Sáhara Occidental

"El Sahara Occidental es un territorio del norte de África situado en el extremo occidental del desierto del Sahara, a orillas del océano Atlántico. Es uno de los 17 territorios no autónomos bajo supervisión del Comité Especial de Descolonización de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, con el fin de eliminar el colonialismo. Fue introducido en la lista de los territorios no autónomos en 1960 a través de la resolución 1542 (XV) de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, de 15 de diciembre de dicho año, cuando era una provincia española. Su proceso de descolonización fue interrumpido en 1976, cuando su potencia administradora, España, abandonó el Sahara Occidental en manos de Marruecos y Mauritania tras la marcha verde y conforme a lo dispuesto en los Acuerdos de Madrid (1975), no válidos según el Derecho internacional. El territorio está ocupado actualmente casi en su totalidad por Marruecos, que lo llama sus Provincias Meridionales, aunque la soberanía marroquí no es reconocida ni por las Naciones Unidas ni por ningún país del mundo y es rechazada por el Frente Polisario, que proclamó su independencia en 1976 creando la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática (RASD), reconocida hasta el momento por más de cuarenta países. La RASD administra la región al este no controlada por Marruecos, la cual denomina Zona Libre. Por otro lado, Mauritania ocupa la ciudad sureña de La Güera y otras zonas adyacentes a esta dentro de la península de Cabo blanco."

"Western Sahara (/ws.trn sh.r, -hr, -hær/; Arabic: a-ar' al-Gharbyah; Berber: Taneroft Tutrimt) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at just over 500,000, of which nearly 40% live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara. Occupied by Spain in the late 19th century, Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963 after a Moroccan demand. It is the most populous territory on that list, and by far the largest in area. In 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonise the territory. One year later, a new resolution was passed by the General Assembly requesting that a referendum be held by Spain on self-determination. In 1975, Spain relinquished the administrative control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco (which had formally claimed the territory since 1957) and Mauritania. A war erupted between those countries and the Sahrawi national liberation movement, the Polisario Front, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government in exile in Tindouf, Algeria. Mauritania withdrew in 1979, and Morocco eventually secured de facto control of most of the territory, including all the major cities and natural resources. Since a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire agreement in 1991, two thirds of the territory (including most of the Atlantic coastline) has been under de facto control by Morocco and the remainder by the SADR, strongly backed by Algeria. Internationally, countries such as the United States and Russia have taken a generally ambiguous and neutral position on each side's claims, and have pressed both parties to agree on a peaceful resolution. Both Morocco and Polisario have sought to boost their claims by accumulating formal recognition, essentially from African, Asian, and Latin American states in the developing world. The Polisario Front has won formal recognition for SADR from 37 states, and was extended membership in the African Union. Morocco has won recognition or support for its position from several African governments and from most of the Arab League. In both instances, recognitions have, over the past two decades, been extended and withdrawn according to changing international trends. As of 2006, no other member state of the United Nations has recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara."