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Revision as of 23:07, 27 January 2007 by Arre (talk | contribs) (fixed my own messy intro section to clarify F Abbas's deal w Mor)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Sand War occurred along the Algerian-Moroccan border in October 1963, and was a Moroccan attempt to claim the Tindouf area and other parts of western Algeria as the eastern provinces of "Greater Morocco" .
Background
Morocco's monarchy had long argued that these areas were historically Moroccan, and that they had additionally been surrendered to the kingdom in return for Moroccan support by the Algerian nationalist leader Ferhat Abbas, during the course of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62). However, before his controversial agreement with King Muhammad V could be formally ratified, Abbas was purged from the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) government by a military-backed coalition led by radical leader Ahmad Ben Bella. The last, bloody years of the FLN's rebellion had been fought essentially to prevent France from splitting off the Sahara regions from the emerging Algerian state, and thus neither Ben Bella nor the rest of the wartime FLN were inclined to give them up to Morocco when independence was achieved. The Algerians therefore recognized neither Morocco's historical nor its political claims. Instead, they perceived the Moroccan demands as an attempt to infringe the country's hard-won independence and pressure it when it was at its weakest. Algeria was still reeling from the enormous damage caused by its war against French colonialism, and the government scarcely held control over its entire territory - significantly, a Berber anti-FLN rebellion under the leadership of Hocine Aït Ahmed had recently flared up in the Kabyle mountains. Tension escalated, as neither side wanted to back down.
The War
Skirmishes along the border eventually escalated into a full-blown confrontation, with intense fighting around the oasis towns of Tindouf and Figuig. The Algerian army, just formed from the guerrilla ranks fo the FLN's Armé de Libération Nationale (ALN) was still geared towards asymmetric warfare, and had little high-powered equipment . They were still battle-ready and held tens of thousands of experienced veterans, and strengthening the armed forces had been a top priority for the military-dominated post-war government. On the other hand, while being modern, western-equipped Moroccan army was superior on the battlefield, it did not manage to penetrate into Algeria. The war stalemated with the intervention of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Arab league and it was broken off after approximately three weeks. The OAU eventually managed to arrange a formal cease-fire on February 20, 1964 . A peace agreement was then made after Arab League mediation, and a demilitarized zone instituted , but hostilities simmered.
Results
The Sand War laid the foundations for a lasting and often intensely hostile rivalry between Morocco and Algeria, exacerbated by the differences in political outlook between the conservative Moroccan monarchy and the revolutionary, pan-Arabist Algerian military government . Final border demarcation in the Tindouf area would not be reached until many years later, in a negotiation process stretching from 1969 to 1972, and with Algeria offering Morocco shares in the iron ore earnings from Tindouf as a quid pro quo for recognition of its borders.
Many have argued that the Sand War and its bitter legacy was a factor in the attitudes of both Morocco and Algeria towards the (still incomplete) decolonization of Spanish Sahara in the early 1970s. In 1975, Morocco invaded and subsequently annexed this territory, now known as Western Sahara, while Algeria at the same time began backing an independence-minded Sahrawi guerrilla organization, Polisario Front.
Further reading
- Pennell, C. R. (2000), Morocco since 1830. A History, New York University Press (ISBN 0-8147-6676-5)
- Stora, Benjamin (2004), Algeria 1830-2000. A Short History, Cornell University Press (ISBN 0-8014-3715-6)
Notes
- http://www.wsahara.net/gmorocco.html
- http://countrystudies.us/algeria/157.htm
- http://www.usenet.com/newsgroups/soc.culture.african/msg01918.html
- http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=4&reading_id=119&sequence=18
- http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/documentos/68.asp
- http://mondediplo.com/1999/12/06algm?var_recherche=maroc