The two greatest conflicts of modern Morocco have been linked with each other. During Algeria's struggle for independence, Morocco provided support for its National Liberation
Front (FLN). Soon after the French recognized Algerian independence in 1962, however, strains between the two neighboring countries became evident. In part, this was due to differing political philosophies. Morocco was a relatively conservative monarchy, which maintained close relations with the United States and other Western nations.
Algeria's government, by contrast, held socialist ideals, often supported left-wing radical movements in other parts of the world, and generally allied itself with the Communist bloc. Disputes over borders and territory, however, posed a more serious problem than differences in alliances and political philosophies.
In 1963 fighting broke out between Morocco and Algeria over two border regions claimed by both countries. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and Guinea's President Modibo Keita arranged for a cease-fire, but relations between Algeria and Morocco continued to be poor. Late in 1963 Moroccan authorities discovered a plot among left-wing Moroccan leaders against King Hassan II. The Moroccans maintained that they had evidence of Algerian backing for the conspiracy.
Distrust between Morocco and Algeria, combined with the global Cold War dividing the United States and other Western powers from the Soviet Union and its allies, led to a North African arms race in 1966. Worried about the large quantities of weapons the Soviet Union was supplying to the Algerians, King Hassan asked the United States for military aircraft. The arms race began to slow down in 1967, after King Hassan appealed for negotiations and as regional and world attention turned to the Arab-Israeli War in the Middle East.
In 1970 King Hassan and Algeria's President Houari Bou-mediene resolved their border dispute by agreeing on a fixed line for their common border and on sharing natural resources from the border regions. Nevertheless, the two nations continued to distrust each other. After the early 1970's the territory of Western Sahara was the main focus of their conflict.
The Saharan territory south of Morocco had continued to be a Spanish colony after Morocco achieved full independence in 1956. Morocco and Mauritania, farther to the south, both had historic claims to this region. When large deposits of phosphates
Were discovered in the Western Sahara in 1963, interest in this desert territory became keener.
A number of guerrilla groups in the Western Sahara opposed Spanish colonialism. The strongest of these groups was the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia del Hamra and the Rio del Oro (known in Spanish as the Frente Popular por la Liberacion de Saguia del Hamra y Rio del Oro, or Polisario). The guerrillas of the Polisario Front advocated complete independence from Spain and all other countries for the Western Sahara, and the guerrillas received support from Algeria.
Spain decided to withdraw from its Saharan territory in 1975. A United Nations (U. N.) commission investigated the claims of Morocco and Mauritania and found that neither had adequate historical bases to its claims. Further, another U. N. commission found that a majority of the people living in the region wanted complete independence. King Hassan of Morocco responded with the "Green March." He called up 350,000 volunteers and sent them unarmed across the border to settle in the Saharan territory and claim it for Morocco.
In late 1975 Spain agreed to share administration of the region with Morocco and Mauritania prior to full Spanish withdrawal in 1976. Instead of holding a popular referendum, or vote, on the future of the Saharan region, the three powers decided to let the wishes of the local people be represented by a council of tribal elders, known as the jemma. The jemma approved Morocco's control over the region, but proindependence advocates have claimed that Morocco used pressure and rewards to obtain the desired decision from this council.
In February, 1976, proindependence groups announced the establishment of the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. A month later, Morocco and Mauritania agreed to split the territory between them, with the northern two-thirds going to Morocco. Although Morocco had claimed that Mauritania itself should be part of Morocco when Mauritania gained its independence in 1960, relations between these two countries improved greatly as they cooperated in their efforts to divide up the Western Sahara.
Fighting against the guerrilla forces of the Polisario Front became Morocco's chief military activity. By 1977 between a fourth
And a third of the Moroccan armed forces were kept busy fighting the few thousand Saharan guerrillas. The Polisario fighters maintained camps in Algeria and reportedly received substantial assistance from the Algerians.
In 1981 King Hassan agreed to hold a referendum in the Western Sahara on the future of the territory. The guerrillas rejected the referendum, though, claiming that it would be held on Morocco's terms. By 1986 the Moroccan military had managed to take control of two-thirds of the region and it had contained the area within its control behind defensive walls.
The United Nations sent observers to the Western Sahara in 1991 to maintain a cease-fire between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The United Nations also planned to hold the long-planned referendum, but by the spring of 1996 the United Nations was closing down its voter registration offices in the contested region because U. N. observers were unable to determine who was entitled to vote. The efforts of the United Nations to bring about peace did not end, however. In March, 1997, former U. S. secretary of state James A. Baker was appointed special United Nations envoy for Western Sahara with a mission to attempt to resolve the conflict between the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front that had lasted more than twenty years.
Some observers hoped that the new Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, might be able to break the long stalemate in the Western Sahara. In 2001, United Nations envoy James Baker proposed a new peace plan. However, this plan was rejected by Algeria, the main supporter of the Polisario Front. Mohammed VI continued his father's policy of regarding the Western Sahara as an indivisible part of Morocco.
World History
