Read on Twitter
1/11 A short thread on the US and Western Sahara, which Donald Trump has never heard of and could never have found on a map until one of his advisers showed him. Morocco and Mauritania invaded Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara) in 1975: https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/wsahara.pdf https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1337067019385057290
2/11 After Spanish dictator Franco stepped down in 1974, Spain began decolonizing Spanish Sahara. Morocco and Mauritania both threatened to invade. They rejected self-determination for its mostly nomadic, indigenous people, and coveted it resources, especially phosphate.
3/11 The US also rejected self-determination for Western Sahara. Henry Kissinger told Algerian officials in late 1974 "I want it to go away! I can’t get excited about 40,000 people who probably don’t know they’re living in Spanish Sahara." Read more here: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve09p1/d89
4/11 Western Sahara, however, has one of the world's largest phosphate deposits, which much of Europe relies upon. In1975, following a UN mission, the International Court of Justice issued a famous opinion acknowledging WH right to self-determination: https://www.icj-cij.org/en/case/61
5/11 Fearing invasion, Spain negotiated an agreement to effectively hand Western Sahara over to Morocco and Mauritania, but they invaded WH on November 28, 1975, to global condemnation. A nationalist movement, the Polisario, declared independence in 1976.
6/11 Morocco has illegally occupied Western Sahara since 1975, stealing its resources and colonizing its territory. The UN has many times acknowledged WH's right to self-determination. The UN established a peacekeeping mission in 1991 to hold a referendum: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/minurso
7/11 While many US administrations have tacitly accepted Moroccan control over Western Sahara, the US under both Republican and Democratic administrations has supported UN-sponsored talks to try and resolve the occupation, including Trump: https://www.usip.org/publications/2019/06/western-sahara-problems-us-push-peace
8/11 Trump offered US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco recognizing Israel and signing a 'peace' deal. But in doing so the Trump is recognizing the legitimacy of armed conquest and annexation, rejecting a basic principle of intl law.
9/11 In formally recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, Trump is sabotaging the long-running US mission there, a mission the US supported for nearly 30 years (even if it mostly sided with Morocco). The US is sending a clear signal: aggression is ok for US allies.
10/11 This has all sorts of terrible implications for international law, and for the incoming Biden Administration. If you are interested in reading more Political Scientist Stephen Zunes has written the best treatment of the conflict: https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/812/western-sahara/
11/11 Amy Goodman of Democracy Now has traveled to Western Sahara and produced a useful documentary on Morocco's continuing repression, displacement of Saharawi people, theft of resources, and more: https://www.democracynow.org/2020/11/27/four_days_in_occupied_western_sahara
