Separation barrier dividing the disputed territory of Western Sahara
The berm visible from the air
Part of a series on the
Western Sahara conflict
Background
Spanish Sahara
Greater Morocco
Greater Mauritania
Moroccan Army of Liberation
Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab
Polisario Front
Sahrawi National Union Party
Madrid Accords
Partition agreement
Regions
Saguia el-Hamra
Río de Oro
Southern Provinces
Tiris al-Gharbiyya
Free Zone
Politics
Annexation of Western Sahara
Political status of Western Sahara
Foreign relations of Morocco
Makhzen
Politics of the SADR
Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs
Clashes
Ifni War
Zemla Intifada
Western Sahara War
First Intifada
Independence Intifada
Gdeim Izik
Arab Spring protests
2020–present clashes
Timeline
Issues
Refugees
camps
Sahrawi nationality
Green March
Moroccan settlers
Moroccan Wall
Human rights
Peace process
UN resolutions
UN visiting mission
UN referendum mission
ICJ Advisory Opinion
Settlement Plan
Houston Agreement
Baker Plan
Manhasset negotiations
Autonomy Proposal
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Protesters carrying Polisario flags in front of the Western Sahara berm (2011)
The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (Arabic: الجدار الرملي المغربي في الصحراء الغربية, lit. 'Moroccan sand wall in Western Sahara'), is an approximately 2,700 km-long (1,700 mi) berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separates[1] the Moroccan-controlled areas (the Southern Provinces) on the west from the Polisario-controlled areas (Free Zone, nominally Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) on the east. The main function of the barriers is to exclude guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, who have sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975, from the Moroccan-controlled western part of the territory.[2]
According to maps from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)[3] or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),[4] in some places the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory.[5]
^Saddiki, Said (October 2017), "5. The Wall of Western Sahara", World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers, Open Book Publishers, pp. 97–120, doi:10.11647/obp.0121.06, ISBN 9781783743681, However, with the completion of the Moroccan separation wall in the 1980s,...
^Maclean, Ruth (22 September 2018). "Build a wall across the Sahara? That's crazy – but someone still did it". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
^Deployment of MINURSO Archived 27 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
^"Western Sahara Atlas Map – June 2006". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^MINURSO
and 24 Related for: Moroccan Western Sahara Wall information
The MoroccanWesternSaharaWall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (Arabic: الجدار الرملي المغربي في الصحراء الغربية, lit. 'Moroccan sand...
clashes between Moroccan and the Polisario Front forces began in Guerguerat, but since has spread along the MoroccanWesternSaharaWall. Morocco claimed that...
Southern Provinces or MoroccanSahara are the terms utilized by the Moroccan government to refer to the occupied territory of WesternSahara. These designations...
the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government. At the time, most of the WesternSahara territory remained under Moroccan control, while the Polisario...
conflict. In 2006, the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan for the autonomy of WesternSahara and made visits to...
in WesternSaharaMoroccanWesternSaharaWall Outline of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Polisario Front Political status of WesternSahara Politics...
recognized Moroccan sovereignty over WesternSahara in exchange for Moroccan normalization of relations with Israel. In 2023 Israel recognized Moroccan sovereignty...
WesternSahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Popular Front for...
the Anglo-Moroccan Agreement of 13 March 1895. However, the International Court of Justice found in their Advisory opinion on WesternSahara of 1975 that...
settlements. List of cities in MoroccoMoroccanWall Tindouf and refugee camps 2004 Morocco Population Census "WesternSahara: Provinces & Urban Communes...
of that year, the Green March into WesternSahara began when 300,000 unarmed Moroccans, accompanied by the Moroccan Army armed with heavy weapons,[verification...
the Moroccan-controlled territories. It is probably intended to strengthen the movement's underground network in Moroccan-controlled WesternSahara, and...
Resolution 3292 regarding the disputed territory of WesternSahara (then Spanish Sahara). Morocco had approached the UN to adjudicate its and Mauritania's...
The politics of WesternSahara take place in a framework of an area claimed by both the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom...
the Egypt–Gaza barrier, the Israeli West Bank barrier and Moroccan WesternSaharaWall. The earliest use of the term, which is a translation of a Japanese...
(Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab) that lies completely within the disputed territory of WesternSahara and two (Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Guelmim-Oued Noun) that lie partially...
the Moroccan state has sponsored settlement schemes enticing thousands of Moroccans to move into the Moroccan-occupied part of WesternSahara (80% of...
town become enclosed by the MoroccanWall, which consolidated Moroccan control over the north-western part of WesternSahara (the so-called "Useful Triangle")...
As part of the WesternSahara conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco has sponsored settlement schemes that have enticed thousands of Moroccan citizens to relocate...
rest of WesternSahara, but the portion west of the MoroccanWall is occupied by Morocco. Provinces of WesternSahara Districts of WesternSahara Capital...
The Government of Morocco sees WesternSahara as its Southern Provinces. The Moroccan government considers the Polisario Front as a separatist movement...
the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government. At the time, most of the WesternSahara territory remained under Moroccan control, while the Polisario...
such walls can be made hundreds or thousands of kilometres long. A prominent example of such a berm is the 2,700 km (1,700 mi) MoroccanWesternSahara Wall...
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