- Algeria, Mexico, Iran, Venezuela, Vietnam, Nigeria, and South Africa, India among 84 nations recognize the nation though India withdrew its recognition in 2000
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
President Muhammadu Buhari has thrown his weight behind the people of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, SADR, otherwise called Western Sahara, stating that Nigeria would ensure the realization of their self-determination and independence.
He however said the secession would be pursued in full recognition of the several extant resolutions of the African Union, AU, on the right of the Sahrawi people for self-determination.
The struggle for independence Checks by Vanguard indicated that the SADR is a partially recognized state that controls a thin strip of area in the Western Sahara region and claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony.
According to Wikipedia, the country was proclaimed by the Polisario Front on February 27, 1976, in Bir Lehlou, Western Sahara. The SADR government controls about 20–25% of the territory it claims and calls the territories under its control the Liberated Territories or the Free Zone.
On the on the hand, Morocco controls and administers the rest of the disputed territory and calls the lands its Southern Provinces. While SADR government considers the Moroccan-held territory to be occupied territory, Morocco also considers the much smaller SADR-held territory to be a buffer zone.
The claimed capital of the SADR is Laayoune, while the temporary capital which was due to the government incursion is Tifariti also previously known as Bir Lehlou.
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/buhari-backs-western-sahara-on-self-determination-from-morocco/