Abstract
Spain withdrew from Western Sahara early in 1976, having agreed that Morocco should have the northern two-thirds and Mauritania the rest — this being a recognition of their historic links with the territory. However, the indigenous but Algerian-backed Polisario movement also laid claim to it on behalf of the newly-announced Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), and embarked on guerrilla warfare. This, together with a change of regime, encouraged Mauritania to renounce her share of the post-colonial spoils in 1979, but Morocco was in earnest. She extended her claim to the whole territory and supported it vigorously. Committing huge resources to her campaign, she began the construction of a sand (and electronically-equipped) wall across the desert to safeguard that part of Western Sahara which she controlled, including an area of rich phosphate deposits. The wall was successively pushed outwards, and by 1988 contained most of the former colony (see Map 25).
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