The beginning was with the Spanish colonization in 1884 of the Western Sahara, which was inhabited by the Berber tribes.  And in 1934 Western Sahara became a Spanish territory called the Spanish Sahara. And In the year 1957, Morocco became independent and declared its right to own the Western Sahara. Then In 1965, the United Nations demanded that Spain end its occupation of Western Sahara.

The Polisario Front was established on May 20, 1973, with the aim of establishing an independent state in Western Sahara.

The name Polisario is an acronym for the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia El-Hamra and Río de Oro" in Spanish.

The military activity of the Polisario began during the Spanish colonization of the region, and it received aid from Libya and Algeria.

So that the Western Desert extends over an area of ​​252,000 km on the northwest coast of the continent.  It is a sparsely populated area, with a population of 567,000, according to United Nations and World Bank statistics.

The estimate of the number of Polisario refugees varies, according to the statistics of the website of the High Commissioner for Refugees of the Algerian government, saying that there are 165,000 Sahrawi refugees in the five camps near Tindouf, while some United Nations agencies indicate that the number ranges between 90 and 125 thousand refugees.

In 1975, Spain withdrew from Western Sahara.  The conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco began in 1975, when Spain, before its evacuation from Western Sahara, signed the Madrid Agreement with Morocco and Mauritania, according to which the two neighboring countries divided the Sahara, but the armed Sahrawis who founded the Polisario Front, rejected the agreement and continued their demand for secession,  A guerrilla war broke out between the Polisario Front and Moroccan forces that lasted 16 years.

The front escalated the pace of its operations, inciting demonstrations calling for independence, while Morocco and Mauritania turned to the International Court of Justice.

In 1975, King Hassan II of Morocco rejected the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and regulating what was known as the “Green March,” in which he called on 350,000 Moroccans to come out for control of Western Sahara.

Then the Polisario Front fought an armed conflict, with both Morocco and Mauritania, over the independence of the territory, but Mauritania in 1979, for its part, withdrew from southern Western Sahara.

Thousands of Sahrawi refugees flee to western Algeria to set up camps near the town of Tindouf.  In January 1976 the establishment of the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic" was announced with the support of Algeria.

A government was formed in the Tindouf region in the far south of Algeria.

Morocco, which controls eighty percent of the territory, says that Western Sahara is an integral part of its territory and does not object to the territory obtaining autonomy, provided that it remains under Moroccan sovereignty, while the Polisario Front, with the support of neighboring Algeria, insists on a referendum for self-determination, as stipulated  Ceasefire agreement signed in 1991.

And in the manner imposed by the United Nations between Morocco and the Polisario Front!  Without a final settlement of the dispute yet.

A buffer zone was established along the disputed area, separating the part under Moroccan administration from the part controlled by the Front.  The UN peacekeeping forces are securing the area.

Western Sahara is blessed with rich fishing grounds and phosphate reserves, and is believed to be home to untapped marine oil reserves.

The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was announced by the Polisario Front in 1976, is recognized by several governments, and is a member of the African Union.

And in 2016, Mohamed Abdelaziz, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front and President of the Sahrawi Republic, died, and Ibrahim Ghali took over as his successor.

In 2016, the Guerguerat region witnessed tension between the Polisario Front and Morocco, and the United Nations Mission for the Organization of the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) intervened to prevent confrontations, and the two parties withdrew their forces after the invitation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres.

And in October 2020, Sahrawi activists closed the only border crossing that Morocco opened in 2002 to deliver its products to West Africa through Mauritanian territory.

And in November 2020, Morocco announces the establishment of a security belt to secure the movement of people and the transport of goods through the Guerguerat border crossing, and Morocco seizes the Guerguerat crossing in violation of the ceasefire agreement.

Then the Polisario Front confirmed the termination of its commitment to the cease-fire agreement signed under the auspices of the United Nations in 1991 and its declaration that the war "began with Morocco."