Mauritania–Morocco border

French Mauritania, Spanish Sahara

Spain declared a protectorate over the coast between Cap Blanc and Cabo Bojador on 9 January 1885, without saying how far inland it went; the territory became the province of Spanish Sahara in 1958. France proclaimed a protectorate in Mauritania in 1903, and Mauritania became independent on 28 November 1960.^[1]

A Franco-Spanish convention of 27 June 1900 drew the line from the Cap Blanc peninsula, split roughly down its middle, east along 21°20′ N and then north along 12° W, bending around the salt pans of the Idjil region so France kept them. A 1904 convention continued it east along 26° N and north along 8°40′ W. After a 1956 agreement, a joint commission set pillars along it in 1957.^[1]

“…a curve that shall be drawn in such a way as to leave to France the salt pans of the Idjil region, with their associated facilities…”^[1]

A disputed neighbour

Spain left Western Sahara in 1976. The Madrid Accords of 1975 had divided it between Morocco and Mauritania, and the Polisario Front, which sought independence, went to war with both. Mauritania gave up its claim in 1979 in an agreement with the Polisario, and Morocco took over the area Mauritania left.^[3]

Since 1991 a UN mission, MINURSO, has monitored a ceasefire along the berm, a sand wall that separates Moroccan and Polisario forces. The ceasefire broke down in November 2020, when the Polisario said it was resuming its armed struggle.^[3] That followed a blockade at Guerguerat, the crossing on the trade road to Mauritania; Morocco sent troops, saying Polisario forces were blocking it.^[2]