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July 31, 2024

France Recognizes Moroccan Sovereignty Over Occupied Western Sahara
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The government of France has formally recognized Morocco's claims of
sovereignty over the northwest African territory of Western Sahara. The
decision announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday is a
major victory for Moroccan King Mohammed VI and a setback to Western
Sahara's Indigenous people, the Sahrawi, who've fought for decades to
organize a U.N.-backed referendum on independence. Morocco has occupied
Western Sahara since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and
international law. Over the past four decades, thousands of Sahrawi
activists have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while
resisting the Moroccan occupation. 


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