On June 8, Algeria announced that it was immediately suspending its 20-year-old treaty of “friendship, good neighbourliness, and co-operation” with Spain.
Key Highlights
- The development came after Spain decided to shift its position on the Western Sahara dispute.
- It was in 2002 that Madrid and Algiers had signed a deal to promote dialogue and co-operation on political, economic, financial, education and defence issues.
- The dispute started with colonisation of the region by Spain in 1884.
- When Spain announced its withdrawal from Western Sahara in 1975, the region descended into a conflict among Mauritania, Morocco and the Polisario Front – with all three trying to control the region.
- The Polisario Front declared the establishment of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Western Sahara.
- Owing to historic ties with the people of Western Sahara, Algeria and Libya helped found the Polisario Front, also called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro. Algeria has since also provided military backing and support to Polisario. Algeria hosts the headquarters of the SADR government, along with refugee camps for Sahrawis.
- The SADR did not get Western recognition despite going on to become a member of the African Union.
- In 1975, the International Court of Justice decided neither Morocco nor Mauritania could claim sovereignty over Western Sahara.
- The ICJ called for decolonization of the region.
- Ignoring the ICJ’s decision, the Moroccan Sultan began the “Green March” towards Western Sahara causing an influx of thousands of Moroccans in the region.
- The Polisario Front kept fighting both Morocco and Mauritania.
- The Front signed a ceasefire with Mauritania in 1979.
- The fighting with Morocco continued and finally ended when both Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to a UN-proposed peace deal.
- Post this 1991 Agreement, Morocco controls about 80 per cent of the Western Sahara, with the Polisario Front-led SADR operating primarily from the eastern flank of the region and from refugee camps in Algeria.
About Western Sahara
- Western Sahara is a vast, sparsely-populated desert region in Northwest Africa, stretching across 2.5 lakh sq km.
- It is bordered by Morocco in the North, Algeria in a small northeastern patch, and Mauritania in the East and South.
- It also has a long coast with the Atlantic Ocean in the West and Northwest. It is a region rich in phosphates and other minerals and has a lucrative fishing industry on its Atlantic coast.
- The region is home to the nomadic indigenous Sahrawi tribe whose main language is Hassaniya Arabic.
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