The
Western Sahara War (, , ) was an armed struggle between the
Sahrawi 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. 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.