Legal status of Western Sahara

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This article is part of the series: History of Western Sahara Image:Wi-map.png Western Sahara
Historical background
Western Sahara War History of Morocco Sahrawi Arab D. Republic Spanish Sahara Spanish Morocco Colonial wars in Morocco Moroccan Army of Liberation Ifni War ICJ Advisory Opinion UN in Spanish Sahara Madrid Accords Green March Berm (Western Sahara) Human rights in Western Sahara
Disputed regions
Ifni Saguia el-Hamra Río de Oro Southern Provinces
Politics
Legal status of Western Sahara Politics of Morocco Politics of the SADR Former members of the Polisario Front CORCAS Moroccan Initiative for Western Sahara
Rebellions
Moroccan Army of Liberation Harakat Tahrir Polisario Front Zemla Uprising Independence Uprising
UN involvement
UN Security Council Resolution 1495 UN Security Council Resolution 1754 UN visiting mission MINURSO Settlement Plan Free Zone Houston Agreement Baker Plan Manhasset negotiations
v • d • e

Western Sahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front. Its legal status remains unresolved.

The territory is mostly administered by Morocco since Spain handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania after the Madrid Accords in 1975-76. Part of the territory is controlled by the Polisario Front as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. A UN-administered cease-fire has been in effect since September, 1991.

In order to resolve the sovereignty issue, the United Nations (UN) has attempted to hold a referendum through the mission United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), and is holding direct talks between the kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front.

Contents 1 Positions of the parties 1.1 Kingdom of Morocco 1.2 Polisario Front 1.3 Algeria 1.4 United Nations 1.5 African Union 2 Recognition 3 States recognizing the SADR 4 States that have suspended or cancelled their recognition to the SADR 5 List of states supporting Moroccan claims on Western Sahara 6 Other states 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links 10.1 Tables of states recognizing the SADR 10.2 Others

[edit] Positions of the parties

[edit] Kingdom of Morocco

The position of the Kingdom of Morocco is that all of Western Sahara is an integral part of the Kingdom. The Moroccan government refers to Western Sahara only as the "Sahara," "Moroccan Sahara," "Saharan provinces," or the "Southern Provinces". Western Sahara is the historical birthplace of one of the most glorious Moroccan ruling dynasties, the Almoravids. In 1958, the Moroccan Liberation Army of the South fought Spanish colonizers and almost liberated what was then Spanish Sahara. Among the veterans of the Moroccan Southern Army are fathers of many of the Polisario leaders, like the father of Mohammed Abdelaziz, the Polisario leader. Morocco is supported in this view by a number of former Polisario founders and leaders. The Polisario Front is considered by Morocco to be a Moroccan separatist movement, referring to the Moroccan origins of most of its founding members, and its self-proclaimed SADR to be a puppet state used by Algeria to fight a proxy war against Morocco.

[edit] Polisario Front

The position of the Polisario Front is that Western Sahara is an occupied territory, the rightful government of which is the exiled Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).^[1] The Polisario Front calls for the right of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara to be decided through a referendum. Although the SADR is not recognised as a state by the UN, Polisario is considered as a direct party in the conflict. The SADR is a member of the African Union.

[edit] Algeria

Algeria has been supporting the independence of Western Sahara diplomatically since 1975. In 1976, Algeria got involved directly in the conflict, but after a military confrontation at Amgala against the Moroccan Army, the Algerian role became that of an indirectly involved party through political and military support to the Polisario front. Morocco argues that the Algerian position is due to the Sand War of 1963.

[edit] United Nations

Western Sahara was first placed, by Moroccan demand, on the UN list of territories to be decolonized in the 1960s when it was still a Spanish colony. It has retained that status since then due to the persistence of the conflict.^[2] The UN has been involved since 1988 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. In 1991, a ceasefire was agreed between the parties, contingent on the referendum being held the following year. Due to disputes over voter qualification, the vote has still not been held, and Morocco has made it clear in 2000 that henceforth it will not consider any option leading to the independence of the territory,^{[citation needed]} and instead, is now proposing autonomy within Morocco.^{[citation needed]} Lately, the UN has argued for negotiations between the parties to overcome the deadlock.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] African Union

The African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity) has given the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic full recognition,^[3] and accepted it as a member (which has led Morocco to leave the union,^[4] becoming the only African state outside of it.)

[edit] Recognition

The SADR is recognized by 45 states. Non-recognition of the Sahrawi republic does not necessarily imply non-recognition of the Polisario Front: several governments consider Polisario as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, but not its exile government as a state.^{[citation needed]} Several states have withdrawn their recognition of the SADR. Although Morocco claims that no recognition is required, Moroccan sovereignty over the territory is explicitly supported by the Arab League^[5][6] and by 25 states.

[edit] States recognizing the SADR

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The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.

The following is a list of state governments that have formally recognized Western Sahara as a sovereign nation, with the exiled Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its legitimate government. The vast majority of recognitions took place during the Cold War. Since the 1990s, many states have retracted their recognitions, or suspended recognition pending the outcome of the referendum on self-determination.

• Forty-six recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Thirteen of them are home to Sahrawi embassies^{[citation needed]}.
• Thirty-seven have recognized the SADR, then suspended relations or withdrawn recognition^{[citation needed]}.

Continent	State	Date of recognition	Notes
Africa
	Algeria	March 6, 1976[citation needed]	Embassy.[7]
	Angola	March 11, 1976[citation needed]	Embassy.[citation needed]
	Ethiopia	February 24, 1979[citation needed]	Embassy[8]
	Guinea-Bissau	March 15, 1976[citation needed]	Relations suspended April 2, 1997; Relations resumed and embassy re-opened September 26, 2000.[citation needed]
	Lesotho	October 9, 1979[9][10]
	Mali	July 4, 1980[citation needed]
	Mauritania	February 27, 1984[11]
	Namibia	June 2, 1990[1][2]
	Nigeria	November 12, 1984[citation needed]	Embassy.[12][3][4]
	Mozambique	March 13, 1976[citation needed]	Embassy.[citation needed]
	South Africa	September 15, 2004[citation needed]	Embassy.[13][5]
	Tanzania	November 9, 1978[citation needed]	Embassy established June, 2005.[14]
	Zimbabwe	July 3, 1980[6]
North America
	Belize	November 18, 1986[7]
	Cuba	January 20, 1980[citation needed]	Embassy.[15]
	Haiti	November 23, 2006[citation needed]	Embassy.[8][9]
	Mexico	September 8, 1979[16]	Embassy.[15]
	Nicaragua	September 6, 1979[citation needed]	Suspended July 21, 2000,[10] but re-established January 12, 2007[11]
	Panama	June 23, 1978[citation needed]	Embassy[17]
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	February 14, 2002[18]
South America
	Ecuador	November 14, 1983[citation needed]	Withdrawn June 19, 2004; Relations resumed February 8, 2006.[19] [12]
	Uruguay	December 28, 2005[20][21]
	Venezuela	August 3, 1982[citation needed]	Embassy.[15]
Asia
	East Timor	May 20, 2002[13]	First country to establish relations with East Timor.
	Iran	February 27, 1980[14][22]

[edit] States that have suspended or cancelled their recognition to the SADR

The recognitions of the SADR are subject to continuous fluctuation, depending on different factors and the diplomatic activity of Morocco, Algeria and Polisario.

A number of states that once recognized the SADR have either suspended or definitely cancelled their recognition. For an overview on the list of these states click here: Foreign relations of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

[edit] List of states supporting Moroccan claims on Western Sahara

No state has recognized the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara, which the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan also stressed in his last report on Western Sahara to the Security Council:

"The Security Council would not be able to invite parties to negotiate about Western Saharan autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, for such wording would imply recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which was out of the question as long as no States Member of the United Nations had recognized that sovereignty".^[23]

Spain is still considered as the administrative power, but Morocco however is the de facto administrating power since it controls most of the territory^[24].

Some UN member states have expressed explicit support of "Morocco's territorial integrity", in reference to Western Sahara as Moroccan provinces.

Continent	State	Date of support	Notes
Africa
	Botswana	June 27, 2005	"Morocco, Botswana establish diplomatic relations", Arabicnews.com, 2005-06-28. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Cameroon	June 16, 2004	"King Visit to Cameroon, a major event, ambassador", Arabicnews.com, 2004-06-17. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Central Africa Republic	February 29, 2000	"Central Africa backs Morocco's sovereignty over Sahara", Arabicnews.com, 2000-02-29. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.  [15]
	Côte d'Ivoire	March 13, 2004	"Ivory Coast reiterates firm support to political solution to Sahara dispute, Minister", Arabicnews.com, 2004-03-16. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Egypt[25]
	Equatorial Guinea[26]
	Gabon	September 13, 2000	"Gabon renews support to Morocco's territorial integrity", Africast.com, 2000-09-13. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Guinea[27]
	Libya	June 29, 1999	"Sahara historically established as Moroccan territory, Libyan senior official", Arabicnews.com, 1999-06-30. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Madagascar	April 6, 2005	"Madagascar freezes recognition of so-called Sahrawi Republic", Arabicnews.com, 2005-04-07. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Malawi[16]
	Senegal[28]
	Swaziland[17]
	Sudan[29]
South America
	Argentina[30]
	Colombia[31]
	Chile[32][18]		Chile has given contradictory comments regarding the Sahara. Chile's Senate speaker Sergio Romero has said that Chile does not recognize Western Sahara's independence [19],[32] but Chile's Ministry of Foreign Relations website includes Western Sahara as an independent country with which Chile has no diplomatic relations.
	Peru	October 1, 2003	"Peru fully supports Morocco's territorial integrity", 2003-10-02. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
Asia
	People's Republic of China	November 7, 2000	"China renews backing to Morocco's territorial integrity", Arabicnews.com, 2000-11-08. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Indonesia	January 24, 2001	"Indonesian MP delegation holds intensive talks with Moroccan officials", Arabicnews.com, 2001-01-25. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Iraq[33]
	Kuwait	May 25, 2002	"Kuwait reiterates support to Morocco's territorial integrity", Arabicnews.com, 2002-05-25. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.
	Yemen	July 11, 2000	Africast.com. "Yemen supports Morocco's efforts to protect territorial integrity", Africast.com, 2000-07-12. Retrieved on 2006-08-20. (English)
Europe
	Serbia[34]
Oceania
	Vanuatu	December 15, 2000	"Morocco and Vanuatu to start diplomatic relations", Arabicnews.com, 2000-12-15. Retrieved on 2006-07-15.

[edit] Other states

• United States - In a 2004 free trade agreement with Morocco, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick stated, "the United States and many other countries do not recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and have consistently urged the parties to work with the United Nations to resolve the conflict by peaceful means. The Free Trade Agreement will not include Western Sahara."^[1] This was confirmed by the Executive Office of the President in correspondence to Congress^[35].

[edit] See also

• Foreign relations of Morocco
• Polisario

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Hodges, Tony. Western Sahara: Roots of a Desert War, Lawrence Hill & Company, 1983, ISBN 0882081527 , p. 308
• Hodges, Tony, and Pazzanita, Anthony. Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara, 2 ed., Scarecrow Press, 1994, ISBN 0810826615 , pp. 378-379.

[edit] External links

[edit] Tables of states recognizing the SADR

• World Statesmen
• Western Sahara On-line
• The SADR (Spanish)
• Lasonet.com (Spanish)
• Friends of the Sahara (Spanish)
• The Association for a Free and Fair Referendum in Western Sahara

[edit] Others

• Arabic News - Senegal supports Morocco's territorial integrity
• Balkan Peace - Serbia-Montenegro withdraws recognition of Sahara Republic
• Morocco Times - Sahara issue - Sudan supports Moroccan territorial integrity
• Arabic News - Morocco, Gabon voice resolve to enhance cooperationit:Relazioni estere del Sahara Occidentale