The Moroccan–Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic Conflict

Abstract

The threatening forty-six-year-old plus- crisis embarked by Morocco and the armed wing of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic Polisario Front concerning the contested land of Western Sahara, a Northwest African area of around 252, 120 km (97,000sqmiles) assumed a dangerous turn after years of no progress. In mid-November 2020, the armed wing of Saharawi
Democratic Republic, a group looking for freedom for the territory put an end to a 1991 UNbrokered cease-fire accord and returned to armed conflict against Moroccan forces that had occupied the Guerguerat littoral area with Mauritania-a UN controlled area-in violation of 1991 accord. This work accounts for the Moroccan-Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic conflict that upscaled immediately Spain withdraws from the Spanish Saharah in agreement with the Madrid deal. The paper basically tries to trace the origin of the conflict and while the uprising and claim of both parties involved is lasting so long and why the actors in the international system involved took certain stands as to achieving their own interest in relation to the conflict. It is clear that Moroccan claims to the Western Sahara were confronted by the Polisario Front. The data for this work was derived from secondary sources like books, journals, diplomatic materials, Newspapers, Magazines, and internet materials. Documentary evidence was used as an analytical tool while the Marxist conflict theory was used as the theoretical framework. It was discovered that the urge for territorial consolidation and drive for natural resources was the push behind Moroccan claim while the nationalist desire for independence is the push for the Polisario Front. The prospect for a peaceful end to this conflict seems remote, at best. Based on the antecedents of the plebiscite process, it is remote that both Morocco and Polisario Front may accept to a final voter identification and implementation plan. Deducing from this, the work recommends that the international community should continue working toward the resolution of the conflict to encourage a cordial and lasting
panacea to the crisis.