- List of conflicts in the Maghreb
This is a list of post-colonial military conflicts within the
Maghreb region.Morocco-Algeria conflict
Morocco andAlgeria entered into armed conflict in the 1963Sand War . Morocco claimed the regions of Bechar and Tindouf that France had attached to what was the French overseas " _fr. departement" of Algeria, respectively in 1934 and 1952. After independence, Algeria insisted that the frontiers inherited from Colonialism should not be altered. This three-month war did not change the status quo ante, but tension remained strong between the two countries, later to be cemented through Algeria's support for the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara conflict.Libya-Chad conflict In 1973
Libya effectively went to war againstChad and annexed Chadian land. Libya launched a full scale invasion of Chad in 1980.Libya-Egypt conflict Following Egypt's first negotiations with
Israel in 1973,Libya became hostile toEgypt . In 1977, not long after demonstrators in the two countries attacked each other's consulates, the two countries fought a four-day war (July 21 -July 24 ) during which several Libyan aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The war ended with no change to the "status quo ante".Western Sahara conflict
Western Sahara , formerly a Spanish colony, was partitioned and annexed byMorocco andMauritania in 1975, in application of the Madrid Accords. The UN has called for theself-determination of the population of the territory. In 1979, Mauritania had been effectively defeated by thePolisario Front nationalist group, and withdrew its claims, upon which Morocco claimed the whole territory.Algeria backed the Polisario against Morocco both militarily and diplomatically. The Polisario Front declared anexile government , theSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic , in 1976, but most of the area remains in Morocco's hands, behind the Moroccan Berm. Acease-fire has been in place since the 1991Settlement Plan , and ongoing negotiations including UN backed attempted to organize areferendum on final status of the territory have continued since. However, both parties have refused to substantially compromise on their respective positions(seeBaker Plan ). As of mid-2007, the kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front are directly negotiating an issue to the conflict. In 2005 a series of demonstrations and riots struck the contested provinces.Morocco-Spain conflict
In what it views as a case of unfinished
decolonization ,Morocco claims the Spanish enclaves ofCeuta andMelilla , as well as Perejil Island (Layla Island). In 2002, the Moroccan army briefly occupied the uninhabited Perejil Island, but left without fighting shortly afterwards, when Spain sent in soldiers.
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