Río de Oro: Difference between revisions

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The [[Battle of Río de Oro]] was a single-ship action fought in August 1914 during the First World War. A British protected cruiser attacked a [[SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse|German auxiliary cruiser]] off the small Spanish colony of Río de Oro.
 
In 1975, as Spain retreated from the territory, Western Sahara was split under the [[Madrid Accords]] between [[Mauritania]] and [[Morocco]], even if this division was bitterly contested by the [[Polisario Front]]. The dividing line ran halfway through Río de Oro, with Morocco taking the northern part plus Saguia el-Hamra, and Mauritania annexing the lower third of the colony as a northern province called [[Tiris al-Gharbiyya]] (Western [[Tiris]]). Its provincial capital was already called Dakhla. After a disastrous four-year war with the Polisario, Mauritania relinquished Tiris al-Gharbiyya, withdrew from Western Sahara, and left Morocco and the Polisario as the sole protagonists in the [[History of Western Sahara|conflict]], which is not yet resolved; a cease-fire has been in effect since 1991.<ref>{{cite book|author=IBP USA|title=Morocco Country Study Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GjrAeMS1dIC|year=2006|publisher=Int'l Business Publications|isbn=978-0-7397-1514-7|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8GjrAeMS1dIC&pg=PA26 26–27]}}</ref>
 
This area is today divided by the [[Moroccan Wall|Moroccan military berm]], with Morocco occupying the parts to the west of it, and the [[Polisario Front]]-held [[Free Zone (region)|Free Zone]], under the control of the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic]] to the east. These zones are temporary divisions negotiated as a part of the [[United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara]] (MINURSO) ceasefire.<ref>[http://www.minurso.unlb.org/monitoring.html Military Agreement No. 1]</ref>