page_title: Annexation
section_title: Western Sahara
hierarchical_section_title: Annexation / Examples since 1949 / Western Sahara
caption_attribution_description: English: A map showing Morocco's and Western Sahara's cities and main towns.
context_page_description: Annexation is the administrative action and concept in international law relating to the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state and is generally held to be an illegal act. It is distinct from conquest, which refers to the acquisition of control over a territory involving a change of sovereignty, and differs from cession, in which territory is given or sold through treaty, since annexation is a unilateral act where territory is seized and held by one state. It usually follows military occupation of a territory.
  Annexation can be legitimized via general recognition by international bodies.
context_section_description: In 1975, and following the Madrid Accords between Morocco, Mauritania and Spain, the latter withdrew from the territory and ceded the administration to Morocco and Mauritania. This was challenged by an independentist movement, the Polisario Front that waged a guerrilla war against both Morocco and Mauritania. In 1979, and after a military putsch, Mauritania withdrew from the territory that left it controlled by Morocco. A United Nations peace process was initiated in 1991, but it has been stalled, and as of mid-2012, the UN is holding direct negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario front to reach a solution to the conflict.  The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is a partially recognized state that has claimed the entire region since 1975.
caption: Morocco officially annexed Western Sahara in 1976
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