Southern Provinces
The Southern Provinces ( "Al-Aqalim al-Janubiyah") or Moroccan Sahara are the terms used by the Moroccan government for Western Sahara. These two official Moroccan denominations explicitly include all of Western Sahara, which spans three of the country's 12 top-level administrative regions (although only one region lies entirely within Western Sahara). A frequent use of the term "Southern Provinces" is found for example in Moroccan state television (weather forecasts, displayed maps on the news, government statements, etc.).