Moroccan Western Sahara Wall

The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall or the Berm, also called the Moroccan sand wall (Arabic: الجدار الرملي, romanized: al-jidār ar-ramliyya, lit. 'sand wall'), is an approximately 2,700 km-long (1,700 mi) berm running south to north through Western Sahara and the southwestern portion of Morocco. It separates^[1] the Moroccan-controlled areas (the Southern Provinces) on the west from the Polisario-controlled areas (Free Zone, nominally Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) on the east. The main function of the barriers is to exclude guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, who have sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975, from the Moroccan-controlled western part of the territory.^[2]

According to maps from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)^[3] or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),^[4] in some places the wall extends several kilometers into internationally recognized Mauritanian territory.^[5]

^ Saddiki, Said (October 2017), "5. The Wall of Western Sahara", World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers, Open Book Publishers, pp. 97–120, doi:10.11647/obp.0121.06, ISBN 9781783743681, However, with the completion of the Moroccan separation wall in the 1980s,...
^ Maclean, Ruth (22 September 2018). "Build a wall across the Sahara? That's crazy – but someone still did it". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
^ Deployment of MINURSO Archived 27 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Western Sahara Atlas Map – June 2006". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
^ MINURSO

[1] Saddiki, Said (October 2017), "5. The Wall of Western Sahara", World of Walls: The Structure, Roles and Effectiveness of Separation Barriers, Open Book Publishers, pp. 97–120, doi:10.11647/obp.0121.06, ISBN 9781783743681, However, with the completion of the Moroccan separation wall in the 1980s,...

[2] Maclean, Ruth (22 September 2018). "Build a wall across the Sahara? That's crazy – but someone still did it". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2018.

[3] Deployment of MINURSO Archived 27 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine

[4] "Western Sahara Atlas Map – June 2006". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2010.

[5] MINURSO

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