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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2007) |
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This article is part of the series: |
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| Historical background | |
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Western Sahara War · History of Morocco · Spanish Sahara · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic · Spanish Morocco · Colonial wars in Morocco · Moroccan Army of Liberation · Ifni War · ICJ Advisory Opinion · UN in Spanish Sahara · Madrid Accords · Green March · Berm (Western Sahara) · Human rights in Western Sahara |
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| Disputed regions | |
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Saguia el-Hamra · Río de Oro · Southern Provinces · Free Zone |
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| Politics | |
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Legal status of Western Sahara · Politics of Morocco · Politics of the SADR · Polisario Front · Former members of the Polisario Front · CORCAS · Moroccan Initiative for Western Sahara |
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| Rebellions | |
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Moroccan Army of Liberation · Harakat Tahrir · Polisario Front · Zemla Intifada · Independence Intifada |
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| UN involvement | |
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UN Security Council Resolution 1495|Resolution 1495 · Resolution 1754 · UN visiting mission · MINURSO · Settlement Plan · Houston Agreement · Baker Plan · Manhasset negotiations |
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The Army of Liberation (French, Armée de Libération, Arabic, jayshu-t-tahrīr,Spanish Ejercito de Liberacion) was a force fighting for the independence of Morocco.
In 1956, units of the Army began infiltrating Ifni and other enclaves of Spanish Morocco, as well as Spanish Sahara (today Western Sahara), to claim them as part of Morocco. Initially, they received important backing from the Moroccan government. In the Spanish Sahara, the Army rallied Sahrawi tribes along the way, and triggered a large-scale rebellion. In early 1958, the Moroccan king reorganized the Army of Liberation units fighting in the Spanish Sahara as the "Saharan Liberation Army"[citation needed].
The revolt in the Spanish Sahara was put down in 1958 by a joint French and Spanish offensive. The King of Morocco then signed an agreement with the Spanish, where Spain returned the province of Tarfaya to Morocco. Part of the Army of Liberation was absorbed into the Moroccan armed forces.
Morocco sees the Army of Liberation battles in Western Sahara, and the fighting under Moroccan flag of Sahrawis as a proof of Western Sahara's loyalty to the Moroccan crown, whereas sympathizers to the Polisario Front view it only as an anti-colonial war directed against Spanish. Sahrawi veterans of the Army of Liberation today exist on both sides of the Western Sahara conflict, and both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic celebrate it as part of their political history. Some parents of founder members of Polisario were members of the Army of Liberation[citation needed], most notably the father of Mohammed Abdelaziz the president of Polisario and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, who is living in Morocco and is a member of CORCAS[citation needed].