocco agreed upon in the 1991. Settlement Plan.^[32]. The sand wall of Western Sahara is an approximately 2,700 km-long defensive structure, running through Western Sahara and the southeastern portion of Morocco. ... Sadr can refer to: The common name for the star Gamma Cygni. ... 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... A landmine is a type of mine which is placed onto or into the ground and explodes when triggered by a vehicle or person. ... Kazakh nomads in the steppes of the Russian Empire, ca. ... Tindouf, also written Tinduf, (Arabic: تندوف) is a city and wilaya in the west of Algeria, population 30,000. ... bjhgfshudgfgbfsfas Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo following the Rwandan Genocide A camp in Guinea for refugees from Sierra Leone. ... The foundation of the U.N. The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. ... 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. ... An armistice is the effective end of a war, when the warring parties agree to stop fighting. ...