Misplaced Pages

Flag of Western Sahara

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Omar-Toons (talk | contribs) at 11:32, 6 July 2012. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 11:32, 6 July 2012 by Omar-Toons (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (July 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Flag of Morocco, flown over the part controlled by Morocco and considered as the sole legitimate flag of the Southern Provinces by Morocco and its supporters.
Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, flown over the part controlled by the Polisario Front; this flag is sometimes referred to as the "flag of Western Sahara" by the Polisario front and its supporters.
This article is about the different flags used to represent Western Sahara. For the flag of the republic that claims sovereignty over the territory, see Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

There is no official flag for the territory of Western Sahara since its sovereignty is disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

Morocco, controls most of the territory and administers it as its Southern Provinces, while the Polisario Front controls the remainder. Since the disengagement of the Spanish forces in 1976, the Polisario proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, as the state that represents the territory.

History

In the late 19th-century, Western Sahara became a Spanish colony. After the Madrid Accords of 1975, Spain disengaged itself leaving the territory to Morocco and Mauritania, who split the territory, giving two thirds to the former. The Polisario Front rejected this and declared in exile, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as the state representing an "independent" Western Sahara.

In 1979, Mauritania signed a peace treaty with the Polisario front, and Morocco annexed the part formerly controlled by Mauritania. A U.N-brokered ceasefire was signed in 1991 between the two parties, but the sovereignty of the territory remains unresolved pending ongoing peace-talks.

Historical flags

Regional flags

In the 1976-1997 provincial division of Morocco, four provinces included parts of Western Sahara. The provincial division was however re-organized in 1997, consequently some of these flags are no longer in official use.

See also

References

  1. King Hassan II, 1984 : "flag and the postage stamp apart, everything else is negotiable." - J. Mundy, "Seized of the matter" (2004) p. 135
  2. Le Monde, Nov. 25th 1984, p.4
  3. Western Sahara: Out of the Impasse - Crisis Group Middle East/North Africa Report N°66, 11 June 2007, Chap. IIC, p.6
  4. http://awsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/vicraisingtheflag27feb09-1.pdf
  5. ^ Staff. "CIA - The World Factbook". CIA. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  6. "Subnational flags of Morocco". flagspot. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

External links

Categories: