The Moroccan Sahara Issue

​Historic Overview

The Kingdom of Morocco holds a unique position in the history of colonization, as well as in the decolonization process, that deviates from the usual model that applies to other countries.

Indeed, due to its geographical situation at the gateway of Africa and the junction of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Morocco was, for centuries, targeted by colonial ambitions, mainly European. These started in the second half of the XIX Century with the occupation by Spain, in 1884, of a settlement in the far south of the country, called villa Cisneros (Dakhla), followed by the conclusion by European powers of secret agreements dividing Morocco into zones of influence and occupation. Hence, Morocco turned out, in 1912, divided into several zones of occupation: 

• A central zone occupied by France;
• A northern zone including the posts of Sebta and Melilia and the neighboring islands occupied by Spain;
• The region of Sakkiat El Hamra and Oued Eddahab as well as the cities of Tarfaya and Sidi Ifni under Spanish occupation;
• The international zone of Tangier administered by a Council of 12 foreign powers.

Forty-four years later, Morocco started to recover its territorial integrity gradually and through negotiated international agreements. In 1956, France and Spain retro ceded the central and northern zones to Morocco; the zone of Tangier also became under Moroccan sovereignty.
 

Ever since, and in view of the continued Spanish presence in the north and south parts of the country, Morocco and Spain, seeking to develop relations of good neighborliness turning towards the future, decided to adopt a policy of consultation and negotiation as a favorite means of resolving the territorial dispute.

This resolute policy of peacefully settling disputes gave birth to the 1958 Agreement by which the city of Tarfaya was retro ceded to Morocco, the 1969 Agreement that consecrated the return of Sidi Ifni, Madrid Agreement of 1975 that marked the end of Spanish presence in Sahara, and finally, the reintegration of all Saharan provinces into Morocco as of 1979.

All these agreements were negotiated by Morocco and Spain following recommendations by the United Nations. Madrid Accord was concluded on 14 November 1975 by Spain, Morocco and Mauritania following the advisory opinion on Western Sahara issued by the International Court of Justice on 16 October 1975 and the launching by Late His Majesty Hassan II, on 6 November 1975, of a peaceful "Green March" to show the determination of the Moroccan people to complete peacefully the territorial integrity of the country. Algeria opposed this process.

1. The Kingdom of Morocco had been under three colonizers, the French in the centre, the Spanish in the North and the South and an international administration of 12 foreign powers in the city of Tangier.

2. The Kingdom had to negotiate, in stages, the retrocession of the different parts of its national territory, in full compliance with the principles and objectives of the UN Charter.

3. Morocco opted for the same approach to recover its Saharan region that was under Spanish administration. Therefore, Morocco recovered Tarfaya in 1958 and Sidi Ifni in 1969, in virtue of the respective treaties of "Cintra" and "Fez".

4. The Sahara and the area of ​​Sidi Ifni were parts of the same “package”. Accordingly, the General Assembly resolution 2072 in 1965 urged “the Spanish government, as the administering power, to take the necessary measures for the liberation of Sidi Ifni and the Spanish Sahara and to initiate, to this end, negotiations regarding the sovereignty issue posed by these two territories. "

5. The Spanish regime at the time agreed to withdraw from Sidi Ifni first and put off, for politico-military considerations, the negotiations on the region of "Saqia El Hamra and Oued Ed-Dahab."

6. Unfortunately, the changes in the context of Spain, the Maghreb, and at the international level, caused some protests after the recovery of the southern provinces by Morocco, after the signing of “Madrid Agreement” in November 1975, an agreement duly registered at the UN’s Secretariat General.

7. Polisario did not exist during the Spanish colonial period. Morocco was the only country to claim the territory, at the international level.

8. Polisario is not recognized, at the international level, as a “liberation movement”, and even less as “sole and legitimate representative” of the Sahrawi population. Accordingly, polisario holds no legal or popular base, or even any democratic legitimacy whatsoever, to aspire to represent the population of Sahrawi origin.