Morocco, Western Sahara and colonialism.

Almost all of Africa was liberated majorly in the 1960s with the dissolution of French West Africa that resulted in the independence of more than a dozen West African nations. Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Côte D'Ivoire, etc. But 1960 wasn't the year when the chaos was calmed down. Apart from European occupation, there existed few African countries that were claimed by another set of African nations, barring some of the territories from gaining complete freedom anytime soon. Sudan, for example, was regulated jointly by the Egyptian and the British, hence the territory of Ango-Egyptian Sudan (1899-1956), Namibia ruled by South Africa (better known as South West Africa; 1915-1990) and lastly, Morocco and its control over Western Sahara that started in the 20th century and exists even to date. It's 2021 and still, we have a continent where colonisation and disputed territories exist and not seeing a possible solution anytime soon. 

The United Nations has had various African missions in past years. Listing down the various UN Peacekeeping missions in African territories: 

1. MINURSO (U.N. Mission for the Organization of a Referendum in Western Sahara; 1991)
2. MONUC (U.N. Organization Mission in the DRC; 1999)
3. UNAMID (U.N. African Union Mission in Darfur, Sudan; 2007) 
4. MONUSCO (U.N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; 2010)
5. MINUSMA (U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali; 2013)
6. UNISFA (U.N. Interim Security Force for Abyei, Sudan/South Sudan; 2011)
7. UNMISS (U.N. Mission in South Sudan; 2011)
8. MINUSCA (U.N. Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic; 2014)

The mission in Western Sahara is the earliest, dating back to the 1990s. The clash between Morocco and Western Sahara, although it started only in the 1970s, has its history rooted way back in the course of time. Be it the UN involvement in the internal affairs of African regimes, or the European colonisation and consecutively the 19th-century Scramble of Africa, a White version of African history is always written in the form of a messiah reinstating a wasteland. That wasteland, which was once an empire but got washed away by colonisation and now is at the mercy of foreigners who pretend to lend a helping hand, but in reality, it mostly backfires. 

It all goes back to the Treaty of Tordesillas signed between Portugal and Spain on the 7th of June 1494. A time when Europeans sailed out to explore territories beyond the known Egypt, Libya and Mauritania. In search for trading unhead goods and luxuries, Spain and Portugal started the era of colonisation, of whose repercussions every colonised nation suffered. The issue between Morocco and Western Sahara is of territory, but more than that, it is of the claimant of that territory. The Moroccan clashes with the Spanish forces back in the 19th century led to the Spanish claim on the territory in 1884 (formally recognised the very next year) and a gradual Spanish takeover of the entire Saharwi homelands would have least anticipated a never-ending civil war that was knocking right at the corner. The Spanish control over the entire Rio del Oro continued even during the Second World War, and soon after Morocco (and other African countries) gained independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Spanish influence started diminishing. No longer were the Europeans mediators in regional conflicts and no longer they would enjoy the benefit of these rivalries. Another classic example of how desperately colonisers leave the lands they exploited after centuries of destabilisation, leaving them in the hands of unstable regional powers. 

None of the UN Peacekeeping forces has had lead to any solution to these internal conflicts on a fundamental level. South Sudan, a country that formed in the 21st century, is burning into flames in a civil war between Sudan, making it one of the poorest countries on earth. In fact, the entire mapping of Africa done in the 19th century by European colonisers is the root of most of the internal conflicts. Unfortunately, because of political instability and mass-scale lack of infrastructure in most African countries, they cannot go back to the medieval era of living in groups of various ethnic African tribes. The boundaries sketched by the colonisers lead tribes to wage a war that just doesn't seem to end. 

Western Sahara had never been on any map even during the colonial era. Zanhaga (possibly a corruption for Senegal but disputed) and Gualata (possibly, Oualata, in Mauritania) were used to denote this region on older maps dating back to the 17th century. On the 18th century maps, differences between Zanhaga and Senega started becoming more prominent. Soon started appearing Spanish names on Berber lands such as Rio d'Ouro, Cabo Blanc, Arguin etc, all parts of today's Western Sahara and Mauritania. Early 19th century maps did respect the African hegemonies and so the continent was populated with odd-sizes kingdoms and empires separated by vast equatorial forests and the Sahara desert, making most territories marked as 'unexplored' or 'uninhabited'. During the colonial era, coastal Africa was being populated heavily by European merchants and while the west African tribes were encapsulated within defined borders, the Sahara coast was vaguely marked with names such as Azanga and tribes such as Lodajas, Hill Arabs, Beni Sabi and Beni Amir. With time, settlements such as Cape Juby, Villa Cisneros, Cape Bojador etc. started to appear, giving slow shape to its modern boundaries. Morocco and Fes (Fez) are often shown as two separate Berber kingdoms tapering the African northwest strip. 

All throughout history, the Moroccan borders have remained as it is now. Between Cape Noun or Nun (today's Cape Chaunar) in the south to Ceuta and Tangier in the extreme north, which are still Spanish claims, Morocco was always defined within these borders. The city of Marrakesh has often been referred to as Morocco on colloquial maps, thus having the etymology of the name. Twentieth-century maps are more clearer in their version of showing Morocco and Rio de Oro, where the latter would be marked between the historical territories of Tekna in the north and Tiris in the south. Another interesting trait of colonisers that has stuck with both Western Sahara and Morocco, is the straight boundaries sketched between two territories, a pattern that's seen mostly among the various United States of America. These straight and definite borders are sketched in the desert and all the Sahara countries - Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Libya, Western Sahara and Morocco share this trait. 

Up until 1958, Spain was holding its possession over Western Sahara. In 1958, Sáhara Español became an overseas territory of Spain. Roughly a decade later in 1973, the independence movement started with the formation of Frente Para la Liberación de Saguia Al Hamra y Rio de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario) at Zouérat, Mauritania. Seguia el Hamra is basically the northernmost territory of Western Sahara, just south of Cape Juby of Morocco. In 1975, the International Court of Justice, or World Court, United Nations, rejected the territorial claim of Morocco over Western Sahara, though establishing historical ties between the two countries. And thus, starts the Moroccan occupation over Sahara that had been approved as a country belonging to the Sahrawis. What is even more interesting is that the same year, both Morocco and Mauritania started occupying the lands of Sahara and the very next year in 1976, Spain terminates its claim over the country. Sahara gets partitioned between Mauritania and Morocco, the remaining to be referred to as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

Concluding, the story continues even till 2020 when on the 13th of November, Morocco sends its forces in the UN buffer zone to enforce free movement between Moroccan controlled territory and Mauritania. The conflict still continues and throws light on yet another African trouble, initiated and seeded by foreigners, rooted in colonialism and neglected by modernity. Below here is a recreated map of Morocco and Rio de Oro dating 1904, originally created by Edward Stanford (1827-1904).