Green March

The Green March (in Spanish: La Marcha Verde; in French: La Marche Verte; in Arabic: lmsyr@ lkhDr; romanized: Almasirat Alkhadra) was a civil and military operation carried out by the government of the Moroccan king Hassan II. More than 350.000 unarmed civilians and 25.000 soldiers of the Moroccan army invaded the Spanish Sahara in the year 1975. This demonstration was made as a way to force Spain to give the region to Morocco, and to establish total control from Rabat over the disputed territory. At this moment, Spain was passing through a period of instability. The "Caudillo" and dictator, Francisco Franco, was dying and the control of the country was under the hands of who will become the king of the country, Juan Carlos I. Because of the instability the country was passing through, it was impossible for Madrid to respond to this agression committed by the Moroccan government, forcing the Spanish State to give control of the region to Morocco in the 31st of October of the year 1975. As a consequence of this situation, the territory passed to be controlled by Morocco and Mauritania, but legally speaking (according to international law), the region is still a colony of Spain that needs to pass through a process of decolonization.
Before this invasion, the Western Sahara was in a process of decolonization from Spain. In which the indigenous population, the sahrawis, were claiming their independence. But, the Green March happening, this provoked a rejection from the natives towards what they consider "occupiers". The majority of Sahrawis united into the Frente Polisario to resist Moroccan occupation, starting a conflict that found a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United Nations in 1991.
According to the international community, the Green March was an illegal act made by Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is right now recognised by more than 82 countries as the sovereign state of the region. The United Nations doesn't recognize any Moroccan claim for Western Sahara since 1975 and is trying to solve by any diplomatic means this conflict.
Background
Spanish Colonization
During the Berlin Conference of 1884, Spain was looking for some benefit in sharing the African continent. As a result of these negotiations, the territories of Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara were handed over to Spain. At the beginning ot the spanish colonization of Western Sahara, Spain signed different treaties with the native tribes of the Sahara Desert in order to establish its rule over this territory. Once these treaties were signed, Spain started to build military bases and administrative outposts in the region, progressively expelling the sahrawis from their ancient territories and subjugating them to the Hispanic domain to work in the exploitation of resources in the area. Spain's colonization of Western Sahara was marked by violence and oppression, as it sought to subjugate the local population and exploit the region's resources by using strategies such as foced labor and military repression.
According to Virginia Bouvier and Mieczyslaw Boduszynski (2008), Spain's colonization of Western Sahara was driven by a desire to secure its interests in North Africa. They argue that Spain saw this region as a strategic position because of its closeness to important trade routes and its access to the Atlantic Ocean. According to Lisa Shelley, Spain legitimized its rule over the region by promoting the idea that it was bringing "civilization" to the Sahrawi people, through the "evangelizing" task of a Catholic nation.
Resistance and Nationalism
The Spanish colonization of Western Sahara in the late 19th century, Spain jus founded small outposts closer to the coast and they did not witnessed any resistance. But, in the early 20th century, Spain tried to increase its domain , provoking a response from Sahrawi people against Spanish rule. These kind of resistance varied during this period of time, between armed rebellions and civil disobedience against Spanish authorities that ended up in nothing significant for Sahrawis.
With the pass of years, Sahrawi resistance grew in numbers and became more organized. in 1973, inspired by the independence of Equatorial Guinea in 1968 as part of the decolonization project of the United Nations.
, the "Frente Popular de Liberacion de Saguia el Hamra y Rio de Oro", or Polisario (in Arabic: ljbh@ lsh`by@ ltHryr lsqy@ lHmr wwdy ldhhb, romanized: al-Jabhah al-Sha'biyah Li-Tahrir as-Saqiyah al-Hamra` wa Wadi al-Dhahab) is founded with the goal obtain independence for Sahrawis from Spain. The Frente Polisario launched a guerrilla war against Spanish forces. The Polisario Front had support from different International actors such as the Soviet Union, Algeria, Cuba, Libya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Zambia; who asked for the right for self-determination of the Western Saharan people.
In the year 1975, the Polisario Front achieved a de Facto withdrawal of most Spanish troops and administrative personal from Western Sahara. In 1974, Spain announced a decolonisation plan for the region which included the convening of a referendum to determine the future status of the territory.
Events of 1975
The March
King Hassan wanted the march to represent how many people there were born in Morocco yearly. Therefore the march consisted of 350,000 unarmed Moroccans. The volunteers were partly local and provincial officials, but mostly the volunteers came from the general public. It was important for the king that the volunteers were loyal, and therefore most of the volunteers came from rural areas, as most support came from these areas. To make sure the volunteers were motivated to participate in the march, the King claimed them as 'holy warriors' to fight against the European influence on "Moroccan soil". The march started on the 6th of November and lasted for four days. In order to prevent violence as the marchers approached the borders, the Spanish Armed forces were instructed not to open fire.
The Madrid Records
As a response to the March, Spain signed an agreement to give up their claim on the territory in November 1975. If this agreement was because Spain wanted to avoid military confrontation or because of the pressured of the United States is still unknow. The declaration involved also Mauritania, as they had related demands to the get Spain out of the territory. The agreement entailed that Spain would leave the territory to decolonize Western Sahara by giving up their responsibility and power over the area. However, this agreement included that Spain would proceed to have temporary administration in the territory but with a collaboration with Morocco and Mauritania.
How much of positive consequences this had for the Saharans in questionable. The Saharans opened the ''liberators'' from Morocco with open arms according to Morocco. However, there were reports from the Spanish press stating that Morocco tried to isolate them from their new administrators, giving them curfews from dusk to dawn and was surrounded by Moroccan army in heavily armed convoys. Nevertheless, the material living conditions for the Saharans was devastating. Living under extreme conditions of deprivation with several diseases called out for a bigger political solution for the Saharan people.
The International Respond
The battle for self-determination and maintaining their own identity for the indigenous people of Western Sahara still occurred after the Green March, and for the decolonization of the Western Sahara, this has urgent consequences. The Sahrawi population has been living under Moroccan occupation, where the government have tried to resettle Moroccan people towards the Western Sahara in order to limit the Sahrawi influence. Moreover, their human rights have been abused. Article 1 of UN specifies that people have the right to self-determination to freely control their own political status and economic and cultural development. This is particularly significant to develop friendly relations among nations. UN had therefore a responsibility to take action towards this situation. At the end of 1980s, the UN saw a possibility to seek a peaceful resolution in the Western Sahara, and made a Settlement Plan between the two parties of Morocco and Frente Polisario. The plan entailed that the Sahrawi people could choose between independence or integration into Morocco, and therefore a pathway to self-determination. This would happen through a free and fail referendum. However, in the step of doing the referendum, Morocco wanted that their own citizens to be able to vote as well. That did not go though and as a consequence, Morocco made their citizens lodge against the UN voter list which damaged the referendum and weakened the hope for self-determination for the Sahrawi population. In 2003 the UN proposed a new peace plan for self-determination which the Polisario accepted, while Morocco in 2004 rejected the plan and would not accept independence of Western Sahara.
Several solutions were proposed to solve the hope for self-determination including the Settlement Plan and division of the territory which was rejected by both parties, there was a question of whether the UN should announce that they would not be able to resolve the situation or coming up with a new plan. James A. Baker, which served as the UNs secretary-general's personal's envoy for Western Sahara from 1997 to 2004, was asked by the UN to come up with a new plan, but this did not work out either. Baker decided to resign as he was no longer able to find a mutually accepted solution from both sides. Morocco was content with this solution as they felt this was positive for the diplomacy for Morocco, while the Polisario felt that they lost someone that was willing to fight for their cause. Today, the fight for self-determination for Western-Sahara still remains.
References
1975 in Africa
Western Sahara
20th century in Morocco