Annexation of Western Sahara

The annexation of Western Sahara occurred in two stages: 1976 and 1979. Shortly after Spain gave up control over Spanish Sahara in 1975, both Mauritania and Morocco occupied the territory. On 14 April 1976, the two countries annexed it between themselves via the Western Sahara partition agreement. However, on 14 August 1979, Mauritania renounced all territorial claims to Western Sahara and withdrew its troops, prompting Morocco to extend its annexation to formerly Mauritanian-controlled areas.

Since World War II, it has been held in international law that any act of annexation is illegal. Likewise, the United Nations regards the Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara as null and void, such that the territory is not a legal part of Morocco and it remains subject to the international guidelines for a military occupation.

As Morocco and the United States have had a close relationship since the latter's independence, Morocco has enjoyed full American support throughout the Western Sahara conflict. In exchange for the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement in 2020, the United States officially recognized Western Sahara as part of Morocco, and urged the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic to "negotiate a mutually acceptable solution" using Morocco's Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal as the only framework. In 2023, Israel formally recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.