Western Sahara
Proper noun
Meaning
Western Sahara
A territory in northern Africa and a former Spanish colony, now mostly occupied by Morocco, which claims ownership over the territory.
Synonym: (historical) Spanish Sahara
Synonyms
Examples
Algeria Algeria has supported the independence of Western Sahara diplomatically since 1975, as it has done so, with several other oppressed and colonised countries and liberation movements.
As a result of pressure from France, the US and the UK, Spain abandoned Western Sahara on November 14, 1975, going so far as to even exhume Spanish corpses from cemeteries.
ARTifariti, the International Art and Human Rights Meeting in Western Sahara, is an annual art workshop set up in the Liberated Zone and refugee camps, specifically in Tifariti, that brings artists from all over the world.
All trade and other economic activities are controlled by the Moroccan government, as usual in Western Sahara.
As of July 2004, an estimated 267,405 people (excluding about 160,000 Moroccan military personnel) lived in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara.
Before Mauritania signed the Madrid Accords and after the withdrawal of the last Spanish forces, in late 1975, the Mauritanian Army invaded the southern part of Western Sahara, while the Moroccan Army did the same in the north.