A comprehensive historical background of the Sahara dispute

Morocco retrieved the Sahara in 1975 under the Madrid accords it signed with Spain and Mauritania.In 1975, 350.000 volunteers, armed with the sole coran and faith, coming from all the regions of the Kingdom converged to Tarfaya, waited for the signal of the late king, who in a speech to the nation on November 5, 1975,okayed the starting of the march.
The “Green March” was devised in a philosophy of peace to liberate and reunite the southern provinces to the motherland Morocco.
The genuine move was designed by the late king Hassan II, and was made in the wake of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on October 16,1975, that confirmed that the Sahara was not a “Terra nullius» and that there have been legal and allegiance between the Kingdom of Morocco and the territory.

On Thursday, November 6, 1975, the Moroccan flag was hoisted on the Sahara.  Marchers turned to the direction of Mecca and thanked the Almighty for the retrieval of the territory; witch was an important stage in the completion of the Moroccan territorial integrity.efore 1975, the southern provinces where deprived of the most basic facilities of water, telecommunications, health, roads, ports and airports.  Since Morocco recovered the territories, the difference is clear.  This part of Moroccan territory is now enjoying a high level of development.

The Sahara issue.

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The Sahara issue opposes Morocco to the Algeria-backed polisario separatists.

the dispute broke out in 1976 when the Polisario separatists,which proclaimed the so-called Sahraoui republic on the Algerian territory, laid claims to this former Spanish colony, which Morocco had retrieved a year before under the Madrid Accord with Mauritania and Spain.

The polisario is sequestering thousand of Moroccans in camps located in Tindouf Algeria.
Morocco is devising a project to grant large autonomy to the Southern Provinces, the Sahara, under the Moroccan sovereignty.
The Moroccan plan to grant autonomy to the Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty and respect of territorial integrity, is the political and final solution to the artificial conflict.
The Moroccan proposal is in line with the relevant international standards, and respect of regional specificities and the expectations of the local populations.