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Western Sahara
A desert territory divided by a 2,700-kilometer sand wall and half a century of dispute
Western Sahara is the largest territory still on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories, and two parties claim it outright. Morocco administers most of it as its Southern Provinces and regards it as an integral part of the kingdom. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976 and seeks independence through a vote of the Sahrawi people. The SADR is a member of the African Union and is recognized by several dozen states, a number that shifts as governments freeze or withdraw recognition. In October 2025 the UN Security Council for the first time described Moroccan-proposed autonomy as a basis for negotiation, moving the dispute into a new phase.
The territory covers about 266,000 square kilometers of flat, stony desert and dunes along the Atlantic between Morocco and Mauritania, with almost no permanent rivers and very little rain. Cold Canary Current waters offshore support some of the richest fisheries in the Atlantic, and the Bou Craa mine feeds phosphate to the coast by one of the world's longest conveyor belts. A sand-and-stone barrier known as the berm, built by Morocco in the 1980s and running some 2,700 kilometers, divides the land. Morocco controls roughly four-fifths to the west, including Laayoune (El Aaiún), Dakhla, and Smara. The Polisario controls the thinly populated strip to the east, and tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees live in camps near Tindouf in Algeria.
Spain ruled the territory as Spanish Sahara until 1975, when it withdrew under the Madrid Accords, and Morocco and Mauritania moved in. The Polisario fought both, Mauritania gave up its claim in 1979, and a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991 created the MINURSO mission to organize a referendum that never took place amid disputes over voter eligibility. The Polisario declared the ceasefire over in 2020. The United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty that year, and Spain, France, and the United Kingdom later endorsed the autonomy plan. Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted October 31, 2025 with 11 votes in favor and three abstentions, called autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty a most feasible solution. Morocco, the Polisario, Algeria, and Mauritania held direct talks in early 2026, while the Polisario maintains its demand for self-determination.