Word: sahara
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...king will have to preside over Spain's withdrawal from its African colony, the Spanish Sahara, and must attempt to resolve growing internal conflicts as well...
Waving a forest of red flags with green five-pointed stars and shouting praises to the glory of Allah, more than 40,000 enthusiastic Moroccans last Thursday obeyed the order of their King and marched into the Spanish Sahara. In fervor and numbers, the invasion evoked memories of the armies of the Prophet Mohammed embarked on a holy war-or, possibly, a biblical epic staged by Hollywood. By week's end nearly 100,000 of the unarmed marchers, asserting Morocco's claim to the mineral-rich Spanish colony, had moved seven miles across the border and were camped...
Leading the marchers across the border was Moroccan Premier Ahmed Osman; with him were several Cabinet ministers, and visiting delegations from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Gabon. Once inside the Sahara, they stopped at the white-domed outpost at Tah, which had been abandoned just a few days earlier by the Spanish when they pulled back their troops. After kneeling in prayer, the group of VIPS headed back into Morocco. Gendarmes then gave a signal, and thousands of Moroccans-wearing everything from djellabas to soccer uniforms-poured across the border...
...they fell to their knees and prayed outside the outpost, workmen hastily erected a triumphal arch on the previously unmarked boundary; atop it were Moroccan flags and huge portraits of Hassan. After moving into the Sahara in a great human flood a half-mile abreast, the marchers soon narrowed into a column eight to ten people wide and began raggedly shuffling down the single-lane asphalt road in the direction of Aaiūn, Sahara's capital. A huge paratrooper distributed paperback copies of the Koran, which the marchers waved as they chanted, "Allah akbar [God is great...
...month U.N. administration of the colony, during which Spanish troops would gradually withdraw, followed by elections in which the inhabitants would decide their political future. Hassan, however, fears voting in the colony would be manipulated by the Algerians, who have strong links to the leftist Polisario Front, the Sahara's best-organized political group. On Saturday, nevertheless, the King received a special envoy from Spain, Cabinet Member Antonio Carro Martinez for further talks on the crisis...