Western Sahara is a sparsely-populated area of mostly desert situated on the northwest coast of Africa. A former Spanish colony, it was annexed by Morocco in 1975.

MINURSO (the U.N. mission for the Western Sahara) observers take note of a Moroccan drone strike on ... as a part of the North African kingdom, in Morocco's capital Rabat.

The African Union in 2014 appointed a special envoy for Western Sahara. More recently, major events have begun to challenge the status quo. The war resumed on 13 November 2020 following almost 30 ...

When Africa was carved up in the late 1800s Western Sahara came under Spanish colonial control and was known as Spanish Sahara. Later, France acquired a protectorate over most of the region.

But in 2007, Morocco began pushing instead for Western Sahara to be granted limited autonomy – while remaining under its sovereign authority. This was an alternative to the full independence claimed ...