Morocco celebrates 51st anniversary of Western Sahara takeover as UN mission ends

LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara: Morocco on Friday commemorated the Green March, the 1975 mass mobilization into then-Spanish-controlled Western Sahara that helped pave the way for Morocco’s takeover of most of the disputed territory.

The 51st anniversary came as the decades-old conflict enters a new diplomatic phase as a UN peacekeeping mission there winds down.

In Laayoune, the largest city in the part of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, signs of the Green March anniversary were visible across public spaces.

Hundreds of pro-Morocco Sahrawis, an Indigenous group in the Western Sahara, gathered at a central square. Diplomats from Arab and African countries that support Morocco’s position also attended the celebrations.