Polisario Front

The Polisario Front (Spanish: Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro, Arabic: الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الساقية الحمراء ووادي الذهب transliterates to al-dshabha ash-shaʿbīya li-tahrīr as-Sāqiya al-Hamrā’ wa-Wādī dh-Dhahab, translates to Popular Front for the Liberation of el Hamra and Río de Oro) is a rebel militia group and political party, which is active in Western Sahara. The movement succeeded the older movement called Movimiento para la Liberación del Sahara, which was active until the 1960s. The movement was founded in the early 1970s. It was first active fighting for the independence of the Spanish Sahara, which was a Spanish colony until 1975. After the Spanish left, Mauritania and Morocco annexed the Western Sahara, the Polisario, however, claimed the entire Western Sahara under the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

In 1991, the United Nations brokered a peace agreement. Nowadays, Western Sahara is split into two zones, separated by the Moroccan Wall. Morocco controls de facto most of the territory.

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  Parade of Polisario Troops in Western Sahara, celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Polisario, in 2005
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  The person in white is Mohamed Abdelaziz the first leader of the Frente Polisario
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  Western Sahara, the territory marked in yellow is controlled by the Polisario Front