Examine individual changes

'{{Merge|Western Sahara conflict|discuss=Talk:Western Sahara conflict#Merge|date=January 2013}} {{POV|date=June 2011}} {{ref improve|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox military conflict |conflict=Western Sahara War |partof=The [[Western Sahara conflict]] |image=[[File:Westernsaharamap.png|300px]] |caption=Map of the Western Sahara; the red line is the military [[Berm (Western Sahara)|berm]] built by Morocco |date=30 October 1975&nbsp;– 6 September 1991<br>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=10|day1=30|year1=1975|month2=09|day2=06|year2=1991}}) |place=[[Western Sahara]], [[Morocco]], [[Mauritania]] |territory= |casus belli=Decolonization of Spanish Sahara, Invasion by Morocco & Mauritania |result= Spanish withdrawal under the [[Madrid Accords]] (1976) ; Mauritanian retreat ; Polisario Front – Morocco ceasefire (1991) ; Morocco control 80 % of the territory, Polisario Front 20 % |combatant1={{Flag|Morocco}}<br>{{Flag|Mauritania}} (1975–1979)<br>{{Flag|France}} (1977–78, [[Operation Lamantin]], aid from 1978)<br>'''Supported by:'''<br>{{Flag|United States}}<br>{{Flag|Saudi Arabia}} |combatant2={{Flagicon|SADR}} [[Polisario Front]] / [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|SADR]]<br>{{Flag|Algeria}} (1976, [[First Battle of Amgala (1976)|Amgala battle]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=Argelia acusa la derrota de Angola |language=Spanish |journal=ABC |page=41 |url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/blanco.y.negro/1976/02/07/041.html |date=1976-02-07 |accessdate=2012-07-24}}</ref> aid from 1976) <br> '''Supported by:'''<br>{{Flagicon|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya}} [[Libya]] (1975–1984)<br>{{Flag|Algeria}} |commander1={{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Hassan II]]<br><small>(Supreme Commander and Chief-of-Staff)</small><br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Ahmed Dlimi]]<br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Abdelaziz Bennani]]<br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Mohamed Abrouk]]<br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Housni Benslimane]]<br />{{flagicon|Morocco}} [[Hammou Arzaz]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Mokhtar Ould Daddah]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Mustafa Ould Salek]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya]]<br />{{flagicon|Mauritania}} [[Mohamed Ould Bah Ould Abdelkader]]<br />{{flagicon|France}} [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]]<br><small>(Commander-in-Chief)</small><br />{{flagicon|France}} [[Michel Claude Forget]] |commander2={{flagicon|SADR}} [[Mohamed Abdelaziz]]<br><small>(Chairman of the Revolutionary Council / Commander-in-Chief)</small><br /> {{flagicon|SADR}} [[El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed]]{{KIA}}<br><small>(Chairman of the Revolutionary Council)</small><br /> {{flagicon|SADR}} [[Brahim Gali]]<br /> {{flagicon|SADR}} [[Lahbib Ayoub]]<br /> {{flagicon|SADR}} [[Mohamed Lamine Uld Bujari]]<br /> {{flagicon|SADR}} [[Mohamed Ali El Admi]]<br /> {{flagicon|Algeria}} [[Houari Boumediene]] <br/> {{flagicon|Algeria}} [[Lounes Arib]] |strength1=Morocco: 30,000 (1976)<ref name = "Jstor76" /> – 60,000 (1980)<ref name = "Monitor">{{cite web |title= Westinghouse Backs King Hassan's Desert War |url= http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1980/11/talbot.html |author= Stephen Talbot |publisher= The Multinational monitor, Vol. 1, Nº 10 |date = November 1980|accessdate= 06-08-2010}}</ref> – 150,000 (1988)<ref name = "NYtimes">{{cite news | title = Sahara foes move to end their war | url = http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/31/world/sahara-foes-move-to-end-their-war.html | publisher = [[NY Times]] | date = 1988-08-31 | accessdate = 2010-08-13 | first=Paul | last=Lewis}}</ref> – 120,000 (1991){{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}<br>Mauritania: 3,000<ref name = "MarruecosMauritania">{{cite news | title = Marruecos incrementa su presencia en Mauritania | url = http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/MAURITANIA/MARRUECOS/SAHARA_OCCIDENTAL/MARRUECOS/SAHARA_OCCIDENTAL/FRENTE_POLISARIO_/RASD/Marruecos/incrementa/presencia/Mauritania/elpepiint/19770721elpepiint_2/Tes | publisher = [[El País]] | date = 1977-07-21 | accessdate = 11-09-2010|language=es}}</ref>-5,000<ref name = "Jstor76">{{cite web |title= With the Polisario Front of Sahara |url= http://www.jstor.org/pss/3011206 | publisher = MERIP reports, JSTOR |year= 1976 |accessdate= 06-08-2010}}</ref> (1976) – 12,000 (1977)<ref name = "MarruecosMauritania" /> – 18,000 (1978)<ref>Jose Ramón Diego Aguirre, ''Guerra en el Sáhara'', Istmo, Colección Fundamentos, Vol. 124, 1991, Page 193</ref> |strength2= 5,000 (1976)<ref>{{cite news | title = North Africa: Shadow war in the Sahara | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947810,00.html | publisher = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = 03-01-1977 | accessdate = 2010-08-13}}</ref> – 15,000 (1980)<ref name = "Monitor" /> – 8,000 (1988)<ref name = "NYtimes" /> |casualties1= Morocco: unknown 2,155<ref>{{cite news | title=Western Sahara, the facts | url=http://www.newint.org/features/1997/12/05/facts/ | publisher=[[New Internationalist]] Issue 297 | date=01-12-1997 | accessdate=01-10-2010}}</ref> – 2,300 captured<ref>{{Cite news |title= El misterio de la guerra del Sáhara |url= http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/misterio/guerra/Sahara/elpepiint/20060910elpepiint_9/Tes |publisher= [[El País]] |date= 10-09-2006 |accessdate= 06-08-2010|language=es}}</ref> Mauritania: 2,000 soldiers killed<ref name="S&S">{{cite book|last=J. David Singer|first= & Melvin Small|title=Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816–1980|publisher=Sage publications inc.|location=Beverly Hills|year=1982|isbn=0-8039-1777-5}}</ref> |casualties2=4,000 combatants killed,<ref name = "Onwar">{{cite web |title= The Sahara War 1975–1991 |url= http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/polisario1975.htm |publisher= OnWar.com |date= 2000-12-16 |accessdate= 06-08-2010}}</ref> 200 captured{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}, | casualties3='''Civilian Casualties:''' {{flagicon|SADR}} More than 3,000 killed (Eckhardt,1985),<ref name="Willian Eckhardt">{{cite book|last1=Leger Sivard|first1=Ruth|authorlink1=Ruth Sivard|title=World Military and Social Expenditures 12th ed. (1987–88)|publisher=World priorities|location=Washington D.C.|year=1987|isbn=0-918281-05-9}} War statistics table by William G. Eckhardt.</ref> {{flagicon|West Germany}} 3 West German pilots killed.<ref name=Polar3 /> 650 missing<ref name="desaparecidos.org">[http://www.desaparecidos.org/sahara/eng.html Project Disappeared: Western Sahara]</ref> 40,000 (1976)<ref name="Red Cross Journal">[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6453784 Asistencia en favor de las víctimas saharauis. Revista Internacional de la Cruz Roja, 1, pp 83–83 (1976)] {{es icon}}</ref> – 80,000 (1977)<ref name="soros.org">[http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/equality_citizenship/articles_publications/publications/struggles_20091009/struggles-ch8_20091009.pdf Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria: Sahrawi refugees stateless for three decades] [[Open Society Foundations]]</ref> displaced }} {{Campaignbox Western Sahara conflict}} {{Campaignbox Western Sahara War}} The '''Western Sahara War''' ({{lang-ar|حرب الصحراء الغربية}}, {{lang-fr|Guerre du Sahara}}, {{lang-es|Guerra del Sahara Occidental}}) was an armed struggle between the [[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[Polisario Front]] and [[Morocco]] between 1975 and 1991, being the most significant phase of the [[Western Sahara conflict]]. The conflict erupted after the withdrawal of [[Spain]] from the [[Spanish Sahara]] in accordance with the [[Madrid Accords]] (signed under the pressure of the [[Green March]]), by which it transferred administrative control of the territory to [[Morocco]] and [[Mauritania]], but not the sovereignty. In late 1975, Moroccan government organized the Green March of some 350,000 Moroccan citizens, escorted by around 20,000 troops, who entered [[Western Sahara]], trying to establish a Moroccan presence.<ref name=spectrezine/> While at first met with just minor resistance by the POLISARIO, Morocco later engaged a long period of guerrilla warfare with the Sahrawi nationalists. During the late 1970s, the Polisario Front, desiring to establish an independent state in the territory, successively fought both [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]]. In 1979, [[Mauritania]] withdrew from the conflict after signing a peace treaty with the POLISARIO. The war continued in low intensity throughout the 1980s, though Morocco made several attempts to take the upper hand in 1989–1991. A cease-fire agreement was finally reached between the Polisario Front and [[Morocco]] in September 1991. Some sources put the final death toll between 10,000 and 20,000 people.<ref>[http://lupiga.com/vijesti/index.php?id=7506 EKSKLUZIVNO ZA LUPIGU: Podupiremo mirno rješenje, ali zadržavamo mogućnost da i silom oslobodimo našu zemlju] Lupiga.com, 2 March 2013 {{hr icon}}</ref> The [[Western Sahara conflict|conflict]] has since shifted from military to civilian resistance. A peace process, attempting to resolve the conflict has yet produced any permanent solution to [[Sahrawi refugees]] and territorial agreement between Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic. Today most of the territory of Western Sahara is under Moroccan control, while the inland parts are governed by the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]], managed by the Polisario Front. ==Background== ===Spanish Sahara=== {{Main|Spanish Sahara}} In 1884 Spain claimed a [[protectorate]] over the coast from [[Cape Bojador]] to [[Ras Nouadhibou|Cap Blanc]]. Later, the Spanish extended their area of control. In 1958 Spain joined the previously separate districts of [[Saguia el-Hamra]] (in the north) and [[Río de Oro]] (in the south) to form the province of [[Spanish Sahara]]. Raids and rebellions by the [[Indigenous peoples of Africa|indigenous]] [[Sahrawi people|Saharan]] population kept the Spanish forces out of much of the territory for a long time. [[Ma al-Aynayn]], the Saharan caïd of Smara, started an uprising against the [[France|French]] in the 1910s, at a time when [[France]] had expanded its influence and control in North-West Africa, he died in the same year and his son [[El Hiba]] succeeded him. French forces defeated him when he tried to conquer [[Marrakesh]], and in retaliation destroyed the holy city of [[Smara]] in 1913{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}. Not until the second destruction of Smara in 1934{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}, by joint Spanish and French forces, did the territory finally become subdued. [[Ifni War|Another uprising in 1956 – 1958]], initiated by the [[Moroccan Army of Liberation]], led to heavy fighting, but eventually the Spanish forces regained control, again with French aid. However, unrest simmered, and in 1967 the [[Harakat Tahrir]] arose to challenge Spanish rule peacefully. After the events of the [[Zemla Intifada]] in 1970, when Spanish police destroyed the organization and "[[forced disappearance|disappeared]]" its founder, [[Muhammad Bassiri]], Sahrawi nationalism again took a militant turn. ===Conception of the Polisario Front=== In 1971 a group of young Sahrawi students in the universities of [[Morocco]] began organizing what came to be known as ''The Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro''. After attempting in vain to gain backing from several Arab governments, including both [[Algeria]] and [[Morocco]], but only drawing faint notices of support from [[Libya]] and [[Mauritania]], the movement eventually relocated to Spanish-controlled Western Sahara to start an armed rebellion. ===The beginnings of armed struggle=== The Polisario Front was formally constituted on 10 May 1973 in the Mauritanian city of Zouirate,<ref>[http://www.telquel-online.com/210/maroc3_210.shtml]</ref> with the express intention of militarily forcing an end to Spanish colonization. Its first [[Secretary General of the Polisario Front|Secretary General]] was [[El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed]]. On 20 May he led the Khanga raid, Polisario's first armed action,{{Citation needed|date=August 2010}} in which a Spanish post manned by a team of [[Tropas Nomadas]] (Sahrawi-staffed auxiliary forces) was overrun and [[rifle]]s seized. Polisario then gradually gained control over large swaths of desert countryside, and its power grew from early 1975 when the [[Tropas Nomadas]] began deserting to the Polisario, bringing weapons and training with them. At this point, Polisario's manpower included perhaps 800 men, but they were backed by a larger network of supporters. A [[United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara|UN visiting mission]] headed by [[Simeon Aké]] that was conducted in June 1975 concluded that Sahrawi support for independence (as opposed to Spanish rule or integration with a neighbouring country) amounted to an "overwhelming consensus" and that the Polisario Front was by far the most powerful political force in the country.{{citation needed|date=August 2011}} ==Timeline== {{Western Sahara history}} ===Spanish withdrawal=== While [[Spain]] started negotiating a handover of power in the summer of 1975, it ceded the administrative control of the territory to [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]] only after signing the [[Madrid Accords]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} However, on 31 October 1975, Moroccan troops crossed into the territory from the north-east, advancing towards [[Mahbes]] and [[Farciya]]. Moroccan government organized the [[Green March]] of some 350,000 Moroccan citizens,<ref name=minurso>[http://minurso.unmissions.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=b67SKR4JLik%3D&tabid=9540&language=en-US]</ref> escorted by around 20,000 troops, who entered Western Sahara, trying to establish Moroccan presence.<ref name=spectrezine/> While, at first meeting just minor resistance by the Polisario, Morocco had later engaged into a long guerrilla warfare with the Sahrawi nationalists. During the late 1970s, After Moroccan pressure through the [[Green March]] of 6 November, Spain entered negotiations that led to the signing of the [[Madrid Accords]] by which it ceded unilaterally the administrative control of the territory to [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]] on November 14, 1975. The [[United Nations]] did not recognize the accord, considering Spain as the administrative power of the territory. In the fall of 1975, as a result of the Moroccan advance, tens of thousands of Sahrawis fled Morocco-controlled cities into the desert, building up improvised refugee camps in [[Amgala]], [[Tifariti]] and [[Umm Dreiga]]. ===Moroccan recovery=== On December 11, 1975 first Moroccan troops arrived to El Aaiún, and fighting erupted with the POLISARIO.<ref name=minurso/> On December 20, Mauritanian troops succeeded taking over Tichla and La Güera, after two weeks of siege.<ref name=minurso/> On January 27, the [[First Battle of Amgala (1976)|first battle of Amgala]] erupted between Morocco and Algeria with the Polisario. In January 1976, the [[Royal Moroccan Air Force]] also bombed the refugee camps in the northern part of the territory. The following month, Moroccan jets attacked the Umm Dreiga refugee camps with [[napalm]] and [[white phosphorus]] bombs, killing thousands of civilians.<ref name=spectrezine>[http://www.spectrezine.org/Africa/windisch.htm] A brief history of the Western Saharan people's struggle for freedom</ref><ref>[http://www.tryktenyheder.dk/DK/dkikrig1/red5/842/] Nationalism, Identity and Citizenship in Western Sahara 17 August 2007– THE JOURNAL OF NORTH AFRICAN STUDIES PABLO SAN MARTIN</ref><ref>Surendra Bhutani, ''Conflict on Western Sahara'', Strategic Analysis, 1754-0054, Volume 2, Issue 7, 1978, Pages 251 – 256.</ref><ref>Tomás Bárbulo, {{es icon}} ''La historia prohibida del Sáhara Español'', Destino, Colección Imago mundi, Vol. 21, 2002, Pages 284–285</ref> On February 26, 1976 Spain officially announced its full withdrawal from the area.<ref name=minurso/> ===Declaration of Sahrawi Republic and guerilla warfare=== The Polisario Front proclaimed the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]] on 27 February 1976, and waged a guerrilla war against both Morocco and Mauritania. The [[World Court]] at [[the Hague]] had [[International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Western Sahara|issued its verdict]] on the former Spanish colony just weeks before, which each party interpreted as confirming its rights on the disputed territory. After the completion of the Spanish withdrawal, and in application of the [[Madrid Accords]] in 1976, Morocco took over the Saguia El Hamra and the northern two thirds of the territory, while Mauritania took control of the southern third. It was ratified with 14 April 1976 agreement. The Polisario Front retaliated the Moroccan offensive with guerrilla attacks, and moved their base to [[Tindouf]] in western [[Algeria]], where first refugee camps were established in May 1976.<ref name=minurso/> For the next two years the Polisario movement grew tremendously, as Sahrawi refugees flocked to the camps fleeing from the Moroccan and Mauritanian armies, while Algeria and [[Libya]] supplied arms and funding.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Within months after the 1975–1976 Moroccan offensive, Polisario had expanded to thousands of armed fighters. The reorganized army was able to inflict severe damage through [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]]-style [[hit-and-run tactics|hit-and-run attacks]] against Moroccan forces in [[Western Sahara]] but also raided cities and towns in [[Morocco]] and [[Mauritania]] proper. ===Mauritanian and French involvement=== {{main|Opération Lamantin}} Mauritania, under the regime of [[Moktar Ould Daddah|Ould Daddah]], had a weakened army of 3,000 men,<ref>http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mr0128)</ref> which was unable to fend off the attacks. After repeated strikes at the country's principal source of income, the [[iron]] mines of [[Zouerate]], the government was nearly incapacitated by the lack of funds and the ensuing internal disorder.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mr0032)]</ref> [[ethnicity|Ethnic]] unrest in the [[Military of Mauritania|Mauritanian Armed Forces]] also strongly contributed to the ineffectiveness of the army: forcibly [[conscription|conscripted]] [[black African]]s from the south of the country resisted getting involved in what they viewed as a northern intra-Arab dispute, and the tribes of northern Mauritania often sympathized with Polisario, fearing possible Moroccan regional ambitions and resenting perceived increasing dependence of the Daddah regime on Moroccan support. In 1977, [[France]] intervened after a group of French technicians was taken prisoner during a raid on the Zouerate iron mines, codenaming its involvement [[Opération Lamantin]]. The [[French Air Force]] deployed [[SEPECAT Jaguar]] jets to Mauritania in 1978 under the orders of President [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]], which repeatedly bombed Polisario columns headed for Mauritania with [[napalm]]. The Polisario Front launched a raid on the capital [[Nouakchott]], during which Polisario leader [[El Ouali]] was killed, and was replaced by [[Mohamed Abdelaziz]], with no letup in the pace of attacks. Under continued pressure, the Daddah regime finally fell in 1978 to a [[coup d'état]] led by war-weary military officers,<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mr0034)]</ref> who immediately agreed to a [[cease fire]] with the Polisario. A comprehensive peace treaty was signed on August 5, 1979, in which the new government recognized Sahrawi rights to Western Sahara and relinquished its own claims. Mauritania withdrew all its forces and would later proceed to formally recognize the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]], causing a massive rupture in relations with Morocco. King [[Hassan II of Morocco]] immediately claimed the area of Western Sahara evacuated by Mauritania ([[Tiris al-Gharbiya]], roughly corresponding to the southern half of [[Río de Oro]]), which was unilaterally [[annexation|annexed]] by Morocco in August 1979. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/2483315.stm] ===Stalemate (1980s)=== [[File:Saharawi soldiers.jpg|thumb|Saharawi soldiers 1983]] From the mid-1980s Morocco largely managed to keep Polisario troops off by building a huge [[berm]] or sand wall (the [[Moroccan Wall]]). The Moroccan army stationed a number of troops roughly the same size as the entire Sahrawi population to defend the wall, enclosing the [[Southern Provinces]], the economically useful parts of Western Sahara ([[Bou Craa]], [[El-Aaiun]], [[Smara]] etc.). This stalemated the war, with no side able to achieve decisive gains, but artillery strikes and sniping attacks by the guerrillas continued, and Morocco was economically and politically strained by the war. Morocco faced heavy burdens due to the economic costs of its massive troop deployments along the Wall. To some both economical and military extent aid sent by [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref>Antonio Díaz Fernandez, ''Los Servicios de Inteligencia Españoles'', Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 2005, p. 176.</ref> [[France]] and by the [[U.S.A.]]<ref>[http://www.domingodelpino.com/index.php?id=1087] Washington defines to king Hassan II the range of their military aid {{es icon}}, published: October 10, 1979, accessed: December 27, 2009.</ref> relieved the situation in Morocco, but matters gradually became unsustainable for all parties involved. ===Escalation 1989–1991=== On 7 October 1989, Polisario launched a massive attack against Moroccan troops in Guelta Zemmour (Centre of Western Sahara) and Amgala. [[1991 Tifariti offensive]] was the last military operation in [[Western Sahara]] War launched by Moroccan forces and its allies against the [[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] [[guerrilla]] fighters of the [[Polisario Front]]. During August–September 1991 the Royal Moroccan Army (RMA) conducted offensive operations in the areas of Mehaires, Tifariti and Bir Lahlou. ==Cease-fire and aftermath== A cease-fire between the Polisario and Morocco, monitored by [[MINURSO]] ([[UN]]) has come into effect on 6 September 1991, with the promise of a referendum on independence the following year. The referendum, however, stalled over disagreements on voter rights, and numerous attempts at restarting the process (most significantly the launching of the 2003 [[Baker plan]]) seem to have failed. The prolonged cease-fire has held without major disturbances, but Polisario has repeatedly threatened to resume fighting if no break-through occurs. Morocco's withdrawal from both the terms of the original [[Settlement Plan]] and the [[Baker Plan]] negotiations in 2003 left the peace-keeping mission without a political agenda: this further increased the risks of renewed war. ==International incidents== On 24 June 1975, a [[Land Rover]] of the [[Spanish Army]] struck a land mine as it was patrolling the Spanish Sahara-Morocco border, killing the five soldiers inside. On 25 June 1975, two reconnaissance planes from the [[Spanish Air Force]] were attacked by Moroccan forces near the Spanish Sahara-Morocco border. On 17 January 1980, the Spanish [[USS David W. Taylor (DD-551)|SPS Almirante Ferrandiz (D22)]] [[destroyer]] was machine-gunned by a Moroccan [[Mirage (aircraft)|Mirage]] airfighter, 5 miles away the southern coast of Western Sahara. The Spanish destroyer had received a [[SOS|S.O.S.]] from a Spanish [[fishing vessel]] that had been previously detained by a Moroccan [[patrol boat]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Un destructor español, ametrallado en aguas del Sahara por un avión marroquí | url=http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/MARRUECOS/ESPANA/MARRUECOS/destructor/espanol/ametrallado/aguas/Sahara/avion/marroqui/elpepiesp/19800122elpepinac_10/Tes | publisher=[[El País]] | date=1980-01-22 | accessdate=2010-09-26|language=es}}</ref> On 24 February 1985, the ''[[Polar 3]]'', a [[Dornier 228]]-type research airplane from the [[Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research|Alfred Wegener Institute]] was shot down by guerrillas of the Polisario Front over Western Sahara. All three crew members died. ''Polar 3'', together with unharmed ''Polar 2'', was on its way back from [[Antarctica]] and had taken off in [[Dakar]], [[Senegal]], to reach [[Arrecife]], [[Canary Islands]].<ref name=Polar3>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850224-0 Aviation safety network – Report on Polar 3] accessed: April 18, 2009</ref> The German government, which did not recognize Morocco's claim to Western Sahara at the time and remained neutral in the conflict, heavily criticized the incident.<ref name=Rakete >[http://www.abendblatt.de/extra/service/944949.html?url=/ha/1985/xml/19850228xml/habxml850103_8075.xml Rakete traf die ''Polar 3''] {{de icon}} [[Hamburger Abendblatt]], published: February 28, 1985, accessed: April 18, 2009</ref> In 1984, Polisario shot down two Moroccan and a Belgian airplane as well.<ref name="Rakete"/> ==See also== *[[Moroccan Wall]] *[[History of Western Sahara]] *[[Ifni War]] ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== *[http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/papa/polisario1975.htm The Sahara War 1975–1991] *[http://web.archive.org/web/20080515213651/http://www.btinternet.com/~donald.macdonald/poli.htm The War in the Sahara] *[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/229007.stm Chronology of the Saharawi struggle] (BBC) [[Category:Conflicts in 1975]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1976]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1977]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1978]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1979]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1980]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1981]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1982]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1983]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1984]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1985]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1986]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1987]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1988]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1989]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1990]] [[Category:Conflicts in 1991]] [[Category:History of Western Sahara]] [[Category:Wars involving the states and peoples of Africa]] [[Category:Wars involving Algeria]] [[Category:Wars involving France]] [[Category:Wars involving Mauritania]] [[Category:Wars involving Morocco]] [[Category:Western Sahara conflict]]'