The letter referenced UN Security Council Resolution 1813 (2008), and encouraged President Obama to follow the policy set by President Clinton and followed by President Bush.
The Moroccan government refers to Western Sahara only as "Moroccan Sahara", the "Saharan provinces", or the "Southern Provinces". According to the Moroccan government, in 1958 the Moroccan Army of Liberation fought Spanish colonizers and almost liberated what was then Spanish Sahara.
The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Bir Lehlou (Western Sahara), on 27 February 1976. ===Mauritania=== Claims on Western Sahara had proliferated since the 1960s, fuelled by Mauritanian President Moktar Ould Daddah.
Israeli and Turkish settlers). ==Positions of the main parties== ===Kingdom of Morocco=== The official position of the Kingdom of Morocco since 1963 is that all of Western Sahara is an integral part of the kingdom.
In December 2016, the European Court of Justice reaffirmed in Council v Front populaire pour la libération de la saguia-el-hamra et du rio de oro (Front Polisario) that Morocco has no basis for sovereignty over Western Sahara and that trade deals with Morocco cannot apply to the occupied territory. United Nations Since 1966, the United Nations request for the celebration of a referendum for enabling the "indigenous population" to exercise freely their right to self-determination.
It is listed by the United Nations (UN) as a non-decolonized territory and is thus included in the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. == Background == Since the Madrid Accords of 1975, a part of Western Sahara has been administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces.
Before Mauritania signed the Madrid Accords and after the withdrawal of the last Spanish forces, in late 1975, the Mauritanian Army invaded the southern part of Western Sahara, while the Moroccan Army did the same in the north.
Mauritania recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1984. ===Algeria=== Algeria has supported the independence of the whole of Western Sahara since 1975, when Spanish forces and settlers withdrew from the area.
The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Bir Lehlou (Western Sahara), on 27 February 1976. ===Mauritania=== Claims on Western Sahara had proliferated since the 1960s, fuelled by Mauritanian President Moktar Ould Daddah.
In April 1976, Mauritania and Morocco partitioned the country into three parts, Mauritania getting the southern one, which was named Tiris al-Gharbiyya.
Algeria recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 6 March 1976.
Mauritania finally withdrew in the summer of 1979, after signing the Algiers Agreement with the Polisario Front, recognizing the right of self-determination for the Sahrawi people, and renouncing any claims on Western Sahara.
Western Sahara: Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill & Company, 1983, , p. 308 Hodges, Tony, and Pazzanita, Anthony.
Mauritania recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on 27 February 1984. ===Algeria=== Algeria has supported the independence of the whole of Western Sahara since 1975, when Spanish forces and settlers withdrew from the area.
Mohamed Abdelaziz, president of the SADR, has been vicepresident of the OUA in 1985, and of the AU in 2002. European Union The European Union supports the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people (the MINURSO UN-sponsored referendum), but does not recognize the Polisario Front.
Its involvement in Western Sahara independence movement has interrupted the development of Algerian-Morocco diplomatic relations, which were restored in 1988. ===United Nations=== Western Sahara is on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.
The UN has been involved since 1988 in trying to find a solution to the conflict through self-determination.
In 1988, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to settle the dispute through a referendum under the auspices of the UN that would allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence or integration with Morocco.
A UN-monitored cease-fire has been in effect since September 1991. While no other country has ever recognized Morocco's unilateral annexation of Western Sahara, a number of countries have expressed their support for a future recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory as an autonomous part of the Kingdom.
In 1991, the parties agreed upon the Settlement Plan, contingent on the referendum being held the following year, but due to disputes over voter qualification, the vote was not held.
The Free Trade Agreement will not include Western Sahara." In April 2013, the United States proposed that MINURSO monitored human rights (as all the other UN mission since 1991) in Western Sahara, a move that Morocco strongly opposed, cancelling the annual African Lion military exercises with U.S.
Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, 2 ed., Scarecrow Press, 1994, , pp. 378–379. ==External links== ===Tables of states recognizing the SADR=== World Statesmen Western Sahara On-line The SADR Lasonet.com Friends of the Sahara The Association for a Free and Fair Referendum in Western Sahara Western Sahara Politics of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Diplomatic recognition Western Sahara conflict
Mohamed Abdelaziz, president of the SADR, has been vicepresident of the OUA in 1985, and of the AU in 2002. European Union The European Union supports the right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people (the MINURSO UN-sponsored referendum), but does not recognize the Polisario Front.
In the following years, the UN argued for negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front to resolve the deadlock, culminating in the Manhasset negotiations in 2007–2008.
House of Representatives, a clear majority and more than 50 more than the number who signed the letter in 2007, called on President Obama to support Morocco's autonomy plan and to assist in drawing the conflict to a close.
In 2009 and 2010, France used the threat of its veto power to block the establishment of Human Rights monitoring by the MINURSO in Western Sahara.
France has been a major backer of the Moroccan autonomy proposal and in the EU negotiated the concession of the advanced status to Morocco. United States The Obama administration disassociated itself from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009, however, reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan, and returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara is on the table again. In April 2009, 229 members of the U.S.
In 2009 and 2010, France used the threat of its veto power to block the establishment of Human Rights monitoring by the MINURSO in Western Sahara.
The Free Trade Agreement will not include Western Sahara." In April 2013, the United States proposed that MINURSO monitored human rights (as all the other UN mission since 1991) in Western Sahara, a move that Morocco strongly opposed, cancelling the annual African Lion military exercises with U.S.
In December 2016, the European Court of Justice reaffirmed in Council v Front populaire pour la libération de la saguia-el-hamra et du rio de oro (Front Polisario) that Morocco has no basis for sovereignty over Western Sahara and that trade deals with Morocco cannot apply to the occupied territory. United Nations Since 1966, the United Nations request for the celebration of a referendum for enabling the "indigenous population" to exercise freely their right to self-determination.
As of 2020, the mandate for MINURSO has been extended 47 times and it maintains its presence in the country, but has yet to fulfill its mission by organizing a referendum. ==Positions of other states== Some states are supportive of the "right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people", including the option of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
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