The 45-year-old fight between Morocco and separatists in Western Sahara threatens to return to outright war. By recognizing Moroccan sovereignty, the U.S. has taken sides for the first time.
President Trump’s decision to endorse Moroccan control of Western Sahara puts the United States once again at odds with world opinion, as it takes sides for the first time in a decades-long struggle at a moment when that conflict threatens to return to open warfare. Even when Spain controlled Western Sahara, Morocco, which lies just north of it, claimed sovereignty over the region. In 1975, Spain withdrew from the territory, a vast, arid expanse on the northwestern shoulder of Africa that is larger than Britain but has fewer than 600,000 people. Moroccan forces moved in, while the Polisario Front, a separatist movement of the Sahrawi ethnic group, declared independence for Western Sahara, calling it the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. They fought a 16-year war that ended in a 1991 cease-fire, with Morocco holding most of the territory. Last month, Morocco launched a military incursion into the United Nations-controlled buffer zone between the two sides, and Polisario responded by repudiating the cease-fire, suggesting a return to armed conflict, but so far that has not happened. Here is a look at the long-running dispute and what it means for the region. Dozens of countries, including most of those in Africa, have formally recognized the Sahrawi republic — though the world’s major powers and the United Nations have not — and many more have expressed varying degrees of support. Most importantly, Algeria, which borders both Morocco and Western Sahara, has actively supported Polisario and is home to more than 100,000 Sahrawis living in refugee camps; and Mauritania, which has the longest border with Western Sahara, also sides with the Sahrawi republic.
