Morocco and the Sahara: 50 years of the Green March
Half a century has passed since the Green March launched by King Hassan II of Morocco to reclaim the North African country's historical rights over Western Sahara.
It was a complicated period for a territory that was seeing the end of Spanish colonial rule and speculation about the future of sovereignty in the area, claimed by Morocco as part of its southern provinces.
On 6 November 1975, some 300,000 Moroccan citizens peacefully entered Sahrawi territory to reclaim a territory historically considered part of Morocco. They carried national flags and the Quran in their hands and chanted slogans calling for the inclusion of Western Sahara within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.
King Hassan II, father of the current monarch Mohammed VI, had the political vision to take advantage of Spain's departure from the territory as a colonial power to finally annex Western Sahara in a peaceful manner, although political opponents saw this move as a military invasion of the territory. A process of political negotiation and possible self-determination for the territory was established, which included the option of holding a referendum on independence, as was the case for various decolonisation processes taking place in several African countries under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of granting independence to different nations that had been colonised in the past.
The Green March was defended by Morocco not as an act of invasion, but as an exercise of a historical right over the territory of Western Sahara. The Moroccan kingdom has always maintained that the Sahrawi territory is part of the Moroccan nation and that it was taken away during the division of the African continent by the European colonial powers in the 19th century. France and Spain gained control of Morocco as colonial powers until Morocco's independence in 1956, and Spain was responsible for administering what is known as Western Sahara, historically claimed by the Moroccan kingdom, for almost 100 years, from 1884 to 1976.
Historical process
The territory was first colonised in 1884 and was officially named ‘Spanish Possessions of Western Sahara’ until 1958, when it became another province of Spain, the province of Sahara. Spain's definitive withdrawal from the territory took place in 1976, following the signing of the Madrid Tripartite Agreements in 1975, which marked the end of the Spanish colonial era. The Spanish presence as the administering power of the Sahrawi territory had its benefits in terms of social, educational, administrative and infrastructure development, since, in practice, Western Sahara was considered another province of Spain, but the civic nature of the territory was there and its population continued to have a sense of belonging linked to their ancestral culture, even though the Spanish presence was decisive at that stage.
Many sectors claimed the cultural and historical link between Western Sahara and Morocco, and since independence in 1956, the North African country has been claiming the inclusion of Western Sahara as its own territory.
At the same time, there were political movements calling for Sahrawi self-determination after the end of Spanish colonisation, and the political and military movement of the Polisario Front emerged, which soon received the support of Algeria, currently Morocco's great political rival in the Maghreb, despite the fact that in the mid-20th century they supported each other in their efforts to free themselves from the colonial control of France and Spain, the colonial powers that administered that part of the Maghreb.
Positions and role of the UN
The UN established the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) in 1991 to oversee the ceasefire reached between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which had been engaged in armed conflict for years over totally opposing interests: on the one hand, the desire to hold a referendum on independence and, on the other, the historical claim that Western Sahara is effectively part of Morocco.
The various resolutions agreed upon over the years within the United Nations Security Council shifted from a clear position of calling for a popular consultation so that the Sahrawi people could decide their future as a territory to a more realistic and pragmatic position of considering the option of including Western Sahara within Moroccan sovereignty as the most serious and realistic option for resolving the Sahrawi dispute , which has now lasted for precisely half a century.
Morocco's diplomatic triumph
Morocco, under the leadership of the current King Mohammed VI, proposed a solution in 2007 in the form of an autonomy plan that included Western Sahara as part of the Moroccan nation, but with a high degree of self-government for the Sahrawis, leaving foreign and defence policy in the hands of the Moroccan state. This autonomy plan has received considerable international support. More than 120 countries have endorsed the Moroccan proposal as the most serious, credible and realistic option for resolving the Sahrawi dispute, including major nations such as the United States, France, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain itself.
The major boost came with the support of Donald Trump's first US administration in December 2020 for Morocco's autonomy plan as the most serious and realistic option for resolving the Western Sahara issue. This political move was part of the famous Abraham Accords, sponsored by the United States, through which various Arab countries established diplomatic ties with Israel with a view to pacifying the Middle East region and promoting its development. Morocco entered into this dynamic of rapprochement with Israel, and the United States made a move to support its aspirations regarding Western Sahara.
From then on, international support for Morocco poured in, recognising its plan for autonomy in Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty as the best option on the negotiating table that the UN has promoted over the years.
All this in contrast to the lack of support for the other side, represented by the Polisario Front and sponsored in part by Algeria, which has not had significant backing in terms of maintaining a political defence of the thesis for a referendum on independence for the Sahrawi population, which, according to various analysts, is difficult to achieve due to issues such as the creation of an electoral roll, given the dispersion of the Sahrawi population between those who continue to live in the so-called southern provinces of Morocco and those who live in the Tindouf refugee camps on Algerian territory, where living conditions are difficult due to a lack of resources.
With this favourable diplomatic wave, the moment of truth arrived for Morocco on 31 October 2025, when the latest UN Security Council resolution finally reached the necessary consensus, without opposition from any permanent member (China and Russia abstained, major powers that could have been against it due to their ideological position and proximity to Algeria, as in the case of Russia), to consider Morocco's autonomy plan as the most serious, credible and realistic option for resolving the Western Sahara issue.
This is undoubtedly a diplomatic boost for Morocco in its aspirations regarding Western Sahara. Various sectors understand that the North African country's option is the most pragmatic one for developing the Sahrawi territory to its full potential in all aspects, which could have a major social, economic and political impact under the sovereign protection of the Moroccan kingdom. And, without a doubt, it is a political triumph for King Mohammed VI, as it fulfils a historic claim by his country that has been ongoing for decades since the famous Green March launched by his father Hassan II.