Present

Negotiation process is stalemated. Morocco is pushing hard for autonomy plan.

2009

August: UN envoy for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, succeeds in arranging a peace talk between Moroccans and representatives of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in Austria.

September: UN Sixty-Fourths General Assembly Fourth Committee in New York hears over 30 petitioners on Western Sahara question. Meanwhile, the human rights situation in the occupied territory worringly deteriorates with countless arrests of human rights activists, students and Saharawi supporters.

1999-2005

Peaceful Saharawi uprisings in Western Sahara under Moroccan occupation in protest of lack of progress in referendum process.

1992

Saharawi self-determination UN organized referendum scheduled for early 1992,does not take place  due to Moroccan obstacles.

1991

UN peace-keeping force Minurso set up in the Western Sahara. Ceasefire is brokered in September. Moroccan planes bomb key sites in liberated Western Sahara prior to cease-fire to derail peace plan process.

1981-87

Moroccans build 2,500km long defensive Berm, which runs through the entire length of the Saharawi homeland. Built by Moroccans to defend its occupation, the Berm is reinforced by up to 5 million landmines and is banned by 100,000 Moroccan soldiers.

1976

Feb 27: Spain withdraws. The SADR, the Saharawi state in exile is self-proclaimed. Moroccan planes bomb fleeing Saharawi civilians with napalm and cluster bombs.Tens of thousands of Saharawis become refugees in SW Algeria

1975-91

A 16-year long war begins between Polisario Front and Moroccan army.

1975

Nov 14: Madrid accords are secretly signed between `madrid, Rabat and Nouckshott to hand administrative control to Morocco and Mauritania. Spain retains 35% rights to phosphates in Western Sahara.

Nov 6: Moroccan “Green March” of 350,000 Moroccans into Western Sahara begins invasion and illegal annexation of the territory. The Moroccan Kingdom pursues an agenda of territorial expansion on the basis of sovereignty claims.

Oct 16: The International Court of Justice in The Hague rules in favour of Saharawi rights to self-determination.

1973

May 10: The Polisario Front, the indigenous Saharawi independence movement,is born and committed to armed struggle  to end Spain’s rule.

1965

The UN calls for the decolonization of Western Sahara.

1884

Spain colonizes Western Sahara for nearly a century and becomes the only non-French colony in the region.